Romanian extremes. The political and social context of the 20s and 30s
Romanian extremes. The political and social context of the 20s and 30s

Summary/Abstract: In the years that followed the First World War, Romania experienced a radicalization of political options. Political extremes proclaimed, as everywhere else, the establishment of a new social and political order in the name of class or race. The social and economic realities emerging from the ashes of war did not bring the much-desired social peace. In Romania, as in the rest of Europe, the war created an exceptional state of affairs, and the perspective of a fundamental change of the old order fuelled extremist tendencies. Social and economic crises followed one another in quick succession, and in the 1920s the Romanian state authorities had great difficulty in maintaining internal order. Our article analyses the evolution of the two political extremes and their impact on Romanian society. In the case of Romania, the two political extremes developed in different ways in the interwar period, this being determined firstly by the specific conditions of Romanian society. For the Communist Party, survival in the Romanian political space was impossible because of its association with the expansionist and secessionist aims of Soviet Russia. As in the case of the Communist Party, the interwar governments did not show indulgence towards the Legionary Movement, which was outlawed several times. This did not diminish its trust but, on the contrary, it increased its popularity.

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