Petre Țuțea (; 6 October 1902 – 3 December 1991) was a
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n philosopher, journalist, and economist.
Biography
Early years and the Legionary Movement
Petre Țuțea was born in the village of
Boteni,
Muscel County
Muscel County is a former first-order administrative district of Romania. It was located in the southern central part of Greater Romania, in the northwestern part of the historic region of Muntenia. Its territory is now mostly part of Argeș Coun ...
(now in
Argeș County
Argeș County () is a county ('' județ'') of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Pitești.
Demographics
On 20 October 2011, it had a population of 612,431 and the population density was 89/km2.
* Romanians – 97%
* Roma (Gypsi ...
). His father, Petre Bădescu, was a
Romanian Orthodox
The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates i ...
priest and his mother, Ana Țuțea, was of peasant stock. In 1920, after the
Union of Transylvania with Romania
The union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia. The Great Union Day (also called ''Unification Day''), celebrated on 1 December, is a national holiday in Romani ...
, Țuțea left his village to finish high school in
Cluj
; hu, kincses város)
, official_name=Cluj-Napoca
, native_name=
, image_skyline=
, subdivision_type1 = County
, subdivision_name1 = Cluj County
, subdivision_type2 = Status
, subdivision_name2 = County seat
, settlement_type = City
, le ...
and went on to study law at the
University of Cluj. After graduating, he obtained in 1929 a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in Administrative Law, also at the University of Cluj.
Țuțea moved to
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
and in 1932 he founded, together with
Petre Pandrea Petre is a surname and given name derived from Peter. Notable persons with that name include:
People with the given name Petre
* Charles Petre Eyre (1817–1902), English Roman Catholic prelate
* Ion Petre Stoican (circa 1930–1990), Romanian v ...
,
[Petre Țuțea, ''Între Dumnezeu și Neamul meu'', Fundația Anastasia, Bucharest, 1992] a leftist newspaper, "Stânga" ("The Left"),
[Popescu, p. xxii] that was quickly and forcefully closed by the government. Although he was familiar with Marxist writings in his youth, he rejected it
[Eric Gilder]
Review: "Petre Tutea: Between Sacrifice and Suicide"
''Anglican Theological Review'', Spring 2008 and later became a devout
Orthodox Christian
Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...
.
In 1935 Țuțea and four other writers published a nationalist program of economic and social development, "Manifestul Revoluției Naționale" ("Manifesto for a National Revolution").
Around the same time he met the influential philosopher
Nae Ionescu
Nae Ionescu (, born Nicolae C. Ionescu; – 15 March 1940) was a Romanian philosopher, logician, mathematician, professor, and journalist. Near the end of his career, he became known for his antisemitism and devotion to far right politics, in th ...
and wrote for his famous newspaper, "Cuvântul", along with
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who establ ...
,
Emil Cioran
Emil Mihai Cioran (, ; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. H ...
,
Radu Gyr
Radu Gyr (; pen name of Radu Ștefan Demetrescu ; March 2, 1905, Câmpulung-Muscel – 29 April 1975, Bucharest) was a Romanian poet, essayist, playwright and journalist.
Biography
Early life
Gyr was the son of actor Ștefan "Coco" Dumitres ...
,
Mircea Vulcănescu
Mircea Aurel Vulcănescu (3 March 1904 – 28 October 1952) was a Romanian philosopher, economist, ethics teacher, sociologist, and far-right politics, far-right politician. Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance from 1941 to 1944 in the ...
,
Mihail Sebastian
Mihail Sebastian (; born Iosif Mendel Hechter; October 18, 1907 – May 29, 1945) was a Romanian playwright, essayist, journalist and novelist.
Life
Sebastian was born to a Jewish family in Brăila, the son of Mendel and Clara Hechter. After ...
, and other known writers.
Țuțea was a member of the
Criterion literary society and, like many other fellow members, became a sympathizer of the
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard ( ro, Garda de Fier) was a Romanian militant revolutionary fascist movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel Michael () or the Legionnaire Movement (). It was strongly ...
, a fascist organization. According to various published interviews of that time, Țuțea felt democracy would have not guaranteed the sovereignty of the Romanian people.
He also noted that many Romanian intellectuals had supported the Legionnaires, because "their radical position against the harmful influence of Russian
Bolshevism
Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, fo ...
", which he considered to be "controlled by Jews" (see ''
Judeo-Bolshevism
Jewish Bolshevism, also Judeo–Bolshevism, is an anti-communist and antisemitic canard, which alleges that the Jews were the originators of the Russian Revolution in 1917, and that they held primary power among the Bolsheviks who led the r ...
'').
Speaking of the Iron Guard, Țuțea believed the main difference between this organization and
Fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
or
National Socialism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
was its avowed Christian character.
Between 1936 and 1939, he was a director in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, in charge of the ''Office of Economics Publications and Propaganda''. In May 1937 Țuțea was awarded the
Order of the Crown, Knight rank. He then was a director of the research office in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. As 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 by ...
was proclaimed in 1940, he was a member of the Romanian delegation to
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
for economic negotiations. He returned after the National Legionary State was abolished (after January 1941).
[Popescu, p. xxiii] In May 1941 he was awarded the
Order of the Star, Knight rank.
As the
war against the Soviet Union began in June 1941, he asked to be sent to the front, but his request was refused.
Țuțea worked as a director in the Ministry of War Economy and after
King Michael's Coup
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
of 23 August 1944, a director of studies in the Ministry of National Economy.
Communist era
Țuțea was arrested by the
Communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
in 1949, and was sent, without a trial, to
"re-education" (euphemism for forced labor) at
Ocnele Mari
Ocnele Mari is a town located in Vâlcea County, Oltenia, Romania. The town administers eight villages: Buda, Cosota, Făcăi, Gura Suhașului, Lunca, Ocnița, Slătioarele, and Țeica.
The town is situated in the central part of the county, at ...
state prison.
[Popescu, p. xxiv] After he was released in 1953, and unable to find work, he lived with friends and relatives.
Arrested again in 1956, he was tried for "conspiracy against the State".
He was found guilty and sentenced to 18 years of hard labor, of which he served 8 years in various prisons, ending up in the infamous
Aiud Prison
Aiud Prison is a prison complex in Aiud, Alba County, located in central Transylvania, Romania. It is infamous for the treatment of its political inmates, especially during World War II under the rule of Ion Antonescu, and later under the Commu ...
.
After the release of all political prisoners in 1964, Petre Țuțea became a
Socratic philosopher. He also started to write books and essays, created an original dramatic form, "theater as seminar", and produced a philosophical manifesto, "The Philosophy of Nuances" (1969). Due to
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
, very little of his work would be published, and virtually nothing appeared after 1972. Under permanent observation, Țuțea had many of his manuscripts confiscated by the Romanian secret police, the
Securitate
The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...
. In the late 1980s he started working on a massive unfinished project in 5 volumes; "Man, a Christian Treatise of Anthropology".
After the Revolution
After the
Romanian Revolution
The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred i ...
of 1989, Țuțea was embraced by Romanian intellectuals,
receiving frequent requests from journalists and TV crews for interviews while living for a year with a student in theology,
Radu Preda. Țuțea spent the last year of his life in a Christian hospice, "Christiana". He died in Bucharest at age 89, before seeing any of his books published. He was buried in the cemetery next to Saint Parascheva Church in
Boteni.
A very popular book (sold in more than 70,000 copies) is ''322 de vorbe memorabile'', a collection of
aphorism
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...
s taken from various interviews, ordered alphabetically. In these interviews Țuțea adopted a hyperbolic, rhetorical style and the editor's choices included several controversial topics, such as
atheism
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
,
Communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, and
Antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
. He generally adopts a hardline Orthodox Christian point-of-view, being critical of various groups, including atheists (whom he names "
weasel
Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bo ...
s"), communists (naming communism a "social cancer") and
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
(whom he finds responsible for the existence of antisemitism).
A street in
Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...
and a school in Boteni bear his name. In 2017, a hall at
Aiud Prison
Aiud Prison is a prison complex in Aiud, Alba County, located in central Transylvania, Romania. It is infamous for the treatment of its political inmates, especially during World War II under the rule of Ion Antonescu, and later under the Commu ...
was dedicated to his memory; the Petre Țuțea Hall is a space intended for educational and psychosocial assistance activities in support of inmates.
Bibliography
*Între Dumnezeu și neamul meu ("Between God and my Nation" – an early, fragmentary, very popular collection of interviews. Also contains unreliable editions of various essays)
*322 de vorbe memorabile ("322 Memorable Words", a collection of aphorisms collected from interviews, alphabetically ordered by the editor)
*Filozofia nuanțelor: Eseuri, Portrete, Corespondență ("The Philosophy of Nuances, with other Essays, Portraits and Correspondence)
*Aurel-Dragoș Munteanu (a book written in 1972 about the Romanian writer who was one of Țuțea's best friends, later became a famous dissident and diplomat)
*Mircea Eliade (book about
Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious st ...
's scholarly, artistic and religious outlook)
*Reflecții religioase asupra cunoașterii ("Religious Reflections Upon Knowledge", a book on Plato's philosophy seen from a religious point of view)
*Lumea ca Teatru: Teatrul Seminar (World of Theatre: Theatre as Seminar)
*Omul; Tratat de antropologie creștină (Man: A Treatise of Christian Anthropology – an unfinished project of five volumes, of which the first two are published here: I. Problems, or The Book of Questions; II. Systems or The Books of Logical Wholes – Mathematical and Autonomous, Parallel to Ontic Wholes)
Notes
References
*Alexandru Daniel Popescu, "Petre Țuțea between sacrifice and suicide",
Ashgate Publishing
Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham ( Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office i ...
, 2004
External links
Web site dedicated to Petre ȚuțeaThe Philosophy of nuances – Site dedicated to Petre Țuțea's life and work
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tutea, Petre
1902 births
1991 deaths
People from Argeș County
Babeș-Bolyai University alumni
Romanian dissidents
Romanian essayists
Romanian fascists
Romanian monarchists
Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church
20th-century Romanian economists
20th-century essayists
20th-century Romanian philosophers
Romanian anti-communists
Inmates of Aiud prison
Romanian prisoners and detainees
Knights of the Order of the Crown (Romania)
Knights of the Order of the Star of Romania
Christian fundamentalists