![Scarlat Callimachi in December 1966](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Scarlat_Callimachi_in_December_1966.png)
Scarlat Callimachi or Calimachi (; nicknamed ''Prinţul Roşu'', "the
Red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
Prince"; September 20, 1896 – June 2, 1975) 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 journalist, essayist,
futurist
Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...
poet,
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
ist, and
communist
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 ...
activist, a member of the
Callimachi family of
boyar
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Russian nobility, Russia, Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia, Wallachia and ...
and
Phanariote
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots ( el, Φαναριώτες, ro, Fanarioți, tr, Fenerliler) were members of prominent Greek families in Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumeni ...
lineage. He is not to be confused with his ancestor, ''
hospodar
Hospodar or gospodar is a term of Slavonic origin, meaning "lord" or "master".
Etymology and Slavic usage
In the Slavonic language, ''hospodar'' is usually applied to the master/owner of a house or other properties and also the head of a family. ...
''
Scarlat Callimachi
Scarlat Callimachi or Calimachi (; nicknamed ''Prinţul Roşu'', "the Red
Prince"; September 20, 1896 – June 2, 1975) was a Romanian journalist, essayist, futurist poet, trade unionist, and communist activist, a member of the Callimachi fa ...
.
Biography
Born in
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 ...
, he lived for part of his childhood at the family
manor in
Botoşani, where, at age 11, he witnessed first-hand the
1907 peasants' uprisings (which, as he later admitted, contributed to his
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
sympathies).
[Chiva & Şchiop; Lăcustă, p.25] As a youth, he read
Russian anarchist books, while studying in Paris during World War I, joined
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
circles.
[Chiva & Şchiop] While travelling through Finland in 1917, Callimachi attended a public meeting at which
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
gave a speech, and consequently adopted
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 ...
.
After his return to Romania, Callimachi edited a short-lived magazine in Botoşani (1924–1925), and published
Avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
poems in
free verse
Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French ''vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech.
Definit ...
— inspired by the work of
Russian Futurists
Russian Futurism is the broad term for a movement of Russian poets and artists who adopted the principles of Filippo Marinetti's "Manifesto of Futurism," which espoused the rejection of the past, and a celebration of speed, machinery, violence, ...
. With fellow
modernists
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
Ion Vinea
Ion Vinea (born Ioan Eugen Iovanaki, sometimes Iovanache; April 17, 1895 – July 6, 1964) was a Romanian poet, novelist, journalist, literary theorist, and political figure. He became active on the modernist scene during his teens—his poetic wo ...
and
Stephan Roll Stephan Roll (pen name of Gheorghe Dinu, also credited as Stéphane, Stefan or Ștefan Roll; June 5, 1904 – May 14, 1974) was a Romanian poet, editor, film critic, and communist militant. An autodidact, he played host to the Romanian avant-garde a ...
, he later issued the
literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...
''
Punct Punct may refer to:
* Punct (magazine), Romanian art magazine
*PÜNCT
''PÜNCT'' is a two-player strategy board game. It is the sixth release in the ''GIPF'' project of seven abstract strategy games, although it is considered the fifth game in ...
''.
Callimachi was also the
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of the magazine. He began working on communist and other leftist newspapers (including ''Clopotul'', which he himself edited in his native town) while keeping a front as an employee of his relatives.
According to his own testimony, he joined the outlawed
Communist Party of Romania
The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that woul ...
(PCdR, later PCR) in 1932, an allegiance which brought Callimachi into a relatively small, but dedicated, category of communist sympathisers of
upper class
Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...
upbringing — it also included
N. D. Cocea (to whom Callimachi was a close collaborator) and
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (; November 4, 1900 – April 17, 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 w ...
. Nevertheless, at the same time, he was a nominal member of the
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party (also known as the National Peasant Party or National Farmers' Party; ro, Partidul Național Țărănesc, or ''Partidul Național-Țărănist'', PNȚ) was an agrarian political party in the Kingdom of Romania. It w ...
(PNŢ).
He continued to criticize the PNŢ: the most virulent of his attacks on the cabinet of
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod or Vaida-Voievod (27 February 1872 – 19 March 1950) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician who was a supporter and promoter of the Union of Transylvania with Romania, union of Transylvania (before 1920 part of ...
— voiced soon after the authorities had repressed the
Griviţa Strike of 1933 — led to his arrest and sentencing.
Among PCR activists charged with establishing links with other groups (in accordance with the ''
Popular Front
A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault".
More generally, it is "a coalition ...
''
Stalinist
Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...
doctrine), Callimachi, who had been a member of ''
Amicii URSS
''Amicii URSS'' (Romanian for " heFriends of the Soviet Union"; , occasionally known as ''Prietenii URSS'' (), which carries the same meaning) was a cultural association in interwar Romania, uniting left-wing and anti-fascist intellectuals who adv ...
'' in 1934, was one of the leaders of the Democratic Bloc (''Blocul Democratic''), a PCR-created legal organization which in 1935 succeeded in forming a tight alliance with
Petru Groza
Petru Groza (7 December 1884 – 7 January 1958) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician, best known as the first Prime Minister of the Communist Party-dominated government under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Commu ...
's
Ploughmen's Front
The Ploughmen's Front ( ro, Frontul Plugarilor) was a Romanian left-wing agrarian-inspired political organisation of ploughmen, founded at Deva in 1933 and led by Petru Groza. At its peak in 1946, the Front had over 1 million members.
Histo ...
(the agreement was signed in
Ţebea).
In 1937, as the
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
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 ...
was gaining unprecedented momentum and the secondary fascist movement around the
National Christian Party
The National Christian Party ( ro, Partidul Național Creștin) was a radical-right authoritarian and strongly antisemitic political party in Romania active between 1935 and 1938. It was formed by a merger of Octavian Goga's National Agrarian Part ...
was ascending to power, Callimachi decided to leave Romania and settled in France, but returned a year later, after
King
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 ...
Carol II
Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I in 1914. He was the first of th ...
acted against the Iron Guard and established a dictatorship around the
National Renaissance Front
The National Renaissance Front ( ro, Frontul Renașterii Naționale, FRN; also translated as ''Front of National Regeneration'', ''Front of National Rebirth'', ''Front of National Resurrection'', or ''Front of National Renaissance'') was a Romani ...
.
In August 1940, as Carol engineered a crackdown on the left-wing opposition, he was
interned
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
in
Miercurea-Ciuc
Miercurea Ciuc (; hu, Csíkszereda, ; german: Szeklerburg) is the county seat of Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, a mainly Hungarian-speaking ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is situated in the Olt (riv ...
.
Like Pătrăşcanu, Callimachi was set free by
Siguranţa Statului under 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 ...
, established by the Iron Guard later in the year (the regime, which had aligned itself with
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, was attempting to preserve a good relationship with the Soviet Union).
He was again imprisoned by
Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II.
A Romanian Army career officer who made ...
's
military dictatorship in Romania, and again interned, as many other PCR members, in
Caracal
The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted e ...
, and later
Târgu Jiu
Târgu Jiu () is the capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the city: Bârsești, Drăgoieni, Iezureni, Polat ...
.
After World War II, he became a leader of the Singular Journalists' Trade Union, which had replaced the Union of Professional Journalists in October 1944 and had since become an instrument of the PCR-controlled government in controlling the press. He, with N. D. Cocea,
Miron Constantinescu
Miron Constantinescu (13 December 1917 – 18 July 1974) was a Romanian communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR, known as PMR for a period of his lifetime), as well as a Marxist sociologist, historian, academic, ...
, and
Ion Pas
Ion Pas (born Ioan M. Pascu; October 6, 1895 – May 20, 1974) was a Romanian novelist, translator and left-wing politician.
Born in Bucharest, his parents were Marin Pascu, a small-time craftsman, and his wife Maria (''née'' Ispas). He attended ...
, organized the expulsion and denouncement of journalists who professed
anti-communism
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
, and maintained this position after the proclamation of the
People's Republic of Romania
The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian People ...
in 1948, before moving on to become head of the Romanian-Russian Museum (''Muzeul Româno-Rus''), an institution created to highlight cultural and social links between Romania and the Soviet Union in accordance with the
Zhdanov Doctrine
The Zhdanov Doctrine (also called Zhdanovism or Zhdanovshchina; russian: доктрина Жданова, ждановизм, ждановщина) was a Soviet cultural doctrine developed by Central Committee secretary Andrei Zhdanov in 1946. It ...
. The Museum was closed down in 1956, after the
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (; 8 November 1901 – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian communist politician and electrician. He was the first Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party ( ...
regime began rejecting Soviet influence.
[Frunză, p. 457]
He died in 1975, and was buried in the Bucharest
Bellu cemetery
Șerban Vodă Cemetery (commonly known as Bellu Cemetery) is the largest and most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania.
It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu. It has been in use since 1858. T ...
; he had refused the ostentatious funeral reserved for senior PCR members.
Notes
References
* Ionuţ Chiva, Adrian Şchiop
"Boierii comunişti" (interview with Dimitrie Calimachi, the son of Scarlat Callimachi) in ''Prezent'', November 21, 2006
* Cristina Diac
in ''
Jurnalul Naţional'', April 12, 2006
*Victor Frunză, ''Istoria stalinismului în România'',
Humanitas
''Humanitas'' is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below.
Classical origins of term
The Latin word ''humanitas'' corresponded to the Greek concepts of '' philanthr ...
, Bucharest, 1990
*
Dan Grigorescu
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
, ''Istoria unei generaţii pierdute: expressioniştii'',
Editura Eminescu, Bucharest, 1980
*Ioan Lăcustă, "Strămoşii mei au fost răzeşi" (interview with Scarlat Callimachi), published post-mortem in ''
Magazin Istoric
''Magazin Istoric'' ( en, The Historical Magazine) is a Romanian monthly magazine.
Overview
''Magazin Istoric'' was started in 1967. The first issue appeared in April 1967. The headquarters is in Bucharest. The monthly magazine contains articles ...
'', Nr.9 (102), September 1975, p. 24-25
* Paula Mihailov
"Prietenii din România ai Rusiei Sovietice" in ''Jurnalul Naţional''
*
Stelian Tănase
Stelian Tănase (born February 17, 1952) is a Romanian writer, journalist, political analyst, and talk show host. Tănase was from November 2013 to October 2015 the president of TVR. Having briefly engaged in politics during the early 1990s, aft ...
"Belu Zilber" in ''
22'', Nr.700 (August 2003)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Callimachi, Scarlat
Romanian essayists
Romanian magazine editors
Romanian magazine founders
Romanian newspaper editors
Romanian newspaper founders
Romanian male poets
Romanian trade union leaders
Futurist writers
Romanian avant-garde
Romanian communists
National Peasants' Party politicians
20th-century Romanian politicians
Scarlat
Journalists from Bucharest
Inmates of Târgu Jiu camp
Burials at Bellu Cemetery
1896 births
1975 deaths
20th-century Romanian poets
Male essayists
20th-century essayists