This article is about the Conservative Party which existed in Romania between 1880 and 1918. For the Romanian political party active from 1991–2015, see Conservative Party (Romania).
The Conservative Party (Romanian: Partidul Conservator) was between 1880 and 1918 one of Romania's two most important parties, the other one being the Liberal Party.[2] The party was the party of government for a total of 14 years, more than a third of its existence.
It was founded on 3 February 1880 in Bucharest, although the doctrines and various groups of conservatives had already existed for some time. Precursors to the party had included the political grouping "Juna Dreaptă" (November 1868) and the newspaper Timpul (founded March 1876).[2]
The party relied on the support of the great landowners, the bourgeoisie, and some intellectuals. Their economic policy encouraged light industry and crafts but did not oppose investments in heavy industry.
The 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt showed that some reforms needed to be made in the Romanian social and political scene. As a result, in 1913, the Conservatives accepted some reforms, such as the universal suffrage promoted by the Liberals. In 1917, under pressure from the Liberals, rather than oppose modifications to the Constitution, the Conservatives did not accept the changes and tried to adapt. However, after the union of Romania with Transylvania, they never played an important role in the politics of Romania.
In the early 20th century, the party underwent several schisms. In January 1908, Take Ionescu left to found the Conservative Democratic Party (Partidul Conservator-Democrat, PCD). In May 1915, Nicolae Filipescu led a group out of the party that favoured joining World War I on the Entente side; in October 1916, the Filipescu and Ionescu groups fused as the Conservative Nationalist Party (Partidul Conservator Naţionalist).[3]
In 1918–19 the party split into the Partidul Conservator-Democrat (which, in 1922, fused with the National Party) and the short-lived Partidul Conservator-Progresist.[4]
↑ Ioan Scurtu, Viața politică din România 1918–1944, Albatros, 1982. p. 41. [...] pentru data de fondare a partidului este indicată februarie 1880, fără a fi specificată ziua din lună.] "[...] for the founding date of the party, February 1880 is indicated, without specifying the day of the month."
1 2 3 Scurtu 1982, p.41n; for the founding of the party, this source gives February 1880, does not specify day of month.
↑ Ioan Scurtu, Theodora Stănescu-Stanciu, Georgiana Margareta Scurtu, footnoteArchived 10 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine from Istoria Românilor Între Anii 1918–1940. On the site of the University of Bucharest. This is a citation for the 1922 fusion. Retrieved 11 October 2006.
Ioan Scurtu, Viața politică din România 1918–1944, Albatros, 1982.
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social conservative expressing support for several progressive and nationalist tenets. Ionescu is generally viewed as embodying the rise of middle-class politics inside the early 20th century Kingdom of Romania, and, throughout the period, promoted a project of Balkan alliances while calling for measures to incorporate the Romanian-inhabited Austro-Hungarian regions of Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina. Representing his own faction inside the Conservative Party, he clashed with the group's leadership in 1907–1908, and consequently created and led his own Conservative-Democratic Party.
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Constantin G. Cantacuzino, also known as Costache Cantacozino or Costandin Cantacuzino, was the Caimacam (Regent) of Wallachia in September 1848–June 1849, appointed directly by the Ottoman Empire. A member of the Cantacuzino family, he had emerged as a leader of the conservative boyardom during the Regulamentul Organic period. As a commander in the Wallachian militia, he organized in 1831 the first elections for Bucharest's Town Council, and subsequently served as one of the Bucharest Governors. He first played a major part in national government from 1837 to 1842, when he served Prince Alexandru II Ghica as Postelnic and Logothete. During that interval, he clashed with his own brother Grigore Cantacuzino, who sided with the liberal current.
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General elections were held in the Kingdom of Romania in February–March 1892, ending in a major victory for the incumbent Conservative Party cabinet. The elections reunited the mainstream Conservatives, under Prime Minister Lascăr Catargiu, with the breakaway Junimea faction. The cabinet which organized and won the election, then governed to 1895, reunited three doyens of Romanian conservatism: Catargiu, Petre P. Carp, and Take Ionescu. All three represented the political line most favored by Carol I, King of Romania.
General elections were held in the Kingdom of Romania from March 1 to March 14, 1911, confirming a majority for the Conservative Party (PC) under Petre P. Carp. The united opposition was constituted of the National Liberal (PNL) and Conservative-Democratic (PCD) parties, with Ion I. C. Brătianu and Take Ionescu as the leaders. The PCD, founded in 1908 from a middle-class Conservative splinter group, was making its first appearance nationally. A quickly rising third-party, its alliance with the PNL helped the latter survive and consolidate. The elections were also contested by two other new political actors: the right-wing Democratic Nationalist Party, and the left-wing Social Democratic Party. Both failed to win any seats.
Radu Rosetti was a Moldavian, later Romanian, politician, historian, and novelist, father of General Radu R. Rosetti, and a prominent member of the Rosetti family. From beginnings in traditionalist conservatism, he adopted progressive agrarian stances, and experimented with modernizing his estate in Căiuți. A Moldavian regionalist sitting on the left of the Conservative Party, he collaborated more or less formally with the National Liberal opposition during his tenure as prefect of Roman, Brăila, and Bacău. Also serving two terms in the Assembly of Deputies and briefly employed as general director of prisons, Rosetti adopted an anti-elitist and reformist discourse. This pitted him against Conservative chiefs such as Nicolae Filipescu and Titu Maiorescu, but he was protected by Lascăr Catargiu and, later, by Petre P. Carp.
The Free and Independent Faction or Free and Independent Fraction was a nationalist and national liberal party in Romania, regionally centered on Western Moldavia. Originally informal, and defined by its adversaries, the Faction mainly comprised pupils and followers of the philosopher Simion Bărnuțiu. During most of its existence, it had as its recognized leader the academic and polemicist Nicolae Ionescu.
Alexandru Barbu Știrbei, also rendered Alex. Știrbeĭ, Știrbey, or Știrbeiŭ, was a Wallachian-born Romanian aristocrat, politician, businessman and agriculturalist, the son of Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei, Prince of Wallachia, younger brother of George Barbu Știrbei, and nephew of another Prince, Gheorghe Bibescu. After a short career in the French Army, he returned to the United Principalities and served terms in their Assembly of Deputies, inheriting the fortune left by his father. He established pioneering industries around his manorial estates of Buftea and Dărmănești, and became a guest, and sometime host, of literary meetings held by the political club Junimea.
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