1946 Romanian general election

Following its exit from the Axis in late 1944, Romania became subject to Allied supervision (see Romania during World War II, Allied Commission). After the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Soviet authorities had increased their presence in Romania, as Western Allied governments resorted to expressing largely inconsequential criticism of new procedures in place.[9] After the Potsdam Conference, the latter group initially refused to recognize Groza's administration,[10] which had been imposed after Soviet pressure.[11]

Consequently, King Michael I refused to sign legislation advanced by the cabinet (this was the so-called Greva regală, "Royal strike"). On 8 November 1945, authorities repressed a gathering of Bucharesters organized by the two main opposition parties in front of the Royal Palace.[12][13] Demonstrators, many of them young students, flocked to the plaza in front of the palace to express their solidarity with the monarch (on the Orthodox liturgics Saint Michael's Day); however, armed groups attacked the Ministries of Interior and Propaganda, as well as the headquarters of pro-government organisations, including the General Confederation of Labour and the Patriotic Defense.[14] Following clashes with government supporters and troops, some 10 or 11 people were left dead and many injured.[12][13][15] The government declared a national day of mourning, and state funerals were held on 12 November for seven of the victims, hailed as fighters for democracy and independence, "assassinated by bands of fascist killers".[14] Nevertheless, Victor Frunză claims that, depicting the event as a coup d'état attempt, authorities had fired on the crowd.[16] In January 1946, the "Royal strike" itself ended following the Moscow Conference, which made US and British recognition of the government dependent on the inclusion of two politicians from the main opposition parties. Consequently, the National Liberal Mihail Romniceanu and the National Peasants' Emil Haţieganu joined the cabinet as Minister without Portfolio.[17]

In mid-December 1945, the representatives of the three major Allied Powers—Andrey Vyshinsky from the Soviet Union, W. Averell Harriman from the United States, and Archibald Clerk-Kerr from the United Kingdom—visited the capital Bucharest and agreed for elections to be convened in May 1946, on the basis of the Yalta Agreements.[2] Nevertheless, the pro-Soviet Groza cabinet took the liberty to prolong the term, passing the required new electoral procedure on June 15.[18]

On the same day, a royal decree was published abolishing the Senate, turning the Parliament into a unicameral legislature, the Assembly of Deputies (Adunarea Deputaților).[2] The new legislation, revising the 1923 Constitution, was made possible by the fact that Groza was governing without a parliament (the last legislature to have functioned, that of the National Renaissance Front, had been dissolved in 1941).[19] The Senate was traditionally considered reactionary by the PCR, with historian Marian Ștefan arguing the measure was meant to facilitate control over the legislative process[20] The BPD government also removed the majority bonus, awarded since 1926 to the party that had obtained more than 40% of the total suffrage.[19]

The election coincided with the deterioration of relations between the Soviet Union and the West at the start of the Cold War, notably marked by Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College on 5 March 1946,[21] and the centering of Western Allied interest in turning the tide of the Civil War in Greece.[9] The intricate issues posed by the latter contributed to weakening ties between the Romanian opposition groups and their Western supporters.[9]

The date of the election coincided with the fourth anniversary of Operation Uranus, the moment when Nazi Germany and Romania suffered a major defeat on the Eastern Front at the Battle of Stalingrad.[21] According to his private notes, General Constantin Sănătescu, an adversary of the PCR and former Premier, presumed that this had been done on purpose ("in order to mock us").[22]

Following Romania's exit from the war, left-wing parties had increased their membership several times. The PCR, which held its first open and legal conference in October 1945,[23] had begun a massive recruitment campaign.[24] By 1947, it grew to 600,000-700,000 members[25] from an initial 1,000 in 1944 (the constant growth in membership was by far the highest of all Eastern Bloc countries).[26]

Similarly, the Ploughmen's Front, which Groza presided, was estimated to have 1,000,000–1,500,000 members[27] or just 800,000.[28] In early November 1946, Communist sources show that the BPD counted an important part of the gains in the rural areas to be obtained from the Front's electorate (the poor and middle peasant categories).[29] By the time of the election, Groza's party had just been pressured into supporting Communist tenets, after it a brief conflict had erupted over the PCR's designs of collectivization.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD), which had been drawn into close collaboration with the PCR as early as 1944 (as part of the United Workers' Front, Frontul Unic Muncitoresc), had also seen a steady growth in numbers;[30] the PSD was by then dominated by the pro-PCR wing of Ștefan Voitec and Lothar Rădăceanu, who purged the staunchly Reformist group of Constantin Titel Petrescu in March 1946 (leading the latter to establish his own independent group).[31] The Communist Ana Pauker noted with dissatisfaction that certain members of the PSD continued to remain hostile to her party (she cited the example of an unnamed intellectual and low-ranking member of the PSD who, during a BPD meeting, shouted a slogan in support of the PNȚ's Iuliu Maniu).[32]

As a representative of the middle class, the National Liberal Party–Tătărescu itself had an uneasy relation with the PCR, having declared its support for capitalism.

The Hungarian People's Union (UPM or MNSZ), which represented the Hungarian minority was instrumental in securing Transylvanian votes for the government coalition, as admitted by the PCR itself.[28] Nevertheless, the pro-communist commander of the 4th Army Corps saw the overwhelming vote for the UPM among the soldiers and PCR members of Hungarian origin as an indication of "chauvinism".[33] The BPD also won the endorsement of the Jewish Democratic Committee, which included members of Jewish-Romanian community favourable to the PCR.[34]

With their organization banned in accordance with the 1944 armistice agreement, members of the fascist Iron Guard adopted an entryist tactic, infiltrating all legally-existing parties. One of the most notable cases was that of underground leader Horaţiu Comaniciu, who urged former guardists to join the opposition National Peasants' Party.[35] In a bid to escape punishment for their crimes some even joined the Communists.[36] A report of November 1945 indicates that, of the 15,538 former Iron Guard members known to have joined political parties, 2,258 chose PCR, while 3,281 entered the PSD.[37]

Historians suggest that, at the time, government-backed Communists had infiltrated the vast majority of the media and cultural institutions.[38] On one occasion, the Red Army general Ivan Susaykov warned Nicolae Carandino, editor-in-chief of the PNȚ's Dreptatea, to tone down his criticism of the government, and reportedly argued that "the Groza government is Soviet Russia itself".[39]

New legislation provided for the end of universal male suffrage, proclaiming the right to vote for all citizens over the age of 21, while restricting it for all persons who had held important office during the wartime dictatorship of Conducător Ion Antonescu.[20] The latter requirement facilitated abuse, as power to decide over who had been supporting the regime fell to "purging commissions", all of them controlled by the PCR,[20] and the Romanian People's Tribunals (investigating war crimes, and constantly supported by agitprop in the Communist press).[40]

The decision to allow military men and public officials to vote was also intended to secure a grip on elections.[20] At the time, Groza's cabinet exercised complete control over public administration at central and local levels, as well as the means of communication.[41] Soviet sources cited PCR officials giving assurances that the respective categories were to provide as much as 1 million votes for the BPD.[42]

A report of the Soviet Embassy in Bucharest, dated 15 August 1946, informed Andrey Vyshinsky of the legislative changes and made note of the fact that the two opposition leaders, Iuliu Maniu (leader of the PNȚ–Maniu) and Dinu Brătianu (leader of the PNL–Brătianu), had asked King Michael I not to approve the new framework.[43] The two parties had not been allowed to take any part in drafting the new legal framework.[19]

Months before the election, Communist leaders expressed confidence in being able to carry the election by 70 or 80% (statement of the Minister of the Interior Teohari Georgescu during a party plenary, and Constantin Vișoianu's report about an alleged declaration of Minister of Justice Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu), or even 90% (Miron Constantinescu, head of the PCR's Scînteia newspaper).[44] As early as May, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Constantin Vișoianu complained to Adrian Holman, the British Ambassador to Romania, that the BPD had ensured the means to win the elections through fraud.[44] Writing in January, Archibald Clerk-Kerr assessed the results of his visit to Romania, arguing that no person he had met actually trusted that elections were going to be free; furthermore, in an interview published after Vyshinsky's death, former US ambassador W. Averell Harriman claimed the Soviet diplomat believed in January 1946 that, on its own, the PCR was not capable of gathering more than 10% of the vote.[45]

According to the American diplomat Burton Y. Berry, Groza had admitted to this procedure during an alleged conversation with a third party, indicating that the fraudulent percentages were the goal of competition between two sides — him and the PCR's general secretary Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej formed one, while a "Cominternist section" around Emil Bodnăraș represented the other; according to Berry, Groza and Gheorghiu-Dej were satisfied with a less intrusive fraud and, thus, a more realistic result (60%), while Bodnăraș aimed for 90%.[44] W. Averell Harriman, recording his conversation with Vyshinsky, alleged that the latter backed the 70% estimate.[46] Nevertheless, the Soviet Ambassador Sergey Kavtaradze stated that, while the party leadership estimated winning 60-70%, "through certain 'techniques'", the BPD could win up to 90%.[47] A reference to "techniques" was also made by Ana Pauker in conversation with Soviet officials; she nevertheless expressed her belief that, without such techniques, the overall result was not going to be upwards of 60% (Pauker also voiced concern that such a figure, while a victory for the BPD coalition, would result in a minority for the PCR itself).[48]

Historian Adrian Cioroianu assessed that the dissemination of optimistic rumors contributed to accustoming the public to the idea that the government could obtain the majority of the votes, and made the ultimate result less questionable in the eyes of observers.[49]

Other Soviet documents, dated November 6 and 12, summarize a conversation with Bodnăraș, who went on record indicating that fraud was being prepared to raise the percentage from 55-65% to 90%;[50] compared to the mandates awarded to the BPD according to the official results, his estimation came within 1%, though this was not the case for the mandates obtained by other competitors.[51] Kavtaradze expressed concern that information on this topic had leaked out to opposition parties in various locations, and that the PCR had thus failed to fully respect the "conspiratorial character" it had decided to use.[52]

An expectation shared by Groza and the PCR in postponing the elections was that the outcome of harvests was to ensure the most favorable attitude from peasant voters[53] ("[Groza] has declared that the government will only organize elections «when the barns are filled with wheat»").[54] This tactic was consistently applied by parties in government during the interwar period.[19] Conversely, the opposition wanted to postpone the elections until after the Peace Treaty with the Allies had been signed, hoping that the withdrawal of Soviet troops would allow greater intervention of the Western Allies in Romanian internal matters.[55]

The summer of 1946 brought an exceptionally severe drought, which led to famine in some areas.[56] In a discussion with Soviet embassy staff, PCR leader Ana Pauker claimed that this had been worsened by administrative incompetence, which had led to insufficient supplies of wheat and bread at the central level, and to various irregularities in transport over the national railway system which she attributed to sabotage.[57] Kavtaradze blamed the government itself for failing to prepare the economy for the elections.[58] Pauker further mentioned that Communists were especially concerned about events related to the petroleum industry in Romania (centered on Prahova County), which was by then becoming much less lucrative.[32] Tudor Ionescu, the PSD's Minister of Mines and Petroleum, supported the initiative of American and British businessmen to withdraw their investments, but was opposed by the PCR, who argued that this was a move to undermine support for the government, by leaving thousands of people unemployed.[32] Pauker also declared that a similar move was to be carried out by Ford's Bucharest branch.[32] Kavtaradze noted dissatisfaction among workers, civil servants, and Romanian Army personnel over their low incomes.[59]

In this context, the government began handing out food supplies. Pauker attested that, in several places, the state was frustrated in its attempt to purchase grain from peasants, who argued that the price was too low, and that this led to the supplies being insufficient.[60] The government eventually took the decision to import grain (and especially maize) in large quantities, an action overseen by Gheorghiu-Dej.[48] According to Kavtardze, such measures were partly ineffective.[59]

Pauker's testimony stressed that, while problems in applying the land reform damaged the BPD's image in some counties in rural regions, its main support came from the formerly landless peasantry. She also attested that, in several counties in Moldavia, the absentee ballot was becoming an option among members of the latter social category ("Asked whom they would vote for, peasants answer: «We'll think about it some more» or «We shall not be voting»"). While disheartened by the government's apparent failure to provide help, the peasaants also distrusted the opposition's PNȚ–Maniu, whom they saw as representative of the landlords and opposed to the land reform.[32] According to Pauker, they were falling for PNȚ–Maniu's propaganda, which claimed the Groza cabinet had carried out the land reform only as a preliminary step to collectivization ("Peasants answer that in Russia as well, in the beginning the land was divided, then taken away and kolkhozy were set up. We have no convincing arguments against such objections from the peasants").[61]

The BPD took additional measures in regard to women voters in villages, most of them illiterate. According to Pauker, several agitprop campaigns were aimed at them, during which Communist activists stressed the positive aspects of the Groza government.[48] Pauker stated: "a lot of things will depend on how the presidents of election bureaus treat women voters, since women have never voted, have never seen electoral laws and are not aware of voting procedures".[61] The UPM also actively campaigned among women, with its propaganda considered to be better than PCR's even by government agents. In one incident, witnessed during the elections and occurring in Cluj, "there was an unexpected turnout of Magyar women. Old women aged 70–80, carrying chairs, had queued, in rainy weather, awaiting their turn to vote. The slogan was: if one does not vote with the UPM, one does not receive sugar".[33]

The women's suffrage was regarded with a level of hostility by the PNŢ–Maniu, and Dreptatea frequently ridiculed Pauker's visits to women in various villages.[19]

Later in the same month, the British government of Clement Attlee, represented by Adrian Holman, issued a note informing Foreign Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu that, due to the numerous infringements, it did not recognize the result of elections in Romania.[86]

In his 4 January 1947 conversation with the United States Secretary of State George Marshall, Romania's Ambassador Mihai Ralea received an official American reproach for having "broken the spirit and letter" of the Moscow Conference and the Yalta Agreement.[87] Although Ralea, a Ploughmen's Front member and possibly an ally of the Communists, expressed concern over the fact that the United States were reproving Romania, he also appealed to the United States not to allow the country to be left behind the Iron Curtain.[88] In August 1946, Berry attested that Groza intended to tighten connections with the other countries in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, as the basis for a customs union.[65] Giurescu compares this with the plan of a federation between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, advocated by Georgi Dimitrov and Josip Broz Tito, which was frustrated by the opposition of Joseph Stalin, and discarded altogether following the Tito-Stalin Split.[63]

The election results effectively confirmed Romania's adherence to the Eastern Bloc and Soviet camp in the erupting Cold War. On 19 November the three opposition parties (the National Peasants' Party–Maniu, the National Liberal Party–Brătianu and Constantin Titel Petrescu's splinter group from the Social Democrats) issued a formal protest, accusing the Groza government of having falsified the vote.[89] Cabinet representatives of the two contender parties, the PNL–Brătianu's Mihail Romaniceanu and the PNŢ–Maniu's Emil Haţieganu withdrew in protest soon after results were announced.[49] Petre Ţurlea contends that the document was largely inconsequential due to the interwar tradition of similar protests for less problematic votes.[85]

On 1 December 1946, Premier Groza inaugurated the new unicameral Parliament. In his speech on the occasion, while expressing a hope that elections had voted in a new type of legislative, he stressed that it was important

to eliminate the spectacle of useless blabber and personal issues from this Assembly and for these deputies to dedicate themselves, during the rather expensive session […] to an intensive activity.[90]

According to Groza:

it is not the Parliament of old politicians, it is not a luxurious habit, an entertainment, an exercise of political gymnastics or an excuse for quarreling with others.[90]

In following months, Communists concentrated on silencing opposition and ensuring a monopoly on power. In summer 1947, the Tămădău Affair saw the end of the PNŢ–Maniu, banned after Iuliu Maniu and others were prosecuted during a show trial.[91] The National Liberal Party-Tătărescu, which issued a critique of the Groza administration at around the same time, was forced out of the government and from the BPD,[92] only to be implicated in the Tămădău scandal and have its leadership replaced with one more loyal to the PCR.[93] The PCR ultimately merged with the PSD in late 1947 to form the Romanian Workers' Party (PMR), with the first dominating the leadership of the united party.[94] According to journalist Victor Frunză, for all intents and purposes, however, the PMR was the PCR under a new name.[95]

In the last days of December 1947, King Michael I was pressured into abdication. The Communist-dominated legislature then abolished the monarchy and proclaimed Romania a "people's republic," marking the first stage of undisguised Communist rule in Romania.[96]