The National Peasants' Party (also known as the National Peasant Party or National Farmers' Party; , or Partidul Național-Țărănist, PNȚ) was an agrarian political party in the Kingdom of Romania. It was formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party (PNR), a conservative-regionalist group centred on Transylvania, and the Peasants' Party (PȚ), which had coalesced the left-leaning agrarian movement in the Old Kingdom and Bessarabia. The definitive PNR–PȚ merger came after a decade-long rapprochement, producing a credible contender to the dominant National Liberal Party (PNL). National Peasantists agreed on the concept of a "peasant state", which defended smallholding against state capitalism or state socialism, proposing voluntary cooperative farming as the basis for economic policy. Peasants were seen as the first defence of Romanian nationalism and of the country's monarchic regime, sometimes within a system of social corporatism. Regionally, the party expressed sympathy for Balkan federalism and rallied with the International Agrarian Bureau; internally, it championed administrative decentralization and respect for minority rights, as well as, briefly, republicanism. It remained factionalized on mainly ideological grounds, leading to a series of defections.
With its attacks on the PNL establishment, the PNȚ came to endorse an authoritarian monarchy, mounting no resistance to a conspiracy which brought Carol II on the Romanian throne in 1930. Over the following five years, Carol manoeuvred against the PNȚ, which opposed his attempts to subvert liberal democracy. PNȚ governments were in power for most of the time between 1928 and 1933, with the leader Iuliu Maniu as its longest-serving Prime Minister. Supported by the Romanian Social Democrats, they expanded Romania's welfare state, but failed to tackle the Great Depression, and organized clampdowns against radicalized workers at Lupeni and Grivița. This issue brought Maniu into conflict with the outlawed Romanian Communist Party, though the PNȚ, and in particular its left, favored a Romanian popular front. From 1935, most of the centrist wing embraced anti-fascism, outvoting the PNȚ's far-right, which split of as a Romanian Front, under Alexandru Vaida-Voevod; in that interval, the PNȚ set up pro-democratic paramilitary units, or Peasant Guards. However, the party signed a temporary cooperation agreement with the fascist Iron Guard ahead of national elections in 1937, sparking much controversy among its own voters.
The PNȚ was banned under the National Renaissance Front (1938–1940), which also absorbed its centrists. Regrouped under Maniu, it remained active throughout World War II as an underground organization, tolerated by successive fascist regimes, but supportive of the Allied Powers; it also organized protests against the deportation of minorities and for the return of Northern Transylvania. Together with the PNL and the communists, it executed the Coup of August 1944, emerging as the most powerful party of the subsequent democratic interlude (1944–1946). In this final period, National Peasantists were repressed as instigators of anti-communist resistance. The PNȚ was registered as having lost the fraudulent elections in 1946, and was banned following the "Tămădău Affair" of 1947. The communist regime imprisoned its members in large numbers, though some on the pro-communist left were allowed to go free. Both Maniu and his more leftist deputy, Ion Mihalache, died in prison.
PNȚ cells were revived in the Romanian diaspora by youth leaders such as Ion Rațiu, and had representation within the Romanian National Committee. The release of political prisoners also allowed the PNȚ to claim existence inside Romania. Corneliu Coposu emerged as the underground leader of this tendency, which was admitted into the Christian Democrat World Union. Its legal successor, called Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party, was one of the first registered political groups after the December 1989 Revolution.
History Formation Future PNȚ leader Maniu had had his first government experience during the union of Transylvania with Romania. In alliance with the Transylvanian Socialists, his PNR had organized a Transylvanian Directorate, which functioned as that region's transitional government to April 1920. This body was explicitly against regional autonomy, and its distinct initiatives were in the field of social welfare.Țepelea, pp. 67–71 As regional Minister of Social Welfare, the PNR doctor Iuliu Moldovan introduced eugenics, which also appeared as nativism in the political thought a PNR leader, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod.Butaru, pp. 203, 223–224, 230–231 Based in the Romanian Old Kingdom, the Peasants' Party was founded in December 1918 by schoolteacher Ion Mihalache, with assistance from academics such as Virgil Madgearu and Dimitrie Gusti.Harre, pp. 64–65. See also Ilincioiu, pp. 9–13 The group soon established itself in Bessarabia, also recently united with Romania. This was due to it absorbing much of the Bessarabian Peasants' Party (PȚB), under Pan Halippa and Constantin Stere.Constantin, p. 26; Ilincioiu, p. 12 In 1921,Ilincioiu, p. 12 the PȚ had been joined by Nicolae L. Lupu, formerly of the Labor Party.
In 1919–1920, the PNR was able to outmaneuver the PNL, and, backed by the PȚ, formed Romania's national government, headed by Vaida-Voevod. Mihalache was personally involved in drafting the land reform project, taking a revolutionary stand which greatly increased the proportion of smallholders.Ilincioiu, p. 11 Vaida's cabinet was brought down by King Ferdinand I, who openly favored the National Liberals.Butaru, p. 307; Scurtu (2000b), pp. 13–14. See also Ilincioiu, pp. 10–11; Kührer-Wielach, pp. 583–584 The PNL's return to power came with the adoption of a new constitution, and with the enactment of land reform, which massively expanded Romania's smallholding class. The latter had an unintended consequence in that it created an electoral pool for the opposition parties; it also gave Peasantists hopes that Romania's economy could still be built around peasant consumers.Ilincioiu, pp. 23–24, 27–28 At this stage, both the PȚ and the PNR were opposed to the Constitution, seeing it as imposed on the Romanian public by the PNL, and arguing that it left the country open to future abuse of power.Ilincioiu, p. 26; Scurtu (2000b), pp. 13–14 PNR absorbed another PȚB faction, led by Ion Pelivan, in 1923.
The two opposition groups embarked on a long series of negotiations, eventually producing a set of principles for merger.Heinen, p. 136; Ilincioiu, pp. 12–13; Nicolaescu, pp. 149–150; Porumbăcean, p. 234; Scurtu (1973), passim They began in May 1924, as informal talks between Stere and the PNR's Vasile Goldiș, resulting in a preliminary agreement that June.Scurtu (1973), pp. 69–70 During this process, the PȚ shed much of its radical platform. However, left-wing Peasantists supported their ideologue Stere, who had a controversial past, for a leadership position in the unified body. This proposal was strongly opposed by figures on the PNR's right-wing such as Vaida and Voicu Nițescu.Scurtu (1973), passim The unification was only made possible once Mihalache "sacrificed" Stere.Scurtu (1973), p. 72 The two-party collaboration was successfully tested during the August 1925 elections for the Agricultural Chambers, a professional consultative body.Heinen, p. 112 In the local election of early 1926, both parties ran a United Opposition Bloc, in conjunction with Alexandru Averescu's People's Party (PP); also joining them was a Peasant Workers' Bloc (BMȚ), which acted as a legal front for clandestine Romanian Communist Party (PCdR).Gabriel Moisa, "Contribuții la istoria Partidul Comunist din România interbelică. Organizația județeană Bihor", in Revista Crisia, Vol. XLVIII, 2018, pp. 225–226 The PP withdrew from this pact once Averescu was called by Ferdinand to take power. Maniu was a first choice, but eventually discarded for his association with Mihalache, whom Ferdinand regarded as a dangerous radical.Iudean, p. 452: Nicolaescu, pp. 143–148. See also Heinen, pp. 136–137; Scurtu (1973), p. 72
Weakened when Goldiș and others defected to the PP, the PNR became "second-fiddle" to the Peasantist caucus.Nicolaescu, pp. 148–150 In the subsequent national election of June, the PNR and PȚ formed a National–Peasant Bloc, which took 27% of the vote and 69 seats in the Assembly of Deputies.Heinen, pp. 113, 463; Iudean, p. 456. See also Nicolaescu, p. 166 As the PȚ agreed to a full merger, the PNR lost support from Nicolae Iorga's semi-independent faction, who went on to reestablish itself as a Democratic Nationalist Party.Kührer-Wielach, p. 589; Porumbăcean, p. 234; Zarojanu, p. 13 The fusion was enshrined at a PNR–PȚ congress on October 10, 1926. Also then, Maniu was voted in as chairman; Mihalache, Lupu, Vaida-Voevod and Paul Brătășanu were vice presidents, while Madgearu became general secretary and Mihai Popovici cashier.Ilincioiu, pp. 13–14; Porumbăcean, p. 235 Its central committee included Constantin Stere, Pantelimon Halippa and Ion Pelivan. From October 17, 1927, the party central organ became Dreptatea, though the party continued to publish various other periodicals, including Patria.Ilincioiu, p. 14. See also Spiridon (2013), p. 247 On November 21 of that year, the party was admitted into the International Agrarian Bureau.Ioan Scurtu, "Relationships of the Peasants' Party of Romania with the Agrarian Parties of Central and South-East Europe", in Revue Des Études Sud-est Européennes, Vol. 19, Issue 1, January–March 1981, pp. 38–39
The National–Peasantist fusion could not lead to an immediate challenge to the PNL supremacy. The party dropped to 22% and 54 deputies after the June 1927 election.Heinen, pp. 152, 463. See also Scurtu v, pp. 12, 14 With Ferdinand terminally ill, it reluctantly backed Barbu Știrbey's nominally independent cabinet, which was in practice a National Liberal front. Its leadership also rejected a pact with Averescu's group, pushing Averescu further into political insignificance.Florescu, pp. 451–455 These events also overlapped with a dynastic crisis: after Ferdinand's death in July 1927, the throne went to his minor grandson Michael I—Michael's disgraced father Carol II having been forced to renounce his claim and pushed into exile. The arrangement was resented by both the PNL and the PNR. For different reasons, both groups sketched out plans to depose Michael and turn Romania into a republic.Butaru, p. 307. See also Kührer-Wielach, pp. 585–586