N. D. Cocea (common rendition of Nicolae Dumitru Cocea, , also known as Niculae, Niculici or Nicu Cocea; November 29, 1880 – February 1, 1949) was a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist, known as a major but controversial figure in the field of political satire. The founder of many newspapers and magazines, including Viața Socială, Rampa, Facla and Chemarea, collaborating with writer friends such as Tudor Arghezi, Gala Galaction and Ion Vinea, he fostered and directed the development of early modernist literature in Romania. Cocea later made his name as a republican and anticlerical agitator, was arrested as an instigator during the 1907 peasant revolt, and played a leading role in regrouping the scattered socialist clubs. His allegiances however switched between parties: during World War I, he supported the Entente Powers and, as a personal witness of the October Revolution, the government of Soviet Russia, before returning home as a communist.
During the interwar period, Cocea was elected to Romanian Parliament as an independent socialist, campaigned for the outlawed Romanian Communist Party, and found his press banned by the authorities on several occasions. In 1923, he was found guilty of lèse majesté. Cocea, although kept under constant surveillance, was rumored to have been an opportunistic double dealer, and his personal life was a matter of public scandal. His novels, the vast majority of which are samples of erotic literature, fueled innuendo about his sexual exploits, which also resulted in his sentencing for statutory rape. After World War II, Cocea was again close to the Communist Party and, from 1948, rose to prominence as an official writer for the communist regime.
For a while the son-in-law of journalist Constantin Mille, N. D. Cocea was from a theatrical family: his daughters Dina and Tantzi, like his sister Alice before them, were acclaimed actresses. Another daughter, Ioana-Maria Cocea, is a noted sculptor.
Biography
Early years Born in Bârlad, Cocea claimed lineage from the lesser boyar aristocracy of Moldavia.Călinescu, p. 919; Camboulives, p. 183Mihai Sorin Rădulescu, "Despre aristocrația românească în timpul regimului comunist", in Lucian Boia (ed.), Miturile comunismului românesc, Editura Nemira, Bucharest, 1998, p. 352. Stelian Tănase, "N.D. Cocea, un boier amoral/N.D. Cocea, an Immoral Boyar" (I) , in Sfera Politicii, Nr. 136 His father, Dumitru Cocea, was a Romanian Land Forces officer, who would reach the rank of General. Mihai Dim. Sturdza, "Alice Cocea", in Revista 22, Nr. 1087, January 2011 Simina Stan, "Scandalurile familiei Cocea", in Jurnalul Național, February 5, 2011Călinescu, p. 919; Cernat, Avangarda, p. 18 The Coceas descended from an 18th-century Albanian Moldavian Serdar Gheorghe Cocea,Călinescu, p. 919 but claimed lineage from a 16th-century soldier in the armies of Michael the Brave. Nicolae's mother, Cleopatra, was a published author and a journalist. She hailed from a family of yeomen (răzeși) or landowners, and her artistic education helped shape his cultural tastes from early childhood.Cernat, Avangarda, p. 18 Although he made his name as a writer and journalist, his most ardent wish was to become an actor.
Nicolae attended primary school in his native town, and had a hectic adolescence, determined by his father's successive postings. He is known to have first been enlisted at the National High School of Iași.Popescu-Cadem, p. 220 During the late 1890s, young Cocea was in Bucharest, attending the Saint Sava National College, becoming close friends with two other students and future writers: one was Galaction, the other was Vasile Demetrius. Another Saint Sava student, Ion G. Duca (the Prime Minister of Romania in 1933), was occasionally present among them, but political differences drew them apart with time. Z. Ornea, "Ediția Galaction" , in România Literară, Nr. 47/2001 Despite oral tradition, Arghezi, who joined the Cocea group around the same time, may not have been a Saint Sava student at all: according to literary historian C. Popescu-Cadem, there is no record of him ever attending that institution.Popescu-Cadem, pp. 219–222 Cocea's own education was vague. He flunked out after the 3rd and 7th grades, was transferred to Ploiești, then returned to Saint Sava only to pass reexamination.
Cocea and his Saint Sava friends were already leftists who attended the public lectures of senior socialist leader Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea.Vianu, p. 280 According to literary historian Tudor Vianu, the four youths, including the "restless, daring and ingenious" Cocea, were mounting an independent protest against "bourgeois" values.Vianu, pp. 279–280 They literary taste favored Symbolism, Parnassianism and literary naturalism, which they saw as modern shields against traditionalist culture. Inspired by the works of Charles Baudelaire,Vianu, pp. 280–281; Pastia, p. 290 they soon joined efforts with the Romanian Symbolist movement. All members of the group visited with the Symbolist doyen Alexandru Macedonski, although Cocea the writer was first discovered by Symbolist academic Ovid Densusianu and his Vieața Nouă review.Crohmălniceanu, p. 194
As his personal note, Cocea rebelled against paternal and institutional authority. Under the pen name Nely, he published the defiantly erotic novel Poet-Poetă (1898, with a preface by Galaction), that resulted in his near-definitive expulsion from public high school.Cernat, Avangarda, p. 18. See also Călinescu, pp. 919, 1026 Around the same time, Galaction married Cocea's cousin Zoe Marcou, a laicized Romanian Orthodox nun; she would inspire him to become an Orthodox priest.
Around 1900, Cocea, who had already graduated in Romanian Law, Stelian Tănase, "N.D. Cocea, un boier amoral" (II) , in Sfera Politicii, Nr. 137 was in France, undergoing specialization at the University of Paris. At this stage in life, he was probably acquainted with the French roots of Romanian radical liberalism, which infused his left-wing outlook.Camboulives, p. 183; Mitchievici, p. 127. See also Călinescu, p. 919 A sympathizer of the Dreyfusards, he was also becoming interested in the various projects to transform the Kingdom of Romania into a republic,Camboulives, p. 184 in marked contrast to his father's ardent monarchism. He witnessed first-hand the progress of trade unionism in France, and had personal interviews with writer Anatole France and sculptor Auguste Rodin.Cernat, Avangarda, p. 29 The family's French connections were preserved by the writer's siblings. Cocea's sister Alice, the future comedian, was born in Sinaia, where Dumitru Cocea was stationed in 1899, and also settled in France at a later date. She was joined there by Cocea's younger sister, Florica.
Upon his return to Romania, Cocea was for a while employed as justice of the peace,Camboulives, pp. 183–184 but was later virtually inactive as a lawyer. Instead, he began frequenting the Romanian socialist milieu. He was at the time married to Florica Mille, daughter of Constantin Mille. Her father was founder of Adevărul daily and co-founder of the Social-Democratic Workers' Party (PSDMR). This was another break with the Cocea family tradition: allegedly, General Dumitru Cocea had once ordered his troops to devastate the Adevărul offices.Petrescu, p. 109
Florica was born from Mille's first marriage, which ended in divorce, and had a sister, Margareta, married into the Messerschmitt family of German industrialists.Călinescu, pp. 549, 919 Through Mille, Cocea became related to another Moldavian boyar family, the Tăutus. Cocea's marriage, which resulted in the 1912 birth of Dina Cocea, was troubled and ended in divorce.
Socialist clubs and 1907 revolt Like some of the veteran socialists (Garabet Ibrăileanu, Henric Sanielevici, the România Muncitoare group), the young journalist made repeated attempts to revive and reunite the socialist clubs, left in disarray by the 1899 dissolution of the PSDMR.Cernat, Avangarda, pp. 29, 133–134, 140. See also Cioroianu, p. 135 Cocea, with Arghezi, Demetrius and Galaction, stood out for marrying this political ideal with the artistic credo of Symbolism. This unusual vision was preserved in the magazine the three published together during 1904, Linia Dreaptă ("The Straight Line").Cernat, Avangarda, p. 29. See also Călinescu, pp. 678, 682, 808; Vianu, p. 478 In 1905, Arghezi left for Switzerland and entrusted Cocea with his collection of rare books. Cocea is said to have lost it, an event which marked the first of several disagreements between them.Anghel, p. 45
With the March 1907 peasant uprising, N. D. Cocea's profile in political journalism was boosted. He is the probable source of a much circulated canard, taken up by Adevărul, according to which Romanian authorities had killed 11,000 or more peasant insurgents. Cătălin Mihuleac, " '1907' și '1989' – două mari manipulări prin presă" , in Convorbiri Literare, April 2007 Cocea himself eventually settled for a death toll of 12,000, claiming that, "had the peasants' bodies been lined up and down on Calea Victoriei", Romanian King Carol I of Hohenzollern could have walked over to Dealul Mitropoliei "on a soft rug of peasant flesh".
During the actual events, N. D. Cocea was mainly active on the lower course of the Danube, recognized by other socialists as "one of the leaders of the [workers'] movement" in Brăila.Petrescu, p. 184 His regional daily, Dezrobirea ("The Emancipation"), was probably paid for by a local banker, Alphonse (or Alfons) Nachtigal. Drawing official suspicion as a republican paper, it became noted for fueling revolt regionally. After the România Muncitoare circle organized a socialist rally in Brăila, Dezrobireas entire staff was arrested on orders from Prefect Nicolae T. Faranga, who also confiscated most of the printed issues (although some 1,000 were still freely distributed among the intrigued peasants). "Brăila fierbea încă din 1899", in Obiectiv-Vocea Brăilei, March 20, 2007 Cocea was eventually tried as an instigator, and sentenced to a term in prison.Cernat, p. 29; Mitchievici, p. 127; Petrescu, p. 201
Upon his release, Cocea moved back to Bucharest, where he became a socialist orator, a România Muncitoare editor, and a correspondent of the workers' journal Viitorul Social. He was one of the Romanian delegates to the International Socialist Congress, hosted by the Second International in Stuttgart.Călinescu, p. 919; Camboulives, p. 184; Petrescu, pp. 202–203, 215, 411–412 It was there that Russian socialist opinion leader Vladimir Lenin publicized a thesis according to which the Romanian revolt and the Russian Revolution of 1905 were similar, in both character and impact. Back in Romania, Cocea was resuming his contacts with Dobrogeanu-Gherea, who was by then all but withdrawn from active socialist politics. As Cocea later wrote, the veteran leader confessed to him that he was being brought down by acute insomnia.I. Felea, "Gherea și alții despre Gherea", in Magazin Istoric, December 1971, p. 52