Zamfir Constantin Arbore (; born Zamfir Ralli, russian: Земфирий Константинович Арборе-Ралли, ''Zemfiriyi Konstantinovich Arborye-Ralli''; also known as Zamfir Arbure, Zamfir Rally, Zemphiri Ralli and Aivaza;
[Felea (1971), p.9] November 14, 1848 – April 2 or April 3, 1933) was a
Bukovinian
Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also List of European regions with alternative names#B, other languages. is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical regio ...
-born
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 political activist originally active in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, also known for his work as an amateur historian, geographer and
ethnographer
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
. Arbore debuted in
left-wing politics
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political%20ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically in ...
from early in life, gained an intimate knowledge of the Russian revolutionary milieu, and participated in both
nihilist
Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan ...
and
Narodnik
The Narodniks (russian: народники, ) were a politically conscious movement of the Russian intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, ...
conspiracies. Self-exiled to
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, he became a member of the
International Workingmen's Association
The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...
. Arbore was mostly active as an international
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 ...
and a disciple of
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary ...
, but eventually parted with the latter to create his independent group, the Revolutionary Community. He was subsequently close to the anarchist geographer
Élisée Reclus
Jacques Élisée Reclus (; 15 March 18304 July 1905) was a French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork, ''La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes'' ("Universal Geography"), over a period of ...
, who became his new mentor.
Arbore settled in Romania after 1877, and, abandoning anarchism altogether, committed himself to the more moderate cause of
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
. His campaign against
Russian despotism also led him to champion the cause of freedom for
Bessarabia
Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...
region, to which he was personally tied by his family history. These commitments resulted in Arbore's outside support for the
Russian Revolution of 1905
The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
, when he and
Petru Cazacu
Petru Cazacu ( was a politician from Bessarabia (Moldova).
Biography
He served as the prime minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic
The Moldavian Democratic Republic (MDR; ro, Republica Democratică Moldovenească, ), also known ...
founded the Swiss-based ''Basarabia'' newspaper. Arbore had by then earned academic credentials with his detailed works on
Bessarabian geography, and, as a cultural journalist, cultivated relationships with socialist and
National Liberal
National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism).
A seri ...
activists. He was also notoriously the friend of poet
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...
in the 1880s, and worked closely with writer
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu ( 26 February 1838 – ) was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history.
Life
He was born Tadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (now Kerstentsi in Chernivtsi ...
during the 1890s.
During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Zamfir Arbore provoked controversy when he supported a Romanian alliance with the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
, justified in his opinion by a need to liberate Bessarabia. Despite this, and although he publicly welcomed the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, Arbore was reintegrated into the political scene of
Greater Romania
The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea.
As a concept, its main goal is the creation ...
, serving two terms in
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. Before his death in 1933, he was drawn into
agrarian and
cooperativist politics, and was successively a member of the
Peasants' Party and the
People's Party. Arbore was survived by his two daughters, both of them famous in their own right:
Ecaterina Ecaterina is a Romanian female first name meaning Catherine. Notable persons with that name include:
* Ecaterina Andronescu (born 1948), Romanian politician and engineer
*Ecaterina Arbore
Ekaterina Arbore, Arbore-Ralli or Ralli-Arbore (rendered ...
was a
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 ...
politician and physician;
Nina Nina may refer to:
* Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname
Acronyms
*National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq
* Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology
*No income, ...
a
modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...
ist.
Biography
Origins and early life
Zamfir Ralli was the scion 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 ...
aristocracy from the principality of
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...
: his paternal grandfather Zamfirache Ralli was an ennobled
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
merchant, married into the local
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
elite; Zamfir's mother was an
ethnic Ukrainian. Although cosmopolitan, the future activist always prioritized his Romanian roots, changing his birth name to ''Arbore'' (var. ''Arbure'') in the belief that his Romanian ancestors had inherited the name and boyar status from the ancient Arbore family.
[Boia, p.143][ Armand Goșu]
"Despre boieri, fără prejudecăți"
, in ''Revista 22
''Revista 22'' (''22 Magazine'') is a Romanian weekly magazine, issued by the Group for Social Dialogue and focused mainly on politics and culture.
History and profile
''Revista 22'' was started in 1990. The first edition of the magazine was print ...
'', Nr. 778, February 2005 Zamfirache's son Constantin, the friend of poet
Alexander Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
, was reputedly adopted by Dimitrie Arbore.
[Felea (1971), p.8] He also inherited a Bessarabian manorial estate in
Dolna, which in the 1820s had served as the Pushkin's vacation house.
["Zamfir Arbore"]
, biographical entry at th
United National Grand Lodge of Romania
; retrieved February 1, 2011
![Museum dolna](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Museum_dolna.jpg)
The subsequent genealogical claim traced the family history back to the late 15th century, with ''
Hetman
( uk, гетьман, translit=het'man) is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders.
Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century. It was the title of the second-highest military co ...
''
Luca Arbore
Luca Arbore or Arbure (Old Cyrillic: ; Renaissance Latin: ''Herborus''Nicolae Iorga, "Cronică", in ''Revista Istorică'', Issues 7–9/1934, p. 291 or ''Copacius''; died April 1523) was a Moldavian boyar, diplomat, and statesman, several times c ...
.
It also made Zamfir a distant relative of various members of Romanian socialist environment, including
Vasile Morțun
Vasile G. Morțun (November 30, 1860 – July 20, 1919) was a Romanian politician, playwright and prose writer.
Biography Origins, journalism and political beginnings
Born in Roman, he came from a wealthy Moldavian '' boyar'' family, and was o ...
and
Izabela Sadoveanu. The claim's reliability divides modern researchers. While historian of journalism Victor Frunză sees Arbore as descending "from an ancient family of local boyars", academic
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944 in Bucharest) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history from the deformations due to ideological propaganda. I.e. as ...
describes Zamfir Arbore as being tied to the historical Arbores by "a rather thin line".
Boia also notes that Arbore's "revised past" and arbitrary interpretation of his own background may have been opportunistic, leaving Arbore free to gravitate between conflicting national identities and rendering his radical discourse more palatable for all cultural contexts.
[Boia, p.144] According to political scientist
Armand Goșu, Arbore had effectively "stolen" his grandmother's maiden name, reviving an otherwise extinct boyar line.
Although mostly active in Bessarabia, Arbore was actually a native of
Chernowitz
Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the u ...
( ro, Cernăuți), the administrative center of Bukovina within the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
(now Chernivtsi,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
).
[Maria Lidia, Martin Veith]
"Memoirs of an Anarchist in Romania. Zamfir C. Arbure (Ralli)"
, in ''KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library
The Kate Sharpley Library (or KSL) is a library dedicated to anarchist texts and history. Started in 1979 and reorganized in 1991, it currently holds around ten thousand English language volumes, pamphlets and periodicals.
__NOTOC__ Namesake
The K ...
'', No. 57, March 2009 He later moved into Bessarabia (the Russian-ruled
Bessarabian Governorate), attending school in
Kishinev (Chișinău), before moving to another school in
Nikolayev.
During his troubled youth, Arbore-Ralli underwent medical training in
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 ...
and
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, but was more involved within the revolutionary,
nihilist
Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan ...
and
pan-Russian anarchist underground, with the goal of subverting
Tsarist autocracy
Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states th ...
.
His political sympathies also connected him with the
Narodnik
The Narodniks (russian: народники, ) were a politically conscious movement of the Russian intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, ...
movement, which he joined at the same time as other young Bessarabian intellectuals (
Victor Crăsescu,
Axinte Frunză,
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; russian: Константин Егорович Стере, ''Konstantin Yegorovich Stere'' or Константин Георгиевич Стере, ''Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere''; also known u ...
,
Nicolae Zubcu-Codreanu Nicolae may refer to:
* Nicolae (name), a Romanian name
* ''Nicolae'' (novel), a 1997 novel
See also
*Nicolai (disambiguation)
*Nicolao Nicolao is an Italian given name and a surname. It may refer to the following:
Given name
*Nicolao Civitali ...
) who saw a link between their
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
struggle and the
agrarian cause of Russian Narodniks
[ Leonid Cemortan]
"Drama intelectualilor basarabeni de stînga"
, in '' Revista Sud-Est'', Nr. 3/2000[ ]Henri H. Stahl Henri H. Stahl (also known as Henry H. Stahl or H. H. Stahl; 1901 – 9 September 1991) was a Romanian Marxist cultural anthropologist, ethnographer, sociologist, and social historian.
Biography
Born in Bucharest to a family of Alsatian and ...
"Capitolul VII. Curentul gândirii socialiste"
, i
, e-book
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
version at the University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
Faculty of Sociology; retrieved February 1, 2011 (he is believed to have been personally acquainted with the agrarian theorist and Narodnik father figure
Alexander Herzen
Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ге́рцен, translit=Alexándr Ivánovich Gértsen; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism" and one of the main fathers of agra ...
).
In Switzerland
The subversive activities brought Zamfir to the attention of Tsarist authorities, particularly after his involvement in
Sergey Nechayev
Sergey Gennadiyevich Nechayev (russian: Серге́й Генна́диевич Неча́ев) ( – ) was a Russian communist revolutionary and prominent figure of the Russian nihilist movement, known for his single-minded pursuit of revolution ...
's nihilist conspiracy of 1869.
Unable to finish his studies, Arbore was singled out for arrest, and according to his own account, since placed under doubt,
even served time as a
political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
in the
Peter and Paul Fortress
The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s i ...
and in
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
.
[ George Stanca]
"Surse de documentare la Pamfil Șeicaru. Studiu de caz: eseul ''Relațiile româno-ruse''"
, in the Babeș-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University ( ro, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai , hu, Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetem, commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. UBB has a long academic tradition, started by Universitas ...
's ''Ephemerides'', Nr. 2/2010, p.94["Atentatul dela Dobrițin. Părerea unui bărbat competent"]
, in ''Românul (Arad)'', Nr. 40/1914, p.6 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University ( ro, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai , hu, Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetem, commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. UBB has a long academic tradition, started by Universitas ...
br>Transsylvanica Online Library
) Eventually, he made his way to
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, where he contacted international anarchist figures such as
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary ...
and
Élisée Reclus
Jacques Élisée Reclus (; 15 March 18304 July 1905) was a French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork, ''La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes'' ("Universal Geography"), over a period of ...
.
Arbore corresponded with the latter for a significant period, sharing his interest in
social geography
Social geography is the branch of human geography that is interested in the relationships between society and space, and is most closely related to social theory in general and sociology in particular, dealing with the relation of social phenomena ...
.
His complex relationship with radical exiles also resulted in contacts with
anarcho-communist
Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains resp ...
theorist
Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...
and the
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
anarchist sympathizer
Hristo Botev
Hristo Botev ( bg, Христо Ботев, ), born Hristo Botyov Petkov (Христо Ботьов Петков; – ), was a Bulgarian revolutionary and poet. Botev is considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and nationa ...
. He was also, with philosopher
Vasile Conta
Vasile Conta (; hy, Վասիլե Գրիգորեիի Կոնտա (Գոնտա); November 15, 1845 – April 21, 1882) was a Romanian philosopher, poet, and politician.
He was born in Ghindăoani, a village in Bălțătești commune, Neamț County ...
, one of the few intellectuals with a Romanian background to affiliate directly with the
International Workingmen's Association
The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...
(First International), which regrouped the various
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
and anarchist communities of Europe. In tandem, Arbore was active within Bakunin's Revolutionary Brotherhood, and, according to anarchist historian
George Woodcock
George Woodcock (; May 8, 1912 – January 28, 1995) was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, a philosopher, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet and published several volumes of travel wri ...
, one of the "most influential" among the Russian propagators of
Bakuninism;
[Woodcock, p.343] political historian
James H. Billington
James Hadley Billington (June 1, 1929 – November 20, 2018) was an American academic and author who taught history at Harvard and Princeton before serving for 42 years as CEO of four federal cultural institutions. He served as the 13th Librarian ...
also refers to "Zemfiry Ralli" as "Bakunin's principal editor".
Arbore's beliefs led him to join the
Jura federation
The Jura Federation represented the anarchist, Bakuninist faction of the First International during the anti-statist split from the organization. Jura, a Swiss area, was known for its watchmaker artisans in La Chaux-de-Fonds, who shared anti- ...
, an anarchist cell within the First International,
and to become initiated into
Freemasonry
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
(1872).
He became strongly opposed to Bakunin's marginalization during the First International's
Hague Congress, and signed his name (''Z. Ralli'') to a letter of protest, alongside
Nikolay Ogarev
Nikolay Platonovich Ogarev (Ogaryov; ; – ) was a Russian poet, historian and political activist. He was deeply critical of the limitations of the Emancipation reform of 1861 claiming that the serfs were not free but had simply exchanged one f ...
. Also in 1872, Arbore also helped draft the
German-language
German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a c ...
pamphlet which documented Bakunin's condemnation of Nechayev: ''Ist Netshaejeff ein politischer Verbrecher oder nicht?'' ("Is Nechayev a Political Felon, or Is He Not?"). With Bakunin and
Errico Malatesta
Errico Malatesta (4 December 1853 – 22 July 1932) was an Italian anarchist propagandist and revolutionary socialist. He edited several radical newspapers and spent much of his life exiled and imprisoned, having been jailed and expelled from ...
, he was personally involved in the anarchist agitation sweeping
Restoration Spain
The Restoration ( es, link=no, Restauración), or Bourbon Restoration (Spanish: ''Restauración borbónica''), is the name given to the period that began on 29 December 1874—after a coup d'état by General Arsenio Martínez Campos ended the F ...
during the 1870s: he personally helped translate Bakunin's letter to the
Iberian anarchists, but their hopes of inciting a new revolution were unsuccessful; progressively after that moment, Arbore and Bakunin grew estranged from one another.
According to Woodcock, the reason behind this "personal" rather than ideological conflict was Bakunin's "tactless" support for Arbore's adversary
Mikhail Sanzhin, leading Arbore and his partners, the "young Bakuninists", to establish the Revolutionary Community organization.
The reasons and objectives of this group, whose other members were
Vladimir Holstein,
Alexander Oelsnitz and
Nikolai Ivanovich Zhukovsky,
were outlined in a letter to Jura anarchist
James Guillaume
James Guillaume (February 16, 1844, London – November 20, 1916, Paris) was a leading member of the Jura federation, the anarchist wing of the First International. Later, Guillaume would take an active role in the founding of the Anarchist St. I ...
.
[''Register of the Nicolaevsky Collection'', Series No. 183, p.141]
Moving from
Zurich to
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
, and known primarily as ''Ralli'', Arbore ran a socialist publishing house, through which he helped popularize the political manifestos of anarchism, as well as his own history of the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
.
[Felea (1971), p.8-9] He was among those who established, in 1875, the Genevan Russian-language newspaper ''Rabotnik'' ("The Worker"), which bridged the "young Bakuninist" faction with the
Eser Party of
and Reclus'
St. Imier International. One of his colleagues there, future astronomer
Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov
Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov (Russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Моро́зов; 7 July 1854, Borok – 30 July 1946) was a Russian revolutionary who spent about 25 years in prison for revolutionary activities against ...
, recalled that Arbore was actively involved in redacting news arriving from Russia, manipulating them for dramatic effect and political conformity. In 1875, he also wrote and published the anarchist tract ''Sytye i golodnye'' ("The Sated and the Hungry"), as well as an appeal to
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
peasants in the Russian Empire.
The Swiss period was the start of his new family life. Arbore was by then married, to the Russian Ecaterina Hardina.
[Gheorghe G. Bezviconi, ''Necropola Capitalei'', ]Nicolae Iorga Institute of History
The Nicolae Iorga Institute of History ( ro, Institutul de Istorie „Nicolae Iorga”; abbreviation: IINI) is an institution of research in the field of history under the auspices of the Romanian Academy. The institute is located at 1 Bulevardul A ...
, Bucharest, 1972, p.53[Vladislav I. Grosul, "Emigrație rusă în România", 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 ...
'', April 2011, p.49 The
dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
she brought helped maintain his new publishing venture.
His eldest child was daughter
Ecaterina Arbore-Ralli, the future communist,
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
and militant physician, born on November 11, 1873, at
Bex
Bex (; german: Beis; frp, Bés) is a municipality in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, located in the district of Aigle. It is a few kilometers south of its sister town municipality of Aigle.
History
Bex is first mentioned in 574 as ''in Bacci ...
.
[Felea (1971), p.11] His son Dumitru (Mitică) was born on January 11, 1877, in Geneva.
[Felea (1971), p.13]
Relocation to Romania
Zamfir Arbore first set foot in Romania during 1873, when he traveled from Geneva to
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 ...
, meeting with the young socialist sympathizer
Eugen Lupu.
He was later in contact with the Iași Marxist circle of
Ioan
Ioan is a variation on the name John found in Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian, Welsh (), and Sardinian. It is usually masculine. The female equivalent in Romanian and Bulgarian is Ioana. In Russia, the name Ioann is usually reserved for the clergy ...
,
Iosif and
Sofia Nădejde
Sofia Nădejde (born Sofia Băncilă; September 14, 1856 – June 11, 1946) was a Romanian novelist, playwright, translator, journalist, women's rights activist and socialist.
Born in Botoșani, her parents were merchant Vasile Băncilă-Gheor ...
, sending them books by
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
and his anarchist commentators (
Johann Most
Johann Joseph "Hans" Most (February 5, 1846 – March 17, 1906) was a German-American Social Democratic and then anarchism, anarchist politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He is credited with popularizing the concept of "propaganda of the dee ...
,
Carlo Cafiero
Carlo Cafiero (1846–1892) was an Italian anarchist, champion of Mikhail Bakunin during the second half of the 19th century and one of the main proponents of anarcho-communism and insurrectionary anarchism during the First International
T ...
).
Arbore also established contacts with the socialist cell of
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 corresponded with some of the Russian socialists who had set up camp there, primarily so with
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea (born Solomon Katz; 1855, village of Slavyanka near Yekaterinoslav (modern Dnipro), then in Imperial Russia – 1920, Bucharest) was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and jour ...
and
Nicolae Zubcu-Codreanu Nicolae may refer to:
* Nicolae (name), a Romanian name
* ''Nicolae'' (novel), a 1997 novel
See also
*Nicolai (disambiguation)
*Nicolao Nicolao is an Italian given name and a surname. It may refer to the following:
Given name
*Nicolao Civitali ...
. Together, they set up the Society for Student Culture and Solidarity, a semi-clandestine club located at the Concordia Hotel.
[Constantin Petculescu, "Lupta revoluționară și democratică a studențimii române. Tineri demni de tinerețea lor", 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 ...
'', June 1975, p.36
Again in Switzerland, he took part in the violent
Red Flag Riot of
Berne
german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese
, neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen
, website ...
, organized in 1877 by the
anarchist dissidence of the International—allegedly, his life was saved by fellow anarchist
Jacques Gross. In 1878, Arbore was also the editor of the international tribune of the Revolutionary Community, ''Obshchina'' ("Community"), which was published as a successor of ''Rabotnik''.
Reputedly threatened with an
extradition
Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...
back into the Russian Empire,
Zamfir Arbore moved to Romania after the beginning of a
Russo-Turkish War
The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...
, during which the country, a Russian ally, obtained her independence from the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. He later recalled that the inspiration for this move was young Romanian leftist
Mircea Rosetti
Mircea is a Romanian language, Romanian masculine given name, a form of the South Slavic name Mirče (Мирче) that derives from the Slavic word ''mir'', meaning 'peace'. It may refer to:
People Princes of Wallachia
* Mircea I of Wallachi ...
, whom he had first met during Reclus' visit to
Vevey
Vevey (; frp, Vevê; german: label=former German, Vivis) is a town in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used.
It was the seat of the district of ...
. Arbore's original goal was the spread of revolutionary propaganda among soldiers in the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
, but, in short time, he settled down in Bucharest. It was there that Arbore fathered a second daughter, Lolica, who died without reaching maturity.
[ Zamfir C. Arbure]
"Bogdan Petriceico Hasdeu"
in '' Viața Basarabiei'', Nr. 8/1932, p.1 (digitized by the National Library of Moldova
The National Library of the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Biblioteca Naţională a Republicii Moldova, BNRM) located in Chişinău, Moldova is the main library of the state which is responsible for conservation, valorization and protection of writt ...
)
Arbore later set up, with fellow exiles Dobrogeanu-Gherea, Zubcu-Codreanu,
Pavel Axelrod
Pavel Borisovich Axelrod (russian: Па́вел Бори́сович Аксельро́д; 25 August 1850 – 16 April 1928) was an early Russian Marxist revolutionary. Along with Georgi Plekhanov, Vera Zasulich, and Leo Deutsch, he was one ...
and
Nikolai Sudzilovsky (Russel), an underground political movement agitating for the cause of Bessarabian Romanians; by means of this group, he is said to have gained access within the governing
National Liberal Party, even earning discreet support from two of its leading figures,
Ion Brătianu
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conven ...
and
C. A. Rosetti (father of Mircea Rosetti).
[''Societatea de Mâine'' (May 1933), p.93] Arbore would later speak of Brătianu as a discreet supporter of his projects to undermine Russian governments.
["Dela frați. Din România. Aniversarea răpirei Basarabiei"]
, in ''Românul (Arad)'', Nr. 107/1912, p.4 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University ( ro, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai , hu, Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetem, commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. UBB has a long academic tradition, started by Universitas ...
br>Transsylvanica Online Library
) Additionally, C. A. Rosetti is alleged to have personally assisted Arbore and Zubcu-Codreanu, who shared a Bucharest apartment, from evading both the persistent scrutiny of
Romanian Police
The Romanian Police ( ro, Poliția Română, ) is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and it is led by a General Inspector with the rank of Secretary ...
forces and the threat of extradition.
In May 1877, Police forces quashed the Concordia hotel club, arresting various of its members.
Arbore's connections were unsuccessful when it came to rescuing Dobrogeanu-Gherea, kidnapped and deported by the Russian Army in autumn 1877, although he eventually helped track down Gherea in Russia. Three years later, when Dobrogeanu-Gherea escaped back to Romania, Arbore helped him set up a restaurant in
Ploiești
Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest.
The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commu ...
station, from which Gherea supported his family.
Another National Liberal figure, the Bessarabian historian
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu ( 26 February 1838 – ) was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history.
Life
He was born Tadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (now Kerstentsi in Chernivtsi ...
, also cultivated a friendship with Arbore. According to Arbore's own recollections, although he and Hasdeu had been separated by "political-social views", they had been brought together by the recent deaths of
Iulia Hasdeu
Iulia Hasdeu (; 14 November 1869 – 29 September 1888) was a Romanian poet, the daughter of writer and philologist Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu. From a very young age, Hasdeu wrote poems and prose in both Romanian and French, taught herself forei ...
and Lolica Arbore.
Their shared loss, Arbore recalled, was leading them both to seek intellectual comfort in
spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...
or
spiritism
Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Riva ...
: Arbore, who was in correspondence with spiritists
Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction ...
and
William Crookes
Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing t ...
, recalled having joined a secretive spiritualist circle formed in Hasdeu's home, and being ridiculed in the Romanian press over this issue.
Hasdeu was one of the noted guests in Arbore's own house.
[Felea (1971), p.10]
1880s politics
![Lumea Noua St si Lit 1895](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Lumea_Noua_St_si_Lit_1895.jpg)
After the
Trial of the Fourteen
The Trial of the Fourteen (''"Процесс 14-ти"'' in Russian) was a trial of fourteen members of Narodnaya Volya. It took place on September 24–28 (October 6–10), 1884 in Saint Petersburg's district military court. Vera Figner - the last ...
, the Revolutionary Community and all other Bakuninist groups were losing the battle in front of renewed Tsarist repression. Arbore, who now criticized Bakunian anarchism, quickly came to the conclusion that a socialist party was needed as a more radical alternative to the Romanian
two-party system
A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referre ...
: in 1879, he helped organize the first-ever conference of Romanian socialist clubs, and, over the following months, was member of the editorial staff at ''
România Viitoare'', the socialist review (as a result of his participation, the magazine also enlisted contributions from Reclus and his brother
Élie Élie is the French equivalent of "Elie", "Elias" or "Elijah."''The Complete Baby Name Book'' 1989 Page 92 "It was revived in the seventeenth century by the Puritans, and it's still used, especially by religious Protestant families. Famous name: El ...
, as well as from poet
Louis-Xavier de Ricard
Louis-Xavier de Ricard (January 25, 1843July 2, 1911) was a French poet, author and journalist of the 19th century. He was founder and editor of '' La Revue du progrès'' (''La Revue du Progrès moral, littéraire, scientifique et artistique'') w ...
). The next year, he and the Nădejdes were briefly in contact with the senior political radical
Titus Dunka
Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death.
Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...
, distributing for a while Dunka's gazette ''Înainte!'' ("Forward!").
In 1880, after a failed attempt on Ion Brătianu's life, the socialist circles faced government suspicion and became less organized, a situation which lasted until the
election of 1888. At the time, Arbore was editor of Rosetti's democratic gazette ''
Românul
''Românul'' (, meaning "The Romanian"; originally spelled ''Romanulu'' or ''Românulŭ'', also known as ''Romînul'', ''Concordia'', ''Libertatea'' and ''Consciinti'a Nationala''), was a political and literary newspaper published in Bucharest, Ro ...
'', and later moved to a similar position with the left-leaning newspaper ''Telegraful Român''.
Also at that stage, he befriended the Bukovinian
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...
, later recognized as Romania's
national poet
A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbo ...
, but at the time a secondary figure in the Bucharest press. Eminescu, who worked for the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
tribune ''
Timpul
''Timpul'' (Romanian for "The Time") is a literary magazine published in Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine t ...
'', confided in Arbore about his
pessimistic
Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is "Is the glass half empt ...
vision of Romanian society.
[ D. Murărașu]
"Figuri reprezentative: Unitatea personalității lui Eminescu"
, in ''Societatea de Mâine'', Nr. 8, May 1931, p.185 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University ( ro, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai , hu, Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetem, commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. UBB has a long academic tradition, started by Universitas ...
br>Transsylvanica Online Library
) At this stage, Arbore is believed to have helped other foreign-born socialists to find refuge in Romania: in particular to have assisted Peter (Petru) Alexandrov, the brother-in-law of writer
Vladimir Korolenko
Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko (russian: Влади́мир Галактио́нович Короле́нко, ua, Володи́мир Галактіо́нович Короле́нко; 27 July 1853 – 25 December 1921) was a Ukrainian-born ...
, in obtaining a license to practice medicine in
Tulcea
Tulcea (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea County, and had a population of 73,707 . One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city.
Names
Th ...
and in defending himself during subsequent police inquiries. In 1881, he was himself
naturalized
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
a citizen of the newly proclaimed
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...
.
[Boia, p.143]
By summer 1883, when Arbore too lost National Liberal support and was briefly expelled from Romania, Eminescu had become afflicted with mental illness (he eventually died in relative isolation, in 1889).
[ ]Nicolae Manolescu
Nicolae Manolescu (; b. 27 November 1939, Râmnicu Vâlcea) is a Romanian literary critic. As an editor of '' România Literară'' literary magazine, he has reached a record in reviewing books for almost 30 years. Elected a corresponding member ...
"Potriveli și mașinațiuni"
, in ''România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared on ...
'', Nr. 6/2000 Arbore was, around 1890, a correspondent for
Frédéric Damé
Frédéric and Frédérick are the French versions of the common male given name Frederick. They may refer to:
In artistry:
* Frédéric Back, Canadian award-winning animator
* Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor
* Frédéric Bazille, Impress ...
's Bucharest newspaper ''La Liberté Roumaine'', with
exposé
Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to:
News sources
* Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism
* '' The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website
Film and TV Film
* ''Exposé'' (film), a 1976 thriller film
* ''Exposed'' (1932 ...
pieces on the kidnapping of junior
Bulgarian Navy
The Bulgarian Navy ( bg, Военноморски сили на Република България, Voennomorski sili na Republika Balgariya, lit=Naval Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria) is the navy of the Republic of Bulgaria and forms part of ...
officer Vladimir Kisimov by Russian spies. His third daughter
Nina Nina may refer to:
* Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname
Acronyms
*National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq
* Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology
*No income, ...
, later known as a visual artist, was born in January 1888.
[Felea (1971), p.14] The elder, Ecaterina, was already taking her first steps in socialist politics, as a delegate to the International Congress of Students, held in
Giurgiu
Giurgiu (; bg, Гюргево) is a city in southern Romania. The seat of Giurgiu County, it lies in the historical region of Muntenia. It is situated amongst mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian city ...
.
Meanwhile, Zamfir Arbore was progressively integrated into the Romanian civil service: a clerk at the
State Archives
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
, he became a
statistician
A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors.
It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...
in service to the
Bucharest City Hall
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 ...
(from 1896 to 1920).
[Boia, p.143; Felea (1971), p.10] As a socialist activist, he was coming to support the faction of Dobrogeanu-Gherea and
Constantin Mille
Constantin Mille (; December 21, 1861 – February 20, 1927) was a Romanian journalist, novelist, poet, lawyer, and Socialism, socialist militant, as well as a prominent human rights activist. A Marxism, Marxist for much of his life, Mille was not ...
, who published ''
Lumea Nouă
Lumea Nouă is a middle Neolithic to Chalcolithic (possibly Early Bronze Age) archaeological site in Alba Iulia, Romania. The site is named after the Lumea Nouă district of the city. The site was first researched (and likely discovered) by Ion Be ...
'' review and ultimately set up the short-lived
Romanian Social Democratic Workers' Party
The Social Democratic Workers' Party of Romania (, PSDMR), established in 1893, was the first modern socialist political party in Romania. A Marxist organization, the PSDMR was part of the Second International and sent its representatives to the ...
(PSDMR).
''Amicul Copiilor'' and scientific work
From 1891 to 1898, he and
Victor Crăsescu (who signed with the pen name ''Ștefan Basarabescu'') were founders and managers of ''Amicul Copiilor'' ("The Children's Friend") magazine, which circulated classic works of
children's literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
and is sometimes rated as the first
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
magazine in Romanian history.
[ Vali Ivan]
"Lumea copiilor de altădată" (interview with Dodo Niță)
, in ''Jurnalul Național
''Jurnalul Național'' is a Romanian newspaper, part of the INTACT Media Group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular television station Antena 1. The newspaper was launched in 1993. Its headquarters is in Bucharest
Bucharest ...
'', June 2, 2007; Doinel Tronaru
"120 de ani de BD românesc"
, in ''Adevărul Literar și Artistic
''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published du ...
'', December 14, 2010 Hasdeu, one of its main writers, is occasionally given credit as the person behind ''Amicul Copiilor''.
Arbore himself experimented with the genre, publishing children's versions of ''
Don Quixote
is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...
'', ''
Tartarin of Tarascon'' and ''
Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
'', as well as
popular histories—one about
Ancient Egypt, the other about
1821 rebel Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu (; c. 1780 – ) was a Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri (''Tudor from Vladimiri'') or, occasionally, as Domnul Tudor ...
. Hasdeu co-opted Arbore for the early 1899 project to create a
professional association
A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that professio ...
of writers as part of his Press Society (an actual
Romanian Writers' Society The Romanian Writers' Society ( ro, Societatea Scriitorilor Români) was a professional association based in Bucharest, Romania, that aided the country's writers and promoted their interests. Founded in 1909, it operated for forty years before the e ...
was only created some 10 years later, after Hasdeu's death).
As statistician, Arbore was in charge of Bucharest's ''Buletinul Statistic'' ("Statistical Bulletin") and of the City Hall Library, which under his direction acquired several thousands of new books.
With Ioan Nădejde, Arbore translated into Romanian the Russian
Commercial Code.
In parallel, he completed his main and lengthiest study in ethnography, ''Basarabia în secolul XIX'' ("Bessarabia in the 19th Century"), first published in 1898.
It earned its author the annual
Ion Heliade Rădulescu
Ion Heliade Rădulescu or Ion Heliade (also known as ''Eliade'' or ''Eliade Rădulescu''; ; January 6, 1802 – April 27, 1872) was a Wallachian, later Romanian academic, Romanticism, Romantic and Classicism, Classicist poet, essayist, mem ...
Prize of the
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life.
According to its byl ...
.
Beginning 1903, he also taught
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
at the
Bucharest War School.
Arbore followed up on his scholarly work with the 1904 ''Dicționar geografic al Basarabiei'' ("A
Geographical Dictionary of Bessarabia").
The same year, he was a voluntary contributor, with Bessarabian-themed entries, to the first-ever Romanian encyclopedic dictionary: ''Enciclopedia română'', published in
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
by
Cornelius Diaconovich and
ASTRA cultural society.
In 1906, during the National Exhibit held in celebration of the Romanian Kingdom (and one year before the
large-scale peasants' revolt), Arbore joined a scientific committee which supervised an academic inquiry into the state of Romanian peasants, whose main author was militant
sociologist G. D. Scraba
G is the seventh letter of the Latin alphabet.
G may also refer to:
Places
* Gabon, international license plate code G
* Glasgow, UK postal code G
* Eastern Quebec, Canadian postal prefix G
* Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, ...
.
1905 Revolution
![The Fires of Revolution - A Roumanian Frontier Guard Watching the Burning of Russian Villages across the Pruth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/The_Fires_of_Revolution_-_A_Roumanian_Frontier_Guard_Watching_the_Burning_of_Russian_Villages_across_the_Pruth.jpg)
Before and during the
Russian Revolution of 1905
The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
, Arbore was also involved in trafficking subversive works of literature over the Romanian–Russian border, hoping to encourage a rebellion among Bessarabian Romanian peasants and intellectuals.
Ioan Lăcustă
Ioan is a variation on the name John found in Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian, Welsh (), and Sardinian. It is usually masculine. The female equivalent in Romanian and Bulgarian is Ioana. In Russia, the name Ioann is usually reserved for the clergy ...
, "''Basarabia'', numărul neștiut", 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 ...
'', April 2007, p.55 Theodor Inculeț, a theologian and political agitator, was one of his connections there. As Inculeț later wrote, the books "sent over by Arbure" were unequivocally "anti-Russian".
In 1904,
Mikhail Nikolayevich von Giers
Mikhail Nikolayevich von Giers (alternatively styled Mikhail Nikolaevich von Giers or Mikhail Nikolayevich de Giers) (1856–1924) was an Imperial Russian ambassador and the son of Russian Foreign Minister Nikolay Girs.
Career
Giers served as th ...
, the
Russian Ambassador to Romania
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, warned National Liberal
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza (, in full Dimitrie Alexandru Sturdza-Miclăușanu; 10 March 183321 October 1914) was a Romanian statesman and author of the late 19th century, and president of the Romanian Academy between 1882 and 1884.
Biography
Born in Iași ...
that "Mr. Ralli-Arbore" intended to send into Russia many small packages of brochures, to be delivered by a special network of socialist agents.
This exchange of notes degenerated into a major diplomatic incident when some of the
contraband
Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") refers to any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It is used for goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes o ...
books were confiscated by Russian officials, and discovered to contain firearms.
Arbore was singled out for extradition, but saved through the intercession of
Take Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu (; born Dumitru Ghiță Ioan and also known as Demetriu G. Ionnescu; – 21 June 1922) was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his ...
, the
Interior Minister
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
, who even managed to have the weapons dispatched back to Romania.
This was the beginning of an unusually close relationship with Romania's
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
environment and
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 I
Carol I or Charles I of Romania (20 April 1839 – ), born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (''Domnitor'') from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He w ...
(to whom he dedicated a volume of his
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...
s).
Reportedly as a favor to the Bessarabian activist, Carol was to allow safe passage into Romania to the wanted
Russian Eser assassin
Boris Savinkov
Boris Viktorovich Savinkov (Russian: Бори́с Ви́кторович Са́винков; 31 January 1879 – 7 May 1925) was a Russian writer and revolutionary. As one of the leaders of the Fighting Organisation, the paramilitary win ...
.
According to Arbore's own account, Carol, "the founder of modern Romania", privately resented Russia's national policy on Bessarabia.
Zamfir Arbore also welcomed into his house the
''Potemkin'' mutiny refugees—including socialist sailor
Afanasi Matushenko, who became his close friend.
He registered another personal triumph in 1905, when his aging friend Reclus also traveled to Romania.
However, his main interest was by then outside the realm of socialist or anarchist politics. Together with
Petru Cazacu
Petru Cazacu ( was a politician from Bessarabia (Moldova).
Biography
He served as the prime minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic
The Moldavian Democratic Republic (MDR; ro, Republica Democratică Moldovenească, ), also known ...
, Arbore founded and edited a newspaper named ''Basarabia'', printed in Switzerland but clandestinely circulated the Russian Empire during the Revolution. ''Basarabia'' went out of print after six consecutive issues, and, throughout its existence advertised itself as a
Chișinău
Chișinău ( , , ), also known as Kishinev (russian: Кишинёв, r=Kishinjóv ), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the ...
-based paper (although its editorial office was located in Geneva).
An immediate predecessor for the legal ''
Basarabia
Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...
'' of 1906, it was noted for its radical support of Bessarabian autonomy, demands for
universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
, and adoption of a
modern Romanian alphabet instead of traditional
Moldavian Cyrillic letters. In its final issue, Arbore and Cazan's gazette published the program of an incipient
National Moldavian Party
The National Moldavian Party was a political party in Bessarabia.
History
Prior to 1917, Bessarabian intelligentsia was divided between noblemen, conservatives, democrats, and socialists. Vasile Stroescu, a rich but very modest filantrop bo ...
.
[Cernencu & Boțan, p.68] After the Revolution toned down repression, Arbore could also collaborate with the
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
-based socialist magazine ''
Byloye
''Byloye'' ( rus, Былое, ''The Past'') was a monthly historical magazine published in the Russian Empire by Nikolay Elpidiforovich Paramonov and edited by Vasily Y. Bogucharsky (1861–1915), Pavel E. Shchegolev (1877–1931) and Vladimir L ...
'', which published his biographical sketch of
Sergey Nechayev
Sergey Gennadiyevich Nechayev (russian: Серге́й Генна́диевич Неча́ев) ( – ) was a Russian communist revolutionary and prominent figure of the Russian nihilist movement, known for his single-minded pursuit of revolution ...
.
Ze'ev Iviansky
Ze'ev Iviansky (1 December 1923 – 22 December 2022) was an Israeli political scientist, and a former lecturer at the department of General History and Russian Studies of the Hebrew University.David C. Rapoport, "Inside Terrorist Organizations" ...
"Source of Inspiration for Revolutionary Terrorism — The Bakunin — Nechayev Alliance"
in ''Conflict Quarterly'', Summer 1988, p.58, 66 (digitized by the University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...
br>Electronic Text Centre Journals
The text, signed ''Zemfir Ralli Arbore'', notably includes detail on Nechayev's isolated political outlook, which, Arbore argued, was linked directly to 18th century
Jacobin
, logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg
, logo_size = 180px
, logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794)
, motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir)
, successor = Pa ...
theorists and agitators (
Maximilien de Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...
,
Philippe Buonarroti
:''See also Filippo Buonarroti (1661–1733).''
Filippo Giuseppe Maria Ludovico Buonarroti, more usually referred to under the French version Philippe Buonarroti (11 November 1761 – 16 September 1837), was an Italian utopian socialist, wri ...
) rather than to later socialist schools.
''Milcovul'' Society and PSDR connections
By 1908, Arbore had founded another venue for pro-Bessarabian political activism, the ''Milcovul'' Society (named after the
Milcov River, a symbol of Romanian unity). The association was soon after infiltrated by the Russian spy
Gheorghe V. Madan: exposed through a public scandal, Madan was expelled from ''Milcovul'' by Arbore's own vote.
[ Gheorghe Negru]
"Gheorghe Madan – agent al Imperiului Rus"
, in the University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
Faculty of Journalism'
''Revista Română de Jurnalism și Comunicare''
, Nr.4/2008, p.72 The controversy drew attention from Romania's secret service, ''
Siguranța Statului
Siguranța was the generic name for the successive secret police services in the Kingdom of Romania. The official title of the organization changed throughout its history, with names including Directorate of the Police and General Safety ( ro, Di ...
'', whose agents suspected, probably without just cause, that Arbore maintained contacts with Madan over the following period.
In June 1909, Constantin Mille's daily, ''
Adevărul
''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published dur ...
'', printed a draft of Arbore's memoirs, dealing with Eminescu's political views.
During the same years, Arbore played host to a new generation of Romanian socialist leaders and leaders of the
local labor movement, who attempted to recreate a socialist party from the defunct PSDMR:
Christian Rakovsky
Christian Georgievich Rakovsky (russian: Христиа́н Гео́ргиевич Рако́вский; bg, Кръстьо Георги́ев Рако́вски; – September 11, 1941) was a Bulgarian-born socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevi ...
,
Gheorghe Cristescu
Gheorghe Cristescu (October 10, 1882 in Copaciu, Giurgiu County – November 29, 1973 in Timișoara) was a Romanian socialist and, for a part of his life, communist militant. Nicknamed "Plăpumarul" ("The Blanket Maker"), he is also occasionally ...
,
I. C. Frimu and
N. D. Cocea.
Arbore did not join the
Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR), created by Rakovsky in 1910, but was a special guest at its reunions.
He was thus present at the PSDR's 1912 rally at ''Sala Dacia'', where, in agreement with Rakovsky's political tenets, he spoke about the need to contain Russian
imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
; on the centenary of Bessarabia's occupation, he also addressed Romanian student organizations, informing them about the state of affairs in Russian dominions.
Arbore was also claiming that some violent anarchists were in fact Russian agents: according to him, the suspected terrorist
Ilie Cătărău was a secret affiliate of the loyalist
Black Hundreds
The Black Hundred (russian: Чёрная сотня, translit=Chornaya sotnya), also known as the black-hundredists (russian: черносотенцы; chernosotentsy), was a reactionary, monarchist and ultra-nationalist movement in Russia in t ...
.
In September 1914, Arbore was honored by the PSDR's festive assembly honoring the 50th anniversary of the First International.
In parallel, he gave external support to unionizing efforts, being notably an honored guest at the Romanian Journalists' Union festivities of May 1912, where he mainly spoke about Bessarabia. His first-born daughter, who had by then made her first contributions to
social medicine
The field of social medicine seeks to implement social care through
# understanding how social and economic conditions impact health, disease and the practice of medicine and
# fostering conditions in which this understanding can lead to a health ...
, became directly involved with the PSDR and the ''
România Muncitoare
''România Muncitoare'' ("Working Romania" or "Laborer Romania") was a socialist newspaper, published in Bucharest, Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eas ...
'' club, and, also in 1912, was elected to the PSDR Executive Committee. Dumitru, who was a chemical engineer in the
thriving oil industry, and Nina, a debuting painter, were also both affiliated with PSDR at a grassroots level.
During that interval, the Bessarabian scholar was also becoming interested in cultivating a
rapprochement
In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word ''rapprocher'' ("to bring together"), is a re-establishment of cordial relations between two countries. This may be done due to a mutual enemy, as was the case with Germ ...
between Romania and the
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Tsardom of Bulgaria ( bg, Царство България, translit=Tsarstvo Balgariya), also referred to as the Third Bulgarian Tsardom ( bg, Трето Българско Царство, translit=Treto Balgarsko Tsarstvo, links=no), someti ...
, Romania's new neighbor to the south. This was reflected in his set of contributions to
Slavistics
Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...
and
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
. His Romanian-
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
dictionary, ''Българо-румънски речник'', saw print in 1909. In 1912, Arbore translated and published for ''Minerva'' newspaper the 1886 manifesto "To the Romanian People", signed by Bulgarian revolutionary
Zahari Stoyanov
Zahariy Stoyanov ( bg, Захарий Стоянов; archaic: ) (1850 – 2 September 1889), born Dzhendo Stoyanov Dzhedev ( bg, Джендо Стоянов Джедев), was a Bulgarian revolutionary, writer, and historian.
A participant ...
, in which Stoyanov spoke about his country's "moral duty" toward Romania and deplored the slow descent into ethnic rivalry.
World War I controversies
Arbore's activity as a publicist, activist and newspaperman flared up during the early stages of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, as Romania hesitated between joining the
Entente Powers
The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
or honoring its loose commitment to the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
, and in particular the
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
. Like other Bessarabian exiles, Arbore objected to the first option, since it threw Romania into the same camp as the Russian Empire, opening the way for Russian domination in Romania, while leaving Bessarabia oppressed and
Russified
Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
; he also identified the Ententist preoccupation with the Romanians of
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
and
Bukovina
Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...
as excessive, claiming that
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
would inevitably transform itself into a democratic federation upon the end of war. These ideas made their way into his wartime articles for ''
Seara
Seara is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region of Brazil. The Museu Entomológico Fritz Plaumann is located in the town.
See also
*List of municipalities in Santa Catarina
This is a list of the municipalities in th ...
'' newspaper and his standalone political essays: the 1914 ''Autonomia sau anexarea. Transilvania și Bucovina'' ("Autonomy or Annexation. Transylvania and Bukovina"), the 1915 ''Liberarea Basarabiei'' ("The Liberation of Bessarabia") and the 1916 ''Ukraina și România'' ("
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
and Romania").
Of these, ''Liberarea Basarabiei'' was printed with support from an eponymous political society, the League for the Liberation of Bessarabia. Arbore's stance was compatible with the PSDR's
Zimmerwald neutralism: by 1915, Ecaterina Arbore was also noted for her political statements against a Russian alliance. Internationally, her father collaborated with ''Annales des Nationalités'', the
anti-imperialist
Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
periodical put out by
Jean Pélissier and
Juozas Gabrys
Juozas Gabrys or Juozas Gabrys-Paršaitis (February 22, 1880 – July 26, 1951) was a Lithuanian politician and diplomat, best remembered for his efforts to popularize the idea of Lithuania's independence in the West during World War I.
Early l ...
.
Suspicion arose that Arbore was also in the pay of German intelligence, receiving at least 28,000
lei through such channels.
In summer 1916, Romania disappointed Arbore by rallying with the Entente. After a short-lived offensive into Transylvania, the
Romanian Land Forces
The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...
were defeated, and the Central Powers
invaded southern Romania. Arbore stayed behind in German-occupied Bucharest while the legitimate government withdrew to
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 maintained a generally friendly but discreet attitude toward the occupiers.
[Boia, p.145-146] He was less active as a journalist and militant, but contributed to the
Germanophile
A Germanophile, Teutonophile, or Teutophile is a person who is fond of German culture, German people and Germany in general, or who exhibits German patriotism in spite of not being either an ethnic German or a German citizen. The love of the ''Ge ...
daily ''Lumina'', put out by the Bessarabian activist
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; russian: Константин Егорович Стере, ''Konstantin Yegorovich Stere'' or Константин Георгиевич Стере, ''Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere''; also known u ...
, and once lectured on the
Bessarabian question during April 1918.
[Boia, p.145] Arbore also kept a low profile during the
1918 truce, when, with German acquiescence, Romania
united with Bessarabia. Reputedly, Stere, who negotiated the union with the
Bessarabian Assembly, mistrusted and sidelined Arbore during the events.
In his own account of the wartime years, Arbore claimed to have been arrested on several occasions by the occupation authorities, but this claim, Boia notes, remains unverified and doubtful.
[Boia, p.146] Arbore was returning to a socialist discourse, probably rekindled and reshaped by news of the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
in Russia.
During the period, he took a personal interest in the fate of Russian prisoners held on occupied territory, and, in a letter to the Germanophile academic
Ioan Bianu
Ioan Bianu (1856 or 1857 – February 13, 1935) was an Imperial Austrian-born Romanian philologist and bibliographer. The son of a peasant family from Transylvania, he completed high school in Blaj, where he became a disciple of Timotei Cipariu a ...
, spoke about the need to popularize revolutionary ideas among this particular group.
Senator and political suspect
![Nadia Bulighin - Portretul lui Zamfir Arbore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Nadia_Bulighin_-_Portretul_lui_Zamfir_Arbore.JPG)
After the unexpected
German defeat of November 1918 brought a moral victory for Romanian Ententists and the return of Ententist forces in government, Arbore withstood scrutiny as an alleged
collaborator with the enemy. In this context, he rallied with a new radical force, the
Peasants' Party, and ran for political office in what was by then
Greater Romania
The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea.
As a concept, its main goal is the creation ...
. During the
November 1919 election, he presented himself as a
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
candidate for
Chișinău
Chișinău ( , , ), also known as Kishinev (russian: Кишинёв, r=Kishinjóv ), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the ...
, Bessarabia, and was elected.
His new political credo was outlined in his Senate speech of December 27, 1918, which focused on proposals to change the
1866 constitutional regime and amend the prewar tradition of
centralized government
A centralized government (also united government) is one in which both executive and legislative power is concentrated centrally at the higher level as opposed to it being more distributed at various lower level governments. In a national contex ...
, while also outlining his main defense against suspicions of collaborationism.
His daughter Ecaterina was rendered a suspect by her
Socialist Party of Romania
The Socialist Party of Romania ( ro, Partidul Socialist din România, commonly known as ''Partidul Socialist'', PS) was a Romanian socialist political party, created on December 11, 1918 by members of the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSDR) ...
militancy. She further antagonized the public when, as a
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 ...
founder, she supported the self-determination of Bessarabia and its separation from Romania, in line with
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
policies. After being arrested several times, she made her may into the Soviet state.
Dumitru Arbore also joined the Communist Party, was kept under surveillance by the authorities for hosting conspirative sessions at his home in
Prahova County
Prahova County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploiești.
Demographics
In 2011, it had a population of 762,886 and the population density was 161/km². It is Romania's third mos ...
, but remained in Romania, where he died in an October 1921 accident.
Arbore lost his Senate seat when
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
was dissolved by
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 ...
Ferdinand I; he soon after left the Peasants' Party, pushed into opposition, and was reelected to the Senate as a
People's Party candidate in the
summer 1920 election.
Late in 1920, he was co-founder and secretary of the
Socialist Peasants' Party
The Socialist Peasants' Party (Romanian language, Romanian: ''Partidul Socialist Țărănesc'', or ''Partidul Socialist Țărănist'', PSȚ) was a short-lived political party in Romania, presided over by the academic Mihai Ralea. Created nominally ...
, together with playwright
Ion Peretz, publicist
Ioan Pangal
Ioan is a variation on the name John (first name), John found in Romanian language, Romanian, Bulgarian language, Bulgarian, Russian language, Russian, Welsh language, Welsh (), and Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is usually masculine. The fema ...
, abbot
Iuliu Scriban Iuliu is a Romanian male given name derived from Latin ''Iulius''. The female form is Iulia. In other cases Iuliu is the Romanianized form of the Hungarian name Gyula.
People named Iuliu:
*Iuliu Barasch
*Iuliu Baratky
*Iuliu Bodola
*Iuliu Coroi ...
etc.
Withdrawn from national politics, Arbore again focused on his journalist's activity and was at the forefront of
Romanian Freemasonry. His membership in the local subsidiary of the ''
Grand Orient de France
The Grand Orient de France (GODF) is the oldest and largest of several Freemasonry, Freemasonic organizations based in France and is the oldest in Continental Europe (as it was formed out of an older Grand Lodge of France in 1773, and briefly ab ...
'' was confirmed in December 1922 by
Mihail Noradunghian, and he was recognized as a Rank 33 Mason, Worshipful Master of Human Rights
Lodge
Lodge is originally a term for a relatively small building, often associated with a larger one.
Lodge or The Lodge may refer to:
Buildings and structures Specific
* The Lodge (Australia), the official Canberra residence of the Prime Ministe ...
(located in Bucharest).
On April 23, 1923, Arbore was elected
Grand Master of a major Romanian
Scottish Rite
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the ''and'', while the English Constitution in the United Kingdom omits the ''Scottish''), commonly known as simply the Sco ...
branch, the Grand Lodge (Grand Master for life after 1930), and was the Grand Orator for Romania within the Supreme Scottish Rite Council from 1929.
These promotions were scrutinized by the anti-Masonry, anti-Masonic far right: in a public conference, Nicolae Paulescu of the National-Christian Defense League called Arbore the Grand Master of a "Kike-Romanian Masonic group".
His own far left inclinations were by then contrasting with his civil service positions, which he maintained even as his daughter Ecaterina was becoming a ''persona non grata''.
In 1923, Arbore published a new installment of his memoirs, as ''În temnițele rusești'' ("In the Russian Dungeons"). In March 1924, he replaced Vasile Ghenzul as editorial director of ''Furnica'' ("The Ant"). The
cooperativist and
agrarian bimonthly was published in Bessarabia, and printed a Russian-language supplement. He was still a contributor to the central leftist press: in December 1926, ''
Adevărul
''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published dur ...
'' published his piece about the Kingdom of Serbia, Serbian politician Nikola Pašić, defunct leader of the People's Radical Party.
During this interval, Ecaterina tried to return to Romania. According to the opinion of journalist Victor Frunză, she was trying to hide her growing disillusionment with communism under the pretext that she needed to take care of her ailing father.
[Frunză, p.90] The Romanian authorities did not allow her entry into the country, and she was forced back. Zamfir and his wife had earlier adopted Dumitru's young child, Zamfir Dumitru Arbore.
Final years
In 1930, the recently widowed
Zamfir Arbore was pensioned from his teaching position at the
Bucharest War School, where he had also been lecturing in Geography and Topography.
During the final years of his life, Arbore was a sporadic contributor to Pan Halippa's review ''
Viața Basarabiei''.
In tandem, his revolutionary past, in particular his early dealings with
Hristo Botev
Hristo Botev ( bg, Христо Ботев, ), born Hristo Botyov Petkov (Христо Ботьов Петков; – ), was a Bulgarian revolutionary and poet. Botev is considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and nationa ...
, were also the subject of interviews with journalist Vasile Christu. His own output as a researcher included an undated monograph on his friend and ally Zubcu-Codreanu, who had died in 1878 (''O pagină din istoria socialismului român'', "A Page in the History of Romanian Socialism"),
as well as the collected memoirs: ''Temniță și exil'' ("Prison and Exile") and ''În exil. Amintirile mele'' ("In Exile. My Memories").
Zamfir Arbore died in Bucharest, on April 2 or April 3, 1933.
He was buried at Sfânta Vineri Cemetery, alongside Ecaterina, Dumitru, and Lolica Arbore.
Paradoxically, his funeral ceremony comprised both the Military funeral, military honors owed to his position in the War School and revolutionary orations given in tribute by his socialist comrades.
The socialist tribune ''Societatea de Mâine'' published an obituary, which referred to Arbore as "one of the highest profile representative figures [in socialism], and one of the most worthy examples for all people-loving generations to follow."
Political and scientific theories
Arbore's political program
Despite official promotion, Zamfir Arbore had serious trouble integrating his views within the political landscape of 20th century Romania.
Critic and political historian Ioan Stanomir writes that Arbore, "the agent who precipitates revolution", was "an aristocrat animated by dramatic self-loathing".
[ Ioan Stanomir]
"Oameni care au fost"
, in ''Cuvântul (literary magazine), Cuvântul'', Nr. 333, March 2005 His
Narodnik
The Narodniks (russian: народники, ) were a politically conscious movement of the Russian intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, ...
ideals subsided with time: according to literary historian
Leonid Cemortan, Arbore was "totally defeated" in his Narodnik activity, realized that it was an "unattainable dream", but was nonetheless unable to "verify and correct" his vision.
Arbore, who never registered his membership with any Romanian socialist party or faction,
was reportedly perplexed by the antisemitism prevalent in his adoptive country, including among the Romanian socialists and Labor movement in Romania, trade unionists.
His transition from anarchism to a more moderate platform was also shown by his treatment of the Bessarabian issue. In 1905, his ''Basarabia'' newspaper tied together demands of social reform with political and cultural goals, endorsing the Stolypin reform, planned land reform and demanding the official use of Romanian ("Moldovan language, Moldavian") in the administrative apparatus and the Metropolis of Bessarabia, Bessarabian Orthodox Church. Its demand for self-governance around an enlarged ''Sfat'' ("Assembly") referred back to promises made upon the creation of a
Bessarabian Governorate.
The entire program, scholar Marcel Mitrașcă notes, was one of the first manifestations of "Bessarabian [Romanian] nationalism", the prototype for an agenda later espoused by the
National Moldavian Party
The National Moldavian Party was a political party in Bessarabia.
History
Prior to 1917, Bessarabian intelligentsia was divided between noblemen, conservatives, democrats, and socialists. Vasile Stroescu, a rich but very modest filantrop bo ...
. Political analysts Mihai Cernencu and Igor Boțan suggest that the political doctrine supported by ''Basarabia'' was at once an early instance of Liberalism in Moldova, Bessarabian liberalism and a regional affiliation to the Constitutional Democratic Party, somewhat permeated by the doctrines of social democracy.
More intimately, Arbore was contemplating the possibility of an independent Bessarabia, free from what he considered to be the excesses of Romanian nationalism.
By the end of his life, he was publicizing his disappointment with the political environment of Greater Romania and explaining his return to socialism. In a ''
Viața Basarabiei'' article, he claimed: "Wherever I look around me I see only decay. The old and the young, the cultivated and the illiterate, all behave equally, not even asking themselves what the meaning of their life is in the general progress of humanity. Living inside Romanian society I for one was not able to merge into it. [...] I haven't had and I still don't have friends in Romania."
His attitude, including claims that Bessarabia was being colonized by rapacious Romanians from other provinces, outraged the nationalist newspaperman Ion Gorun, Alexandru "Ion Gorun" Hodoș, who wrote that Arbore was no longer sincerely interested in national unity, but rather displayed "the need to detect, under any Romanian uniform, an assassin of Bessarabia's population."
Arbore's main research on History of Moldova, Bessarabian history and Geography of Moldova, local geography fused scientific and political objectives. Allegedly inspired by the similar interests of
Élisée Reclus
Jacques Élisée Reclus (; 15 March 18304 July 1905) was a French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork, ''La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes'' ("Universal Geography"), over a period of ...
, ''Dicționar geografic al Basarabiei'' was the first-ever actual Bessarabian gazetteer.
In his two works on Bessarabia, Arbore sought to present a detailed account of Economic geography, economic and
social geography
Social geography is the branch of human geography that is interested in the relationships between society and space, and is most closely related to social theory in general and sociology in particular, dealing with the relation of social phenomena ...
. He notably inventoried the villages originally settled by free peasants (''răzeși''), accounting for 151 such localities in central Bessarabia and 4 in the Budjak.
Overall, the politicized aspect of his contribution also had negative connotations. According to literary critic Bogdan Crețu (who builds on the conclusions of literary historian Leonte Ivanov), Arbore was also responsible for circulating a stereotyped image of the Russian Empire and its inhabitants. Before 1914, Arbore made accusatory claims about Russification and the Russian Orthodox Church expansion into Bessarabia: depicting the Most Holy Synod, Russian Synod as a heretical, non-Orthodox, institution, he argued that church officials were burning Romanian books for heating.
Germanophilia and Russophobia
Arbore's wartime stance, in particular his conjectural support for the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
, was likened by
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944 in Bucharest) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history from the deformations due to ideological propaganda. I.e. as ...
to that of fellow Bessarabian
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; russian: Константин Егорович Стере, ''Konstantin Yegorovich Stere'' or Константин Георгиевич Стере, ''Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere''; also known u ...
, with the exception that Arbore was more the political radical, opposed to
Tsarist autocracy
Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states th ...
, than a nationalist or Russophobia, Russophobe. However, as early as 1912, Arbore was envisaging a general rising against Russia, also involving the Poles and the Finns.
In ''Autonomia sau anexarea'', he claimed that "damned Russia" secretly wanted to lure Romania into her war with the Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian provinces inhabited by Romanians, and in exchange expand its own territory southwards, into the Danube Delta and Dobruja.
Arbore therefore saw the Union of Transylvania with Romania, Transylvanian union as a hopeless project; his consolation for Romanians, Transylvanian as well as Bukovinian, was in the United States of Greater Austria, federalization of Austria-Hungary. Later, he claimed that his beliefs on the Transylvanian issue were quite similar to the skeptical Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg loyalism of Transylvanian politicos, from Eugen Brote and Ioan Slavici to Aurel Popovici.
The articles he contributed to ''
Seara
Seara is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region of Brazil. The Museu Entomológico Fritz Plaumann is located in the town.
See also
*List of municipalities in Santa Catarina
This is a list of the municipalities in th ...
'' noted with surprise that the pro-Entente Francophiles were more interested in rescuing France than they were in the fate of Bessarabian Romanians.
''Liberarea Basarabiei'', Marcel Mitrașcă argues, was one of the select few manifestations of Romanian national sentiment to advocate Bessarabian emancipation at the peak of wartime agitation, alongside similar manifestos by Stere,
Axinte Frunză, Dumitru C. Moruzi etc. Arbore's political theory was later expanded into a
Germanophile
A Germanophile, Teutonophile, or Teutophile is a person who is fond of German culture, German people and Germany in general, or who exhibits German patriotism in spite of not being either an ethnic German or a German citizen. The love of the ''Ge ...
manifesto: Arbore claimed that Romania's only option was to rally with "Russia's enemies" on the Eastern Front (World War I), Eastern Front, limiting European Russia to the "ethnographic" borders of ancient Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovy; the alternative, he warned, was that the ''muscălime'' ("Moskals") would in the long run annex Romania and all her Irredentism, irredenta.
Again, he described the Romanian prospects of "liberating Bessarabia" as intrinsically linked with the German-sponsored emancipation of Congress Poland, the Grand Duchy of Finland and the
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.
In an August 1915 piece for ''Seara'', Arbore saluted the German people as the more "enlightened" combatant, who had accumulated a "colossal vital energy" and was therefore poised to emerge as the victor.
With ''Ukraina și România'', Zamfir Arbore spoke out against the opinions expressed by Romanian nationalist historian Nicolae Iorga, a leading figure in pro-Entente politics, who had denied the existence of a distinct History of Ukrainian nationality, Ukrainian identity. In fact, Arbore argued, the Ukrainian nationalism, cultural separation between Ukrainians and Russians was both justified by history and opportune for the Romanian cause: since the Russian Empire could not hope to become a federation, and an independent Ukraine was therefore inevitable, "the Ukrainian state would be a peaceful neighbor to
Greater Romania
The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea.
As a concept, its main goal is the creation ...
."
According to Lucian Boia, Arbore's public stances under the actual Romania in World War I, German occupation were surprisingly toned down.
His one article for ''Lumina'' (November 1917) reviewed the Russian issue in quite different terms, prophesying that a multinational federation could be effected around the Russian Provisional Government.
His 1918 public lectures on Bessarabia were focused on geographic and statistical information—"one would have expected more", Boia notes.
Arbore was more outspoken during the interwar period: his December 1918 speech demanded the guarantee of minority rights in Greater Romania, saluted the policies of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia as a liberating force, and predicted a Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War.
On the occasion, Arbore also demanded the release of Socialist Party of Romania, Socialist Party activists held in Romanian custody, as well as the freeing of Transylvanian collaborationist Slavici.
Legacy
Impact in academia
As both a historical figure and a historian, Zamfir Arbore received mixed reviews from other academics. His ''Viața Basarabiei'' partner Pan Halippa noted that Arbore's historical but minor merit in opposing "Russification" was equivalent to that of other Bessarabian
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 ...
s and writers from various epochs: Stere, Alecu Donici, Alexandru Hâjdeu,
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu ( 26 February 1838 – ) was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history.
Life
He was born Tadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (now Kerstentsi in Chernivtsi ...
and Constantin Stamati. Although an ideological adversary of Arbore, Nicolae Iorga similarly referred to his Bessarabian colleague as a pioneer of Romanian Bessarabian activism.
Sociologist
Henri H. Stahl Henri H. Stahl (also known as Henry H. Stahl or H. H. Stahl; 1901 – 9 September 1991) was a Romanian Marxist cultural anthropologist, ethnographer, sociologist, and social historian.
Biography
Born in Bucharest to a family of Alsatian and ...
focused instead on Arbore's contributions as a scientist. Stahl discusses him and Stere, alongside theorist
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea (born Solomon Katz; 1855, village of Slavyanka near Yekaterinoslav (modern Dnipro), then in Imperial Russia – 1920, Bucharest) was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and jour ...
and
Nicolae Zubcu-Codreanu Nicolae may refer to:
* Nicolae (name), a Romanian name
* ''Nicolae'' (novel), a 1997 novel
See also
*Nicolai (disambiguation)
*Nicolao Nicolao is an Italian given name and a surname. It may refer to the following:
Given name
*Nicolao Civitali ...
, as one of the most important intellectuals in the group of ex-Narodniks who contributed to the left-wing school of social sciences in Romania.
He notes that Arbore stood apart in this group for his anarchist ideals, uncommon in his adoptive Romania.
Contrarily, historian Cyril E. Black assessed that, unlike Stere's post-Narodnik theory of ''Poporanism'', Arbore's influence in Romanian politics was "negligible". A more controversial aspect of Arbore's legacy is an enduring accusation of plagiarism: his works are alleged to have borrowed the research of various other authors, to whom Arbore did not give proper credit.
As early as 1879, Dobrogeanu-Gherea circulated some of Arbore's reminiscences of revolutionary life, quoted as excerpts in his own essays. One of the earliest historiographic works to trace Arbore's lifelong socialist militancy was authored shortly before its subject died, in 1933. Authored by I. C. Atanasiu, it was titled ''Mișcarea socialistă'' ("The Socialist Movement"). The same year, an account of his activities in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
was published as part of
Pavel Axelrod
Pavel Borisovich Axelrod (russian: Па́вел Бори́сович Аксельро́д; 25 August 1850 – 16 April 1928) was an early Russian Marxist revolutionary. Along with Georgi Plekhanov, Vera Zasulich, and Leo Deutsch, he was one ...
's book of memoirs.
A monograph on Arbore's life and work was published in 1936 by social scientist Alexandru Siedel.
The Arbores and communist censorship
From her adoptive Soviet Union, Arbore's older daughter
Ecaterina Ecaterina is a Romanian female first name meaning Catherine. Notable persons with that name include:
* Ecaterina Andronescu (born 1948), Romanian politician and engineer
*Ecaterina Arbore
Ekaterina Arbore, Arbore-Ralli or Ralli-Arbore (rendered ...
cultivated her father's image: in 1931, she helped publish fragments of his
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...
s on
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary ...
and
Sergey Nechayev
Sergey Gennadiyevich Nechayev (russian: Серге́й Генна́диевич Неча́ев) ( – ) was a Russian communist revolutionary and prominent figure of the Russian nihilist movement, known for his single-minded pursuit of revolution ...
, translated into Russian and signed with the abridged name ''Z. K. Ralli''.
Noted for her medical work and political standing, Ecaterina was nevertheless labeled an Enemy of the people, enemy of the Soviet people, arrested and killed during the Great Purge of the late 1930s.
As an author, Zamfir Arbore was somewhat tolerated in the Soviet Union and its Moldavian SSR, created in 1940 by the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia. In the late 1940s, his name was included on a long list of authors officially banned by the Censorship in the Soviet Union, Soviet censorship apparatus. However, in later years he was officially quoted and praised, one of the few exceptions to the rule which put limits on the popularization of Literature of Romania, Romanian literature (unlike Stere, whose work were still banned).
In Romania, Arbore was survived by daughter
Nina Nina may refer to:
* Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname
Acronyms
*National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq
* Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology
*No income, ...
(d. 1942). Known as the Romanian student of Henri Matisse, she maintained an interest in moderate leftist causes, joining the group formed around ''Cuvântul Liber (1933), Cuvântul Liber'' newspaper. Her nephew Zamfir Dumitru Arbore fought against Nazi Germany in World War II, receiving ''Steaua României''.
In postwar Communist Romania, Zamfir Dumitru Arbore worked as a Five-year plans of Romania, state planner, and established a family: his successors were still living at the family home in Bucharest in the early 1970s.
The Arbores' patriarch was being rediscovered as a scholar, in particular after the 1960s liberalization (when Ecaterina was Rehabilitation (Soviet), posthumously rehabilitated).
Censorship in Communist Romania, Communist censorship however intervened in his various republished texts, cutting out all remarks which could seem Russophobic,
keeping his political writings hidden from public view while allowing some exposure to his geography tracts.
Among the anti-communist Romanian diaspora, genealogist Mihai Dim. Sturdza completed a more thorough account of Arbore's career, which covered the controversial aspects and was published in Sturdza's dictionary ''Familiile boierești din Moldova și Țara Românească'' ("Boyar Families of Wallachia and Moldavia").
Armand Goșu noted that the entry comprised "the best pages ever written on Zamfir Arbore",
while Ioan Stanomir sees in it a real-life equivalent of Fyodor Dostoevsky's ''The Possessed (novel), The Possessed'' and Joseph Conrad's ''Under Western Eyes (novel), Under Western Eyes''.
During the 1960s, the exiled journalist Pamfil Șeicaru also included ample references to Arbore's anti-Russian texts in his own anti-communist propaganda works.
After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Arbore's name resurfaced in a nationalist conspiracy theory, which claims that
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...
's descent into mental illness was staged by his more conservative political rivals. According to this interpretation, the involuntary commitment of Eminescu in summer 1883 was set to coincide with the expulsion of his friend Arbore.
In Moldova and abroad
Arbore's works were reprinted in Moldova, the Independence of Moldova, independent post-Soviet republic comprising the bulk of historical Bessarabia. Moldovan literary historians Ion Varta and Tatiana Varta oversaw the 2001 reprint of ''Basarabia în secolul XIX''; the same year, Editura Fundației Culturale Române and Editura Museum co-edited his ''Dicționar geografic al Basarabiei'', with Iurie Colesnic as caretaker. His name was assigned to streets in both Chișinău and Bucharest. His
Dolna manor is preserved as a museum.
Arbore's contribution also made an impact outside its immediate cultural context. His memoirs were reviewed early on by anarchist historian Max Nettlau, who called them inaccurate, without specifying to what extent.
Later, the various writings of Arbore-Ralli were studied, translated and preserved by exile Marxists Boris Nicolaevsky and Egor E. Lazarev, and passed on to the Hoover Institution. Writing in 1994, United States, American historian Keith Hitchins reviewed ''Basarabia în secolul XIX'' as "an old, in some ways classic" and "still useful" Romanian study of the Bessarabian question.
[Keith Hitchins, ''Rumania: 1866-1947'', Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York City, 1994, p.560. ] Arbore's 2009 biography at the anarchist
Kate Sharpley Library
The Kate Sharpley Library (or KSL) is a library dedicated to anarchist texts and history. Started in 1979 and reorganized in 1991, it currently holds around ten thousand English language volumes, pamphlets and periodicals.
__NOTOC__ Namesake
The K ...
focuses on his revolutionary career rather than his other commitments, claiming that the Romanian reviews of his nationalist policies, beginning with Nicolae Iorga's texts, are "mystification", and noting that his activities in Greater Romania "remain to be investigated".
According to the same source, an English translation of ''Temniță și exil'' was in progress, and considered for publication with Canada's Black Cat Press.
Notes
References
''Register of the Boris I. Nicolaevsky Collection, 1801-1982'' Hoover Institution & Stanford University, Stanford, 2000 (digitized by the California Digital Library); retrieved February 6, 2010
*
''Societatea de Mâine'', Nr. 5, May 1933(digitized by the
Babeș-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University ( ro, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai , hu, Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetem, commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. UBB has a long academic tradition, started by Universitas ...
br>
Transsylvanica Online Library
* Tiberiu Avramescu, "Un cavaler rătăcitor pe drumurile libertății: Titus Dunka (III)", 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 ...
'', July 1971, p. 84-89
*
James H. Billington
James Hadley Billington (June 1, 1929 – November 20, 2018) was an American academic and author who taught history at Harvard and Princeton before serving for 42 years as CEO of four federal cultural institutions. He served as the 13th Librarian ...
, ''Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith'', Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 2009.
*
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944 in Bucharest) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history from the deformations due to ideological propaganda. I.e. as ...
, ''"Germanofilii". Elita intelectuală românească în anii Primului Război Mondial'', Humanitas publishing house, Humanitas, Bucharest, 2010.
* Vasile Christu
"Contribuții la mișcările sociale din România. Doi precursori ai ideilor libertare: Hristo Botev și dr Petru Alexandrov" in ''Societatea de Mâine'', Nr. 1 (357), February 1937, p. 16-20
* Ion Felea,
** "Bătrînul Arbore și crengile sale", in ''Magazin Istoric'', July 1971, p. 8-14
** "Pe marginea unei biografii. C. Dobrogeanu-Gherea", in ''Magazin Istoric'', July 1977, p. 18-19
* Lidia Kulikovski, Margarita Șcelcikova (eds.)
''Presa basarabeană de la începuturi pînă în anul 1957. Catalog'' at th
B. P. Hadeu Municipal Library of Chișinău retrieved January 26, 2011
* Marcel Mitrașcă, ''Moldova: a Romanian Province under Russian Rule'', Algora Publishing, New York City, 2002.
* Vladimir Tismăneanu, ''Stalinism pentru eternitate'', Polirom, Iași, 2005.
* Adam Bruno Ulam, ''Prophets and Conspirators in Prerevolutionary Russia'', Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 1998.
*
George Woodcock
George Woodcock (; May 8, 1912 – January 28, 1995) was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, a philosopher, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet and published several volumes of travel wri ...
, ''Anarchism: a History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements'', Broadview Press, Peterborough, 2004.
External links
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Politicians from Chernivtsi
People from the Duchy of Bukovina
Romanian Austro-Hungarians
Romanian nobility
Romanian people of Greek descent
Romanian people of Moldovan descent
Romanian people of Ukrainian descent
Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the Russian Empire
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Switzerland
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Romania
People deported from Romania
Naturalised citizens of Romania
People of the Russian Revolution
Romanian people of World War I
Burials at Sfânta Vineri Cemetery