Romanian writer
Constantin Mille
(
Romanian pronunciation:
[konstan?tin
?mile]
; December 21, 1861 ? February 20, 1927) was a Romanian journalist, novelist, poet, lawyer, and
socialist
militant, as well as a prominent
human rights
activist. A
Marxist
for much of his life, Mille was noted for his vocal support of peasant emancipation, for his early involvement with the
Romanian Social Democratic Workers' Party
(PSDMR), and his presence at the head of several magazines, culminating in his association with the moderate
left-wing
newspapers
Adev?rul
and
Diminea?a
. After serving as an independent member of the
Chamber of Deputies
for one mandate (1899-1903), he aligned his views with those of
Take Ionescu
, and became a supporter of Romania's entry into
World War I
alongside the
Entente Powers
. In addition to his political career, Mille was the author of two autobiographical novels (
Dinu Millian
, 1884, and
O via??
, 1914).
Biography
[
edit
]
Early life and literature
[
edit
]
Born in
Ia?i
, he later indicated, in his
Dinu Millian
(written on the model set by
Jules Valles
),
[1]
that his childhood had been a tragic one, with his father suffering from a mental disorder and his mother falling severely ill.
[1]
Also according to his testimony, Mille spent much of his childhood and early youth in a
boarding school
.
[1]
He attended the
local university
's Faculty of Law in autumn 1878,
[2]
and became associated with other socialists, including the
Russian
-born
Nicolae Russel
, a physician and noted militant, as well as the locals
Alexandru B?d?r?u
, and the brothers
Ioan
and
Gheorghe N?dejde
.
[3]
Mille also began his association with the Ia?i-based socialist magazine
Contemporanul
, which carried a polemic with the established literary society
Junimea
,
[1]
[2]
[4]
and authored his first poems, collected in a "red notebook".
[1]
Among his debut works was an 1882 poem honoring
Vasile Conta
, the
materialist
philosopher who had died in the same year.
[5]
Allegedly winning Eminescu's admiration,
[1]
his literary attempts were nonetheless later dismissed as "pure prose" by the influential writer and critic
George C?linescu
.
[1]
A similar view was expressed by
Traian Demetrescu
(also known as
Tradem
), an eclectic poet who shared views with the
Symbolists
, and who contended that Mille lacked "a powerful talent, the original disposition of an artist", which had prevented him from "creating, out of [his] socialistic material, remarkable works".
[6]
Tradem concluded that "[w]ithout profound meditation, without sensitivity, without imagination, an artist cannot become anything other than, at most, a fecund and passable worker, and not an illustrious figure that would endure".
[6]
Most of Constantin Mille's prose works bear the imprint of
Naturalism
.
[6]
With Russel and others, he organized the first General Congress of Romanian Students (1880), and ultimately attracted attention from the authorities, who, later in the same year, transported Russel out of the country as an agitator.
[3]
Studies abroad
[
edit
]
Ultimately expelled from the faculty due to his politics,
[5]
Mille left for France, where he attended the
University of Paris
(spring of 1882).
[5]
He became one of the main figures in the Romanian students' left-wing circle of
Paris
? together with, among others,
Alexandru Radovici
, the future minister
Mihai S?ulescu
, as well as
Vintil?
and
Horia Rosetti
(the sons of
Radical
leader
C. A. Rosetti
).
[5]
Mille and S?ulescu hatched up an intricate practical joke, designed to ridicule the
Conservative Party
and its press organ,
Timpul
: from early in 1882 and until September, using the name
Gh[eorghe] Cop?cineanu
, they sent letters to the editors, which presented imaginary, shock-value, accounts of student activities in the French capital, part of which specifically referred to Mille himself (among other things, they pretended that Mille had become a restaurateur, and that Cop?cineanu had been assailed by socialists armed with knives while crossing the
Seine
on the Austerlitz Bridge).
[5]
The correspondence was published in its entirety by the Romanian newspaper, which led Mille to declare that "any inanity can fit in the journal's columns".
[5]
Ultimately, Mille revealed that he was responsible for the whole affair (a notice published by
Telegraful
);
[5]
although
Timpul
did not reply,
Mihai Eminescu
, the influential poet who worked in the journal's mail room and reviewed all letters, later confessed to
Zamfir Arbore
that he had "given approval for print without reading them".
[5]
Mille completed his studies in
Brussels
, at the
Universite Libre
, being awarded a diploma in Law (1884).
[2]
He returned to Romania during the same year, and settled in
Bucharest
, joining the local
Bar association
.
[2]
Bucharest socialist circle
[
edit
]
Although initially an advocate of
common-law marriage
, Mille allegedly accepted a
Romanian Orthodox
ceremony, and, according to C?linescu, "defended [his new position] through ridiculous
sophistry
".
[1]
A founding member of the socialist circle in Bucharest (known as
Cercul de Studii Sociale
, the Social Studies Circle),
[2]
he joined
Ioan N?dejde
in creating the magazine
Drepturile Omului
(published for several months in 1885 and reestablished in 1888, it ceased to exist in 1889).
[7]
The editors repeatedly issues calls for the creation of a
working class
party, and argued in favor of
public ownership
, but also took inspiration from
Narodnik
ideas (
see
Poporanism
).
[7]
According to
Henri H. Stahl
, during the late 1880s and early 1890s, Mille shared the vision of
Vasile Mor?un
,
Alexandru G. Radovici
and N?dejde, which called on the socialist clubs to merge with
progressive
and
radical
forces such as
George Panu
's grouping.
[8]
Nicknamed the
genero?i
("generous ones"), and arguing that Romanian socialism could only be established when
capitalism
had been fully developed, they thus disagreed with the mainstream Marxist theorist
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
.
[8]
Most of these younger socialists associated with the socialist sympathizer
Constantin Stere
, and, a decade later, merged with the
National Liberal Party
(PNL).
[8]
With
Panait Mu?oiu
and N?dejde, Mille founded the magazine
Munca
, which was published between 1890 and 1894.
[7]
[9]
It followed in the wake of
Contemporanul'
s 1891 disestablishment, and adhered to Dobrogeanu-Gherea's pamphlet
Ce vor sociali?tii romani?
("What Do the Romanian Socialists Want?", 1886), which had set the tone for unifying the various socialist groups in the country.
[4]
[9]
Carrying the subtitle "Organ social democrat" ("Social democratic organ"),
[9]
Munca
effectively relocated the center of socialist activity from Ia?i to Bucharest,
[9]
and had among its collaborators
Garabet Ibr?ileanu
,
Sofia N?dejde
, and
Mihai Pastia
.
[9]
Associated with the
labor movement
and frequently reporting on
strikes
, the newspaper urged workers to organize into
trade unions
and popularized Marxist tenets.
[7]
In 1891, N?dejde, Mille and Mor?un issued a
manifesto
of the would-be socialist party (at the time, a loose rally of socialist clubs),
[9]
entitled
Manifest c?tre ??rani, in numele Comitetului electoral al partidului
("Manifesto to the Peasants, in the Name of the Party's Election Committee").
[3]
PSDMR episode and deputy
[
edit
]
In 1893, Mille joined the newly created PSDMR and stood among its most radical members, calling for immediate social reform.
[4]
He was to be expelled from the group two years later, due to his purchase of
Adev?rul
(known then as
Adev?rul
), which was considered
bourgeois
in tone.
[4]
During the same period,
Adev?rul
became involved in a heated debate with the literary magazine
Viea?a
, after publishing an article in irreverent tone which referred to the writer and editor
Alexandru Vlahu??
as "a scoundrel".
[6]
From that moment on,
Viea?a
repeatedly issued unflattering reviews of works by socialist authors, and chronicled Mille's poetry under the derisive title "Pliviri" ("Weedings").
[6]
Taking over as editor-in-chief following
Alexandru Beldiman
's death in 1898, he led the paper into opposition to the PNL cabinet of
Dimitrie Sturdza
, who he argued had betrayed the
genero?i
in his party by endorsing
reactionary
policies.
[10]
During the
elections of 1899
, the newspaper, through its correspondent
Ioan Bacalba?a
, investigated alleged violence by government forces in
Slatina
.
[10]
At the time, Mille was proposed as an independent candidate for
Teleorman County
, running for the Third Electoral College (that of peasants), and came to serve a mandate in the
Chamber of Deputies
.
[10]
He was again elected during the
1907 suffrage
.
[9]
In December, following the arrival to power of
Gheorghe Cantacuzino
and the
Conservative Party
,
Adev?rul
investigated and denounced the practices of a French firm who had failed to respect its obligations involving
public works
in
Constan?a
(
see
Hallier Affair
).
[10]
Their campaign culminated in the intervention of low-ranking police forces, who assaulted Mille and Bacalba?a ? while recovering, they were visited by the PNL's
Ion I. C. Br?tianu
, who expressed his sympathy.
[10]
Also in 1899, the PSDMR disbanded, when a scandal was caused by the presence of socialist clubs in the countryside ? of them, the PNL's
Minister of the Interior
Mihail Pherekyde
claimed had been fermenting agitation, an accusation which met with protests from Mille and his
Adev?rul
.
[9]
In parallel,
Munca'
s legacy was taken over in 1902 by
Christian Rakovsky
's
Romania Muncitoare
, which was more radical in tone and hosted contributions by Mille.
[4]
[7]
As deputy, he unsuccessfully promoted
universal suffrage
, and notably called for the reduction of tariffs on products of strict necessity to peasants.
[10]
Early 1900s causes
[
edit
]
Interested in international causes, Mille was, by 1903, a vocal supporter of
Alfred Dreyfus
and
Emile Zola
during the
Dreyfus Affair
which split France into two rival political camps, one in arguing in favor of
nationalism
and
militarism
and the other in favor of justice and
human rights
.
[11]
Writing at the time, he identified the
Third Republic
's influential
conservative
,
revanchist
and
antisemitic
groups with a "militarist dictatorship".
[11]
In following years, Constantin Mille and
Adev?rul
became opponents of the foreign policy endorsed by the new Sturdza cabinet, and denounced the convention signed with
Austria-Hungary
regarding, among other things, the duty to
extradite
Austrian citizens who took refuge to Romania ? Mille argued that this was disadvantageous to
ethnic Romanian
political activists in
Transylvania
,
Bukovina
, and the
Banat
.
[10]
He took the same stand on similar issues involving relations with the
Russian
and
Ottoman Empires
, calling for
Bessarabians
,
Albanians
and
Aromanians
who had evaded to Romania not to be persecuted.
[10]
Additionally, in 1905, as the mutinous
battleship
Potemkin
took refuge in Constan?a, he and his newspapers asked the Cantacuzino government to offer sailors safe haven.
[10]
He issued his second daily in 1904: begun as a morning edition of
Adev?rul
,
Diminea?a
soon became a paper on its own, and, through it, Mille was responsible for bringing in several innovations in the local press.
[12]
He introduced colored print and images, leading
Diminea?a
to claim that it was the first daily to be published in color (1912), and was the first in his country to make use of
Linotype machines
(1907).
[12]
During the large-scale
Peasants' Revolt of 1907
, he voiced criticism of the governing PNL for the violent manner in which it opted to repress protests,
[9]
[10]
[13]
and questioned the attitudes of former socialists who had joined the latter group (including
Constantin Stere
, who was serving as prefect).
[9]
At the time, Mille wrote:
"Pacification, not cruelty! We do not wish to start a campaign on this painful issue. We hope that we will be heard and not have to alert public opinion, because calm is required in these murky and unfortunate times. Yet we cannot allow that, after the savagery of peasant gangs, follow the savagery of people coming ≪with the law≫."
[10]
Additionally, Mille's paper called for reparations to be paid to victims' families, for an
amnesty
to be declared, and for
Vasile Kog?lniceanu
, an activist who supported the peasant cause and faced trial, to be set free; it also published the influential protest of
Ion Luca Caragiale
(
1907 din prim?var? pan?'n toamn?
, "1907 from Spring till Autumn"), which questioned the establishment and policies of Romania.
[10]
Immediately after the Revolt,
Adev?rul
was among the sources to make the controversial claim that 11,000 peasants had perished in the events.
[13]
[14]
According to historian Anton Caragea, a confidential report of that year, presented to his superiors by the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Secret Service agent Gunther, informed that Mille, as well as the editors of
Universul
and
Epoca
, had been advanced sums of money in order to exaggerate the amplitude of repression, and to incite both local and international outrage.
[13]
The importance and extent of Austro-Hungarian agitation remains a debated subject: it has also been argued that, in concrete terms, foreign influence proved to be insignificant.
[14]
1908-1914 politics
[
edit
]
After 1908, Mille sided with the
Take Ionescu
-led politicians who split from the Conservative Party to form the
Conservative-Democratic
grouping.
[9]
Like Ionescu, he supported measures for the union of Transylvania, Banat, and Bukovina with the
Kingdom of Romania
, and visited the region to attend meetings of the
Romanian National Party
, but, in 1908, came into conflict with its prominent activist
Iuliu Maniu
? while Mille insisted that Romanians in Transylvania and the Banat were to seek collaboration with left-wing forces in Romania, Maniu presented a purely
nationalist
perspective, indicated that he expected support from the entire Romanian community.
[15]
According to
Sever Bocu
, who witnessed the debate, Mille considered Maniu's position "
reactionary
".
[15]
Adev?rul
notably condemned the disadvantageous trade convention signed between Romania and Austria-Hungary, signaled that Romanians in the region were being subjected to violence, and alleged that the Austro-Hungarian state had included within its borders ridges of the
Carpathians
that it had no right to own.
[10]
When an attempt on the life of PNL
Premier
Ion I. C. Br?tianu
, carried out by a certain Stoenescu, occurred in December 1909, authorities took the measure of arresting
Romania Muncitoare
editors, who were believed to be instigators of the attack.
[9]
In reaction to this, Constantin Mille accused the
genero?i
of having left room for confusion inside the socialist camp by way of their departure to the PNL, and speculated that, through their tacit acceptance of PNL politics, they had provoked a rise in the popularity of "
Anarchism
".
[9]
A wider polemic ensued when the socialist-turned-Liberal
Garabet Ibr?ileanu
replied in
Viitorul
, defending those principles advocated by the
genero?i
in front of both Mille and Dobrogeanu-Gherea.
[9]
In 1911, Mille wrote several articles defending
Alexandru Nicolau
, an activist of the newly created
Social Democratic Party
who was facing trial for his vocal criticism of the
Romanian Army
(Nicolau was eventually acquitted).
[16]
World War I
[
edit
]
At a time when the socialist movement grouped itself around the
Zimmerwald Movement
and called for Romania to stay out of the World War, Mille became instead a vocal supporter of joining the
Entente Powers
, insisting that Romania should assist France and take over Transylvania.
[10]
In a 1915 letter to
Leon Trotsky
, the influential socialist and Zimmerwald partisan
Christian Rakovsky
accused Mille of having been corrupted by Take Ionescu, and of using his newspapers for propaganda "under the mask of independence".
[17]
He also claimed: "[Ionescu] thus compensated for the weakness of his party, both in men and ideas, through corrupting the press".
[17]
As the
Romanian Campaign
witnessed the occupation of Bucharest by the
Central Powers
, Mille and several of his collaborators took refuge in
Ia?i
, while other
Adev?rul
journalists were arrested by
German
forces and
deported
to
Bulgaria
.
[10]
He returned after the
Treaty of Bucharest
.
When the
strike
of compositors in Bucharest (December 13, 1918), organized by the
Socialist Party of Romania
, was repressed in violence by the authorities ? who saw in it signs of
Bolshevik
agitation) ?, Mille joined
Constantin Titel Petrescu
,
Radu R. Rosetti
,
N. D. Cocea
, and
Toma Dragu
on the defense team of arrested Socialists (of them, only
communist
sympathizers such as
Alecu Constantinescu
were found guilty, all sentenced to 5 years in prison).
[16]
Final years
[
edit
]
After the war, Mille began editing the magazine
Lupta
.
[18]
[19]
Again present in Transylvania in 1921, he notably met and conversed with
Hungarian
historian and sociologist
Oszkar Jaszi
.
[19]
In 1923, he helped create
Liga Drepturilor Omului
(the League for
Human Rights
), reuniting a left-leaning activists such as Titel Petrescu, Rosetti,
Constantin R?dulescu-Motru
,
Virgil Madgearu
,
Constantin Costa-Foru
,
Nicolae L. Lupu
,
Dem I. Dobrescu
,
Victor Eftimiu
, and
Grigore Iunian
; it was active until 1928.
[16]
He gradually ceased his work at
Adev?rul
and, shortly before his death, handed the paper over to a consortium headed by
Aristide Blank
.
[10]
In January 1926, during the final stage of a scandal involving
Prince Carol
's wartime
morganatic marriage
to
Zizi Lambrino
, he came to the attention of the secret police,
Siguran?a Statului
, for supporting her claim that the marriage was illegally annulled by the
Supreme Court
, and for offering her assistance at a time when she visited Bucharest
[18]
(according to Siguran?a Statului, the two were related).
[18]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
George C?linescu
,
Istoria literaturii romane. Compendiu
("The History of Romanian Literature. Compendium"),
Editura Minerva
, Bucharest, 1983, p.196-198
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
(in Romanian)
Ionel Maftei,
"Constantin Mille, 75 de ani de la moarte" (Constantin Mille, 75 Years since His Death")
, in
Evenimentul
, February 27, 2002
- ^
a
b
c
(in Romanian)
Henri H. Stahl
,
Ganditori ?i curente de istorie social? romaneasc?
("Thinkers and Trends in Romanian Social History"), Cap.VII, "Curentul gandirii socialiste" ("The Trend of Socialist Thought")
Archived
2005-11-04 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
(in Romanian)
110 ani de social-democra?ie in Romania
("110 Years of Social Democracy in Romania")
Archived
2010-06-01 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Social Democratic Party
, Ovidiu ?incai Social Democratic Institute, Bucharest, July 9, 2003, p.11, 12, 13
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Tiberiu Avramescu, "C. Mille alias Gh. Cop?cineanu", in
Magazin Istoric
, June 1972, p.50-51
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
(in Romanian)
Corina Popescu,
Verismul italian ?i literatura roman? (teatrul italian in Romania: 1871-1911)
("Italian Verism and Romanian Literature (Italian Theater in Romania: 1871-1911"))
Archived
2007-11-24 at the
Wayback Machine
, Section 5: "Teatrul italian ? vehicul al influen?elor moderne in literatura roman?" ("The Romanian Theater - the Vehicle of Modern Influences in Romanian Literature"), at the
University of Bucharest
site
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Heith Hitchins
, "Rumania", in Marcel van der Linden, Jurgen Rojahn,
The Formation of Labour Movements, 1870-1914: an International Perspective
,
Brill Publishers
,
Leiden
, 1990,
ISBN
90-04-09276-5
, p.389-390
- ^
a
b
c
(in Romanian)
Henri H. Stahl
,
Ganditori ?i curente de istorie social? romaneasc?
("Thinkers and Trends in Romanian Social History"), Cap.IX, "Curentele antigheriste" ("Anti-Dobrogeanu-Gherea Trends")
Archived
2007-04-04 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
Z. Ornea
,
Via?a lui C. Stere
("The Life of C. Stere"), Vol. I,
Cartea Romaneasc?
, Bucharest, 1989, p.149-150, 257-265, 413, 443, 500, 521-524
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
"Via?a ?i luptele ziarului
Adev?rul
" ("Life and Combats"), in
Diminea?a
(anniversary issue), November 13, 1933
- ^
a
b
(in Romanian)
Constantin Antip,
"Emile Zola: ≪Adev?rul este in mar?≫" ("Emile Zola: ≪Truth Is Marching On≫")
Archived
2007-10-07 at the
Wayback Machine
, in
Magazin Istoric
- ^
a
b
"Cum a ap?rut
Diminea?a
" ("How
Diminea?a
Came to Be"), in
Diminea?a
(anniversary issue), November 13, 1933
- ^
a
b
c
(in Romanian)
Anton Caragea,
"R?scoal? sau complot?" ("Revolt or Conspiracy?")
Archived
2007-05-02 at the
Wayback Machine
, in
Magazin Istoric
- ^
a
b
(in Romanian)
"Un secol de la R?scoala din 1907" ("A Century since the 1907 Revolt")
Archived
2007-09-27 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Romanian Academy
report, in
Curentul
, March 30, 2007
- ^
a
b
(in Romanian)
Sever Bocu
,
"
Drumuri ?i r?scruci
("Paths and Crossroads")"
. Archived from the original on October 27, 2009
. Retrieved
2007-04-08
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
a
b
c
(in Romanian)
Gheorghe Br?tescu,
Constantin Titel Petrescu
, at the Social Democratic Party-Constantin Titel Petrescu site
- ^
a
b
(in French)
Christian Rakovsky
,
Les socialistes et la guerre
("The Socialists and War")
, at the
Marxists Internet Archive
- ^
a
b
c
(in Romanian)
Vartan Arachelian
,
"Iubire ?i destin: Carol al II-lea ?i Zizi Lambrino (V)" (Love and Destiny: Carol II and Zizi Lambrino"
Archived
2016-03-03 at the
Wayback Machine
, in
Jurnalul Na?ional
, January 7, 2006
- ^
a
b
Gyorgy Litvan
,
A Twentieth-Century Prophet: Oscar Jaszi 1875-1957
, Central European
University Press,
Budapest
, 2006,
ISBN
963-7326-42-1
, p.248
External links
[
edit
]
Romanian
Wikisource
has original text related to this article: