EUROPEAN FASCISTS AND LOCAL ACTIVISTS: ROMANIA’S LEGION OF THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL (1922-1938) by Roland Clark BA (Hons), University of Sydney, 2002 MA, University of Pittsburgh, 2007 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2012 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Roland Clark It was defended on February 27, 2012 and approved by William Chase, Professor, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh Árpád von Klimó, DAAD Visiting Professor, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh John Markoff, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh Lara Putnam, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh Dissertation Advisor: Irina Livezeanu, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh ii Copyright © by Roland Clark 2012 iii EUROPEAN FASCISTS AND LOCAL ACTIVISTS: ROMANIA’S LEGION OF THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL (1922-1938) Roland Clark, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2012 In interwar Europe, “fascism” referred to a diffuse collection of independent movements and regimes that used similar symbols, gestures, and activities to pioneer a distinctive style of politics. The Legion of the Archangel Michael, also known as the Iron Guard, was one of the largest fascist social movements in interwar Europe. This dissertation examines how rank and file Legionaries experienced and articulated their political affiliations as members of the Legion, and more broadly as part of a global fascist network. Official repression, fascist aesthetics, and the demands of Legionary activism meant that becoming a Legionary involved far more than giving intellectual assent to a clearly articulated set of ideas. It changed activists’ everyday activities and life trajectories in profound ways. From the late nineteenth century onwards, Romanian ultra-nationalists organized to eliminate Jews, Freemasons, Communists, and political corruption from their society. Anti- Semitic violence increased in the universities in 1922, and extremist students engaged in mob violence, vandalism, and assassination. Ultra-nationalist activists built connections with racists abroad, but they based their movement on ways of thinking about Jews and Romanians that derived from nineteenth century nationalism. In 1927 Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and a small group followers split with other ultra-nationalists to form the Legion of the Archangel Michael. Legionaries gradually took over the anti-Semitic student movement by using a combination of iv violence, terrorism, and pious rhetoric. Elections were usually violent affairs for Legionaries, who flouted the law but also ran work camps, restaurants, and businesses. Legionaries described the Legion as a school for creating “new men” who would bring about national rebirth. Creating “new men” meant belonging to a hierarchical organization that expected total obedience from its members. Legionaries committed time, money and energy to expanding their movement and risked imprisonment and even death in return. They spoke about continuing the national struggle of their ancestors, but used uniforms, gestures, and symbols that identified them as part of a Europe-wide fascist current. v TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................................ i ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... xv 1.0 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................1 1.1 METHODOLOGY .........................................................................................10 1.2 A NOTE ON SOURCES ............................................................................... 14 1.3 HISTORIANS AND THE FASCISTS ......................................................... 17 1.4 CHANGE OVER TIME................................................................................. 29 1.5 LEGIONARIES IN A FASCIST EUROPE ................................................. 32 PART I – ORIGINS 2.0 FOREIGNERS, NATIONALISTS, AND POLITICIANS ............................... 36 2.1 FOREIGNERS AND JEWS .......................................................................... 39 2.2 NATIONALIST CULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS ....................................... 56 2.3 POLITICIANS AND TRAITORS ................................................................ 61 3.0 ORGANIZING ULTRA-NATIONALISTS ...................................................... 70 3.1 EARLY ANTI-SEMITIC ORGANIZING .................................................. 73 3.2 ULTRA-NATIONALISTS AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR ............ 77 vi 3.3 THE NATIONALIST DEMOCRATIC PARTY (1910-1916) ................... 80 3.4 THE GUARD OF THE NATIONAL CONSCIENCE (1919-1920) .......... 84 3.5 THE NATIONAL ROMANIAN FASCISTS (1922-1925) ......................... 90 3.6 ROMANIAN ACTION (1924-1925) ............................................................ 94 3.7 THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN UNION (1922-1923) AND THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN DEFENSE LEAGUE (1923-1935) ........................ 96 4.0 THE ANTI-SEMITIC STUDENT MOVEMENT .................................................. 105 4.1 VIOLENCE AND HOOLIGANISM ........................................................... 112 4.2 STUDENT SOCIETIES ................................................................................ 123 4.3 STUDENT CONGRESSES ........................................................................... 131 5.0 SUPPORTING THE MOVEMENT ........................................................................ 139 5.1 YOUTHFUL HEROISM AND THE PLOT OF THE VĂCĂREŞTENI... 140 5.2 ULTRA-NATIONALIST JUSTICE .............................................................149 5.3 WEDDINGS AND BAPTISMS .................................................................... 162 5.4 TRIALS, VIOLENCE, AND POLITICS .................................................... 170 PART II – GROWTH 6.0 SCHISM ......................................................................................................................180 6.1 A NEW FAITH .............................................................................................. 182 6.2 CĂMINUL CULTURAL CREŞTIN ........................................................... 187 6.3 WINNING OVER THE STUDENT MOVEMENT ................................... 193 vii 7.0 THE LEGION IN THE VILLAGE ......................................................................... 207 7.1 MOUNTED PROPAGANDA TOURS ........................................................ 210 7.2 RURAL PROPAGANDISTS ........................................................................ 214 7.3 MUSIC AND DANCE ................................................................................... 220 8.0 WORKERS, TRADESMEN, AND SOLDIERS ..................................................... 225 8.1 THE GREAT DEPRESSION ....................................................................... 227 8.2 RACISM AND THE VALUE OF LABOR ................................................. 231 8.3 LEGIONARY DEMOGRAPHICS .............................................................. 236 8.4 TRADESMEN AND WORKERS IN THE MID-1930s.............................. 242 8.5 SOLDIERS AND GENDARMES ................................................................ 248 9.0 PRINTED PROPAGANDA ...................................................................................... 254 9.1 POLITICAL BROADSHEETS .................................................................... 254 9.2 BUCHAREST INTELLECTUALS ............................................................. 263 9.3 NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, AND JOURNALS .................................. 267 9.4 BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, POSTERS, AND POSTCARDS ........................ 276 9.5 SYMPATHETIC NEWSPAPERS ............................................................... 286 10.0 ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE.................................................. 296 10.1 FIGHTING THE AUTHORITIES ............................................................. 301 10.2 ASSASSINATION AND PRISON .............................................................. 307 10.3 PROMOTING THE LEGION IN DOBRUJA .......................................... 311 viii 10.4 ULTRA-NATIONALIST FACTIONALISM ........................................... 316 10.5 DEATH THREATS AND INTIMIDATION ............................................ 319 11.0 PEACEFUL PROPAGANDA ................................................................................ 327 11.1 WORK CAMPS ........................................................................................... 330 11.2 LEGIONARY BUSINESSES ..................................................................... 343 11.3 ELECTORAL SUCCESS ........................................................................... 346 11.4 ROYAL DICTATORSHIP ......................................................................... 352 PART III – IDEAL FASCISTS 12.0 ORGANIZATION AND TRAINING .................................................................... 356 12.1 BLOOD BROTHERHOODS, NESTS, AND FORTRESSES ................. 357 12.2 HONORS AND LEGIONARY SCHOOLS .............................................. 363 12.3 FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS ............................................................. 366 12.4 DISCIPLINE AND PUNISHMENT .......................................................... 370 13.0 THE FASCIST IMAGE ........................................................................................... 376 13.1 FASCIST SPECTACLE .............................................................................. 379 13.2 LEGIONARY MUSIC ................................................................................. 387 13.3 FASCIST MEN ............................................................................................. 393 14.0 HEROISM AND DEATH ........................................................................................406 14.1 COMMEMORATIONS .............................................................................. 407 ix 14.2 HEROISM AND MOTHERHOOD ........................................................... 413 14.3 THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR ..................................................................... 416 14.4 THE FUNERAL OF ION MOŢA AND VASILE MARIN ..................... 422 15.0 EPILOGUE .............................................................................................................. 430 16.0 CONCLUSION .........................................................................................................438 17.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................455 17.1 ARCHIVAL SOURCES ............................................................................. 455 17.2 PERIODICALS ........................................................................................... 456 17.3 PUBLISHED PRIMARY SOURCES ........................................................ 461 17.4 MEMOIRS, DIARIES, AND ORAL HISTORIES .................................. 468 17.5 SECONDARY SOURCES .......................................................................... 470 x