The Romanian Social Democratic Party (, or , PSD) was a

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

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 ...

. In the early 1920s, the Socialist Party of Romania split over the issue of affiliation with the

Third International 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 Internation ...

. The majority, which supported affiliation, evolved into the Communist Party of Romania in 1921, while the members who opposed the new orientation formed various political groupings, eventually reorganizing under a central leadership in 1927. From 1938 to 1944, the party was outlawed but remained active in clandestinity. After 1944, it allied with the Communists and eventually was forced to reunite with them to form the '' Workers' Party of Romania'' in 1948. It published the magazines '' Socialismul'', ''Lumea Nouă'', and ''Libertatea''. After the end of the Communist single-party system in 1989, a group of former members created a new party which proclaimed itself the direct descendant of the PSD.

Foundation and World War II

The first organized party of the Romanian socialists, Romanian Social Democratic Workers' Party was founded in 1893, but was disbanded by the end of the decade after conflicts between the bourgeois leaders, who considered democratic reforms were possible only in alliance with the National Liberal Party, and the proletarian leaders and members, who wanted to continue as a strictly working class party. Lacking material means and organisational experience, the Marxists were only able to re-organise a socialist party in 1910, when the Social Democratic Party of Romania was founded. Outlawed during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the party re-emerged in 1918 with a revolutionary programme, rebranding itself as the Socialist Party of Romania (PSR). As following the war Romania acquired a large extent of new territories, the socialists toned down their objectives in order to accommodate the more

reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...

-minded Social Democratic Party of Transylvania and Banat and Social Democratic Party of Bukovina. Despite successive declarations in favour of uniting the three parties under a single central leadership, this objective was never completed, as the revolutionary and reformist factions came into open conflict. Unity projects where shattered after the social democrats, including most members of the Bukovina party, an important part of the Transylvanian party, and a minority in old Romania, broke from the party in February 1921, the moment it became clear that the communist faction had gained a majority in the central leadership. The majority of the PSR became increasingly favorable to 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, ...

option, reforming itself as the Communist Party of Romania (''PCdR'', later ''PCR''), in May 1921. A minority wing formed the Federation of Socialist Parties from Romania, which reformed as the ''Social Democratic Party'' in May 1927 and affiliated with the International. The leader of the PSD in the following period was Constantin Titel Petrescu. The party was a member of the

Labour and Socialist International The Labour and Socialist International (LSI) was an international organization of socialist and labourist parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a merger of the rival Vienna International and the Berne Intern ...

between 1923 and 1940. Beginning with the late 1920s several groups left the party dissatisfied with what they perceived as the turn of the PSDR leadership to right-wing politics. Such groups included the Socialist Workers Party of Romania, founded in 1928 by a group around Leon Ghelerter (joined in 1931 by former communist leader Gheorghe Cristescu), and the Socialist Party (''Partidul Socialist'') created in 1933 by a group around Constantin Popovici. Shortly after the latter's creation, the factions joined to form the Unitary Socialist Party, only to split again in 1935. Banned in 1938 by the personal

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Carol II Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930, until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. As the eldest son of Ferdinand I of Romania, King Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I, ...

, the PSD remained active in clandestinity, peacefully resisting to the rise of

Fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

, condemning the

Iron Guard The Iron Guard () was a Romanian militant revolutionary nationalism, revolutionary Clerical fascism, religious fascist Political movement, movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel M ...

and the

National Legionary State The National Legionary State () was a Totalitarianism, totalitarian Fascism, fascist regime which governed Kingdom of Romania, Romania for five months, from 14 September 1940 until its official dissolution on 14 February 1941. The regime was led ...

proclaimed in 1940. With the ascendancy of

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and Mareșal (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''Conduc� ...

and Romania's participation in

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 ...

alongside the

Axis Powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

(''see

Romania during World War II The Kingdom of Romania, under the rule of King Carol II of Romania, King Carol II, initially maintained Neutral country, neutrality in World War II. However, fascist political forces, especially the Iron Guard, rose in popularity and power, urgi ...

''), the PSD, who remained favourable to the Allies, continued passive resistance to the regime. After the

Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina Between 28 June and 3 July 1940, the Soviet Union occupied Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, following an ultimatum made to Romania on 26 June 1940 that threatened the use of force. Those regions, with a total area of and a population of 3,776 ...

, the social democrats broke all the ties with the

communists 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, d ...

, who supported the Soviet annexation. In April 1944, the PCR and the PSD formed a United Workers' Front (''Frontul Unic Muncitoresc''), which was meant to coordinate actions from the left. In June the two parties, along with the

National Peasants' Party The National Peasants' Party (also known as the National Peasant Party or National Farmers' Party; , or ''Partidul Național-Țărănist'', PNȚ) was an Agrarianism, agrarian political party in the Kingdom of Romania. It was formed in 1926 throu ...

and the National Liberals, created the clandestine ''National Democratic Bloc'', which succeeded in overthrowing Antonescu's government on August 23, and backed the government of

Constantin Sănătescu Constantin Sănătescu (14 January 1885 – 8 November 1947) was a Romanian general and statesman who served as the 44th Prime Minister of Romania after the 23 August 1944 coup after which Romania left the Axis powers and joined the Allies. Ea ...

which declared war on the Axis.

Late 1940s

Subsequently, PSD entered talks with PCR representative

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 ...

, leading to the creation of the National Democratic Front(''Frontul Naţional Democrat'', ''FND'') in February 1945 (which grouped the two parties together with

Petru Groza Petru Groza (7 December 1884 – 7 January 1958) was a Romanian politician, best known as the first Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister of the Romanian Communist Party, Communist Party-dominated government under Soviet Union, Soviet Sovie ...

Ploughmen's Front The Ploughmen's Front () was a Romanian Left-wing politics, left-wing Agrarianism, agrarian-inspired political organisation of ploughmen, founded at Deva, Romania, Deva in 1933 and led by Petru Groza. At its peak in 1946, the Front had over 1 m ...

, Mihai Ralea's Socialist Peasants' Party, and Mitiță Constantinescu's Union of Patriots). Meant as an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

of the Left, the FND faced accusations from the PSD that it was becoming a tool for the PCR (especially after it had passed resolutions reflecting

democratic centralism Democratic centralism is the organisational principle of most communist parties, in which decisions are made by a process of vigorous and open debate amongst party membership, and are subsequently binding upon all members of the party. The co ...

). An internal struggle ensued between the pro-communist wing and Titel Petrescu's supporters; Petrescu's faction (including Lazăr Măglașu) left the PSD in March 1946 to found the Independent Social Democratic Party (''Partidul Social Democrat Independent'', ''PSDI''), which presented itself as an independent faction in the November 1946 general election - these were won by the FND after a large-scale

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share o ...

engineered by the Groza government. The PCR seized full power in December 1947, beginning 42 years of Communist rule in Romania. Under pressure from the PCR to create "a single party of the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

", the PSD under the leadership of Lothar Rădăceanu and

Ștefan Voitec Ștefan Voitec (also rendered Ștefan Voitech,''Politics and Political Parties'', pp. 264, 554 Stepan Voitek;V. Kolesnik, "Spioonide Internatsionaal (Trotskistid faschistlikkude luureasutuste tegevuses)", in ''Edasi'', Issue 105/1937, p. 2 June 1 ...

accepted Marxism-Leninism and reunited with the Communists in February 1948 to create the Romanian Workers' Party (''Partidul Muncitoresc Român'', ''PMR''). However, the few recalcitrant PSD members were quickly pushed out, leaving the PMR as a renamed and enlarged PCR. The PMR changed its name back to the PCR in 1965. Several former PSD members, including Titel Petrescu, were victims of political repression and many died in communist prisons. On the other, hand, a number of former PSD members went on to high posts in the PMR/PCR. Most notably, Voitec served as an important official in the government for all but a few years until his death in 1984.

Notable members

* Tiron Albani * Vasile Anagnoste * Ștefan Baciu * Traian Cercega * Alexandru Claudian * Stavri Cunescu * Adrian Dimitriu * Poldi Filderman * Mircea Florian * Ioan Flueraș * Leon Ghelerter * Enea Grapini * George Grigorovici * Gheorghe Homasca * Tudor Ionescu * Theodor Iordăchescu * Iorgu Iordan * Iosif Jumanca * Leon Kalustian * Mișa Levin * Lazăr Măglașu * Ioan I. Mirescu * Ilie Moscovici * Constantin Motaș * Gheorghe Nicolau * Ion Pas * Pavel Pavel * Constantin Titel Petrescu * Dumitru Petrescu * Iacob Pistiner * Constantin Popovici * Dumitru Popp * Lothar Rădăceanu * Otto Roth * Dan Simonescu * Emanoil Socor * Barbu Solomon * Alexandru Talex * Ștefan Tita * Șerban Voinea *

* Iancu Zissu

Electoral history

Legislative elections

References

External links

Social Democratic history at the PSD site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romanian Social Democratic Party (1927-48) 1927 establishments in Romania 1948 disestablishments in Romania Defunct socialist parties in Romania Members of the Labour and Socialist International Political parties disestablished in 1948 Political parties established in 1927 Political parties in the Kingdom of Romania Romanian Communist Party Social democratic parties in Romania