Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian ...

CRISTINA PETRESCUThese reforms were to be implemented in a federal framework. Only afterthe October Revolution did full independence become the explicit goal ofthe party. Later on, due to the turmoil that followed the Bolshevik coup,the party finally opted for a union with Romania. 21Among the provinces that joined Romania in the aftermath of theFirst World War, Bessarabia underwent the longest process of (re)unification.First, the newly-established parliament, Sfatul Þãrii (NationalCouncil), declared Bessarabia an autonomous republic within Russia on2 December 1917. Since the outcome of the October Revolution, as wellas that of the war, was still unclear, the best scenario regarding the futureof the newly-proclaimed republic – as it was foreseen by the local leaders,who had more ties with Moscow than with Romania – was to acquire a statussimilar to that of Finland in the Russian empire. 22 But, facing the generalchaos in the republic, the Sfatul Þãrii asked the Romanian governmentto send troops to secure the railroad lines against Bolshevik attacksand restore the order. On 13 January 1918, Romanian troops enteredBessarabia and in several days succeeded in pushing the Bolsheviksbeyond the Dnestr. Immediately after, on 24 January 1918, the Sfatul Þãriideclared the complete independence of the Republic.The next step, namely the conclusion of a conditional union withRomania, voted by the Sfatul Þãrii on 27 March 1918, is particularly controversial,because it was accomplished at a time when Romanian troops werealready in Bessarabia. 23 As Sorin Alexandrescu suggests, 24 taking intoaccount the situation at that time, the chaos in Russia and the undecided balancein the war, it is reasonable to suppose that the presence of Romaniantroops in Bessarabia created a situation in which the majority in the SfatulÞãrii decided to rally the faction that was advocating the union with Romaniaas a solution for overcoming of the triple threat of Bolshevism, Ukrainianexpansionism and general anarchy. 25 On the other hand, it can be saidthat the Romanian elites saw Bessarabia as a potential hinterland of theirown statehood in a post-war Europe dominated by the Central Powers. Inthe conditional union with Romania, 14 special privileges were stipulated,including control over the local budget and administration exercised bya freely-elected regional assembly. However, following the victory of theEntente in the war, the pro-Romanian group in Sfatul Þãrii urged for anunconditional and immediate union with Romania, which was voted on 27November 1918, 26 so that Bessarabia, together with Transylvania, Bukovina,and the Banat, became part of Greater Romania. The union being accomplished,the Moldovan National Party, unlike the National Party in Transylvania,dissolved itself, and its leaders entered Old Kingdom-style Romanianpolitics by joining the Bucharest-based parties, mainly the National LiberalParty and the newly-established Peasant Party. Once the political elite opted156