Alexander Danieliuk-Stefanski (also Stefański or Ștefanski; 30 November 1897,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

– 21 August 1937,

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

) was a Polish

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician, active in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. From 1931 to 1936, he oversaw the activities of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n communists in exile to the Soviet Union, and served as

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...

(PCdR). During the period, he was seconded by Elena Filipescu, who was also his lover.

Names

Likely born as ''Aleksander Danieliuk'',Vilém Kahan, "A Contribution to the Identification of the Pseudonyms Used in Minutes and Reports of the Communist International", in Vilém Kahan (ed.), ''Bibliography of the Communist International (1919-1979)'', Vol.I,

Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers () is a Dutch international academic publisher of books, academic journals, and Bibliographic database, databases founded in 1683, making it one of the oldest publishing houses in the Netherlands. Founded in the South ...

, Leiden etc., 1990, p.33. the activist changed his name to ''Stefański'', a variant which he used during the time he was active in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. Occasionally referred to as ''Ștefanski'' by

Romanian-language Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; , or , ) is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved fr ...

sources, he also used

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

s ''Gorn'' (or ''Horn''), ''Edmund'', ''Olek'' and ''Grigorescu''. In Romanian historiography, he also known as ''Alexander Ștefanski-Gorn'' or ''Alexandru Ștefanski''.Tismăneanu, p.95

Biography

Of probable Ukrainian ethnicity,Hildrun Glass, ''Minderheit zwischen zwei Diktaturen: Zur Geschichte der Juden in Rumänien 1944-1949'', 2002, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich, p.280. Danieliuk-Stefanski was a member of the

Russian Social Democratic Labor Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...

since 1915, taking part in the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

and becoming affiliated with the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

faction."Danieluk, Aleksander (1897-1937)"
entry in th
''Encyklopedia Interia''
/ref> A member of the

Communist Party of Poland The interwar Communist Party of Poland (, KPP) was a communist party active in Poland during the Second Polish Republic. It resulted from a December 1918 merger of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) and the ...

(KPP) in 1919 and a citizen of Poland, he was one of the Polish party's leading members during the late 1920s, representing it to the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

's Executive Committee fifth session. Becoming known as a supporter of

Adolf Warski Adolf Warski ( Ru: Адольф Варшавский) (born Adolf Jerzy Warszawski; 20 April 1868 – 21 August 1937), was a Polish communist leader, journalist and theoretician of the communist movement in Poland. During Stalin's Great Pur ...

, who was being disgraced by Soviet leader

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, Danieliuk-Stefanski was stripped of his offices within the KPP and sent to work for the Comintern. Before 1931, he was present in

. Around the time of the Romanian Communist Party's Fifth Congress in 1931,

Béla Kun Béla Kun (, born Béla Kohn; 20 February 1886 – 29 August 1938) was a Hungarian communist revolutionary and politician who in 1919 governed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. After attending Franz Joseph University at Kolozsvár (today Cluj-N ...

, who was at the time a leading Comintern figure directed the party to replace its entire leadership, including the general secretary

Vitali Holostenco Vitali Holostenco or Holostenko (, ; c. 1900, Izmail, Russian Empire– 17 December 1937) was a Romanian and Soviet Union, Soviet Communism, communist politician. He used several pseudonyms, among which were ''Barbu'' and ''Petrulescu''. Early ...

—appointing Stefanski, who was at the time still a member of the KPP, to head the Romanian party as the

general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

. The reshuffling of the PCdR's leadership structure also signified a boost in the political careers of, among others, Filipescu,

Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (; 4 November 1900 – 17 April 1954) was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania (PCR), also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he ...

Béla Breiner Béla Breiner, also rendered as Bela Brainer (13 February 1896 – 10 March 1940), was an Austro-Hungarian-born communist activist, who served as acting general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR or PCdR) during the early stages of Wo ...

, , , and , all of whom were nominated to the Central Committee. This was an attempt to resolve factional disputes as well as assert Stalin's control over the local party.Tismăneanu, p.95 The core group of activists welcomed Stefanski's appointment as a positive step in the PCdR's history. Historian

Vladimir Tismăneanu Vladimir Tismăneanu (; born July 4, 1951) is a Romanian American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in political systems and comparative politics, he is d ...

believes this acceptance of

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

on the part of the Romanian group marks a clear break with the legacy of the

Socialist Party of Romania Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and so ...

, from which the PCdR had emerged during the 1920s. Because of the party's illegality forced the leadership underground, Stefanski and his

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

actually directed the PCdR from exile in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. However, the Fifth Congress also brought important changes in Romania, where an internal faction came to emerge under the supervision of

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (; 8 November 1901 – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian politician. He was the first Socialist Republic of Romania, Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party ...

, future leader of

Communist Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania (, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989 (see Revolutions of 1989). From 1947 to 1965, the state was ...

. The PCdR's representative to the thirteenth Executive Comintern Committee session, Stefanski barely spoke Romanian but, assisted by his lover Filipescu, played an important role in developing the " popular front" platform that allowed the PCdR to help instigate the

Grivița Strike of 1933 The Grivița strike of 1933 was a railway strike which was started at the Grivița Workshops, Bucharest, the Kingdom of Romania in February 1933 by workers of Căile Ferate Române (Romanian Railways). The strike was brought about by the increa ...

.Tismăneanu, p.318 At the time, under the pseudonym ''Maria Ciobanu'', Filipescu was the Deputy General Secretary. Stefanski was deposed by Stalin and the Comintern in 1936, after a new move to ensure the PCdR's adherence to their policies, being succeeded by Boris Stefanov. He was executed in the Soviet Union, a victim of the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

. Several of his close Romanian allies were also killed during those years, with notable exceptions such as Pătrășcanu and Vanda Nicolski. The former rose to preeminence in Romania after 1944, while the latter became a collaborator of PCdR activist

Ana Pauker Ana Pauker (born Hannah Rabinsohn; 13 February 1893 – 3 June 1960) was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's List of Romanian Foreign Ministers, foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Ana Pauker became the world' ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.Tismăneanu, p.123 Alexander Stefanski was rehabilitated in the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

in 1955.

Notes

References

Adrian Cioroianu Adrian Mihai Cioroianu (born January 5, 1967, in Craiova, Romania) is a Romanian historian, politician, journalist, and essayist. A lecturer for the History Department at the University of Bucharest, he is the author of several books dealing with ...

, ''Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc'',

Editura Curtea Veche Editura Curtea Veche ( Curtea Veche Publishing House) is a publishing house based in Romania, located on Aurel Vlaicu Street 35, Bucharest. It has a tradition in editing works of Romanian literature. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Curtea V ...

, Bucharest, 2005. *Ferenc Fehér, Andrew Arato, ''Crisis and Reform in Eastern Europe'',

Transaction Publishers Transaction Publishers was a New Jersey–based publishing house that specialized in social science books and journals. It was located on the Livingston Campus of Rutgers University. Transaction was sold to Taylor & Francis in 2016 and merged w ...

, Piscataway, 1989. *

, ''Stalinism pentru eternitate'',

Polirom Polirom or Editura Polirom ("Polirom" Publishing House) is a Romanian publishing house with a tradition of publishing classics of international literature and also various titles in the fields of social sciences, such as psychology, sociology, and ...

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

, 2005 (translation of ''Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism'',

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, Berkeley, 2003, ) {{DEFAULTSORT:Danieliuk-Stefanski, Alexander 1897 births 1937 deaths Politicians from Warsaw People from Warsaw Governorate Old Bolsheviks Communist Party of Poland politicians General secretaries of the Romanian Communist Party Comintern people Polish expatriates in the Soviet Union Executed activists Great Purge victims from Poland Polish people executed abroad Polish People's Republic rehabilitations