The 1918 Romanian typographers' strike was a

labor strike Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the I ...

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 ...

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 ...

. The strike began on December 6, 1918, when the city's typographers went on strike for higher salaries, an

8-hour work day The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses. An eight-hour work day has its origins in the 1 ...

, and recognition of their union. The striking workers declared a second protest the following week, and on December 13, they were joined by various

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

groups, who demanded the abolition of the

Romanian monarchy The King of Romania (Romanian: ''Regele României'') or King of the Romanians (Romanian: ''Regele Românilor''), was the title of the monarch of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when the Romanian Workers' Party proclaimed the Romanian ...

. It is estimated that over 15,000 participated in the December 13th demonstrations. The strike was violently put down by the Romanian military, resulting in the deaths and injuries of dozens of workers, although the death toll has been disputed.

Context

Following the end 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 ...

and the

Bolshevik 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 Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, much of Europe saw various communist uprisings. Over 700,000 Romanian soldiers and civilians were killed during the war. Compounding this, working conditions amongst the urban population were poor at the time, with children as young as six working, and workdays lasting from 12 to 16 hours per day. Previous protests during World War I were violently suppressed via emergency powers granted to the government. Increasingly,

groups began making themselves more visible, with typographers printing large amounts of left-wing material. When Ferdinand I returned from exile on December 1, 1918, 6,000 railway workers went on strike in Bucharest. On December 3, 5,000 civil servants went on strike.

Events

On December 6, 1918, typographers in the city on

had gone on

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

, demanding higher salaries, an

, and recognition of their union. During this strike, the protestors announced a second protest the following Friday. On the 13th, protestors marched down Calea Victoriei, near the royal palace. The protestors then approached a military general, asking for permission to protest, which the military did not approve. The military then began shooting the protestors with four machine guns. One military official at the time noted that such shootings went against regulations placed upon the military, which required a military prosecutor to be present to approve such shooting, and that the guidance stated that warning shots should have been fired instead.

Aftermath and death toll

Initially, the government reported a low death tolls, with figures ranging from 6 to 16 strikers that had been killed, although subsequent figures suggest that perhaps 87 or 102 strikes may have been killed. Socialist organizer Ion Frimu was among those wounded by the military officers, and died from his wounds weeks later. Other prominent figures who were arrested at the march included

Alecu Constantinescu Alexandru "Alecu" Constantinescu (March 10, 1872 – March 28, 1949) was Romanian trade unionist, journalist and socialist and pacifist militant, one of the major advocates of the transformation of the Romanian socialist movement into a communist ...

and Alexandru Bogdan.

Constantin Titel Petrescu Constantin Titel Petrescu (5 February 1888 – 2 September 1957) was a Romanian politician and lawyer. He was the leader of the Romanian Social Democratic Party. He was born in Craiova, the son of an employee of the National Bank in Buchare ...

and N. D. Cocea were some of the lawyers who defended those arrested.

Legacy

Under the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian People ...

, December 13 became a national holiday, known as "Typographers' Day". A large mausoleum for Ion Frimu was erected in

Tineretului Park ''Tineretului'' Park (, "Youth's Park") is a large public park in southern Bucharest ( Sector 4). History The park, which was created in 1965 and finished in 1974, was planned by the architect Valentin Donose. It was designed as the main recreati ...

, and a commemorative statue and plaque was built at the site of the protest. One of the streets the protestors marched down, Ion Câmpineanu Street () was renamed to December 13, 1918 Street (), but reverted to Ion Câmpineanu Street following the fall of the Socialist Republic of Romania.

References

{{Riots, protests and civil disorder in Romanian territory typographers' strike Romanian typographers' strike Labor disputes in Romania Massacres in Romania Protests in Romania Socialism in Romania