No. 15 TRONDHEIM STUDIES on EAST EUROPEAN CULTURES
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No. 15 TRONDHEIM STUDIES ON EAST EUROPEAN CULTURES & SOCIETIES Constantin Iordachi CHARISMA, POLITICS AND VIOLENCE: THE LEGION OF THE “ARCHANGEL MICHAEL” IN INTER-WAR ROMANIA December 2004 Constantin Iordachi is Assistant Professor of Comparative History at the Central (XURSHDQ8QLYHUVLW\ &(8 %XGDSHVW+HJUDGXDWHGIURPWKH8QLYHUVLW\RI %XFKDUHVW %$ DQGWKH,QVWLWXWHRI,QWHUQDWLRQDO6WXGLHV8QLYHUVLW\RI/HHGV 0$ DQGKDVHDUQHGKLV3K'LQKLVWRU\DWWKH&(8,RUGDFKLLVVSHFLDOL]LQJ in the comparative social and institutional history of Central and Southeastern Europe, with an emphasis on citizenship studies, fascism and the history of historiography. He published numerous articles in various scholarly journals and edited books, mainly in Romanian, Hungarian and English. His book The Making of Citizenship in Southeastern Europe during the Long Nineteenth Ceuntry: The Case of Romania, is forthcoming with the CEU Press. ISSN 1501-6684 ISBN 82-995792-3-6 © 2004 Constantin Iordachi and the Program on East European Culture and Societies, a program of the faculty of Arts. Norwegian University of science and Technology. Trondheim studies on East European Cultures and Societies Editor: György Péteri Editorial board: Trond Berge, Tanja Ellingsen, Knut Andreas Grimstad, Arne Halvorsen, Sabrina P. Ramet We encourage submission to the Trondheim Studies on East European Culture and Societies. Inconclusion in the series will be based on anonymous review. Manuscripts are expected to be in English (exception is made for Norwegian 0DVWHUCVDQG3K'WKHVLV DQGQRWH[FHHGGRXEOHVSDFHGSDJHV3RVWDODGGUHVV for submission: Editors, Trondheim Studies on East European Cultures and Societies, Department of History, NTNU, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway. For more information regarding the Program on East European Culture and Societies and our paper series, visit our WEB-site at: http:/hf.ntnu.no/peecs/peecs.htm Charisma, Politics and Violence: The Legion of the “Archangel Michael” in Inter-war Romania Constantin Iordachi, Central European University, Budapest Trondheim Studies on East European Cultures and Societies 2004 2 3 Table of Contents: List of Illustrations and Tables ...………………….......……………………………....... 5 Acknowledgements …..………………………………….......………………………….... 6 1. Introduction …..……………………………........…………...........………………….... 8 1.1. Main Argument …....…………………………………………….......……………….... 8 1.2. Charismatic Leadership: A Theoretical Mapping …………………….......………….... 12 1.3. Charisma and Generic Fascism …………………………………………….......…….... 18 1.4. Charisma and Inter-war Mass Politics: New Approaches ....……………………........... 22 2. Charisma and Cleavages in Inter-war Romania: The Origins of Codreanu’s Charismatic Cult ..............................................................................…………………….... 26 2.1. State-Building and Student Rebellion ….…......……………………………………….. 26 2.2. Charisma as Counterculture: From Student Rebellion to Charismatic Nationalism ....... 32 3. Charisma and Mass Politics in Inter-war Romania ..................................................... 40 3.1. Old Structures, New Challenges: Charisma versus Political Clientelism ..................... 40 3.2. The Charismatic Genesis of the Legion of the “Archangel Michael” ............................ 45 3.3. From a Regional to a National Movement: The Legion and Mainstream Politics, 1927- 1932 ............................................................................................................................ 54 3.4. The Legion and the “New” Generation .......................................................................... 57 3.5. The Legion and the Intellectuals: The Axa Group .......................................................... 63 3.6. The Legion as a Major Political Force, 1934-1937 ........................................................ 67 4. The Legion of the ‘Archangel Michael’ as a Charismatic Organization .................... 72 4.1. The Cult of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu ............................................................................. 72 4.2. Charismatic Leadership versus Party Organization ........................................................ 83 4.3. Charisma and Gender: Women within the Legion .......................................................... 86 4.4. Charisma and Social Structure ........................................................................................ 89 4.5. Dictatorial Charisma, Education and Discipline ............................................................. 92 4.6. Charisma and Factionalism ............................................................................................. 98 5. Charisma and the Romanian Orthodox Church ......................................................... 104 5.1. Religion and the Sacralization of Politics ......................................................................104 5.2. The Status of the Orthodox Church: Responses to Institutional Crisis ......................... 107 5.3. Religion, Politics and Anti-Semitism at Grass-Roots Level: The Borúa Incident .........111 5.4. The Legion and the Orthodox Church ............................................................................114 6. Caesarism against Charisma: Carol II’s Personal Regime and the Confrontation with the Legion, 1933-1940 ................................................................................................ 119 6.1. Building a National Anti-Legionary Coalition: The King’s Personal Regime ..............119 6.2. The Great Repression: Codreanu’s Execution ...............................................................122 7. Factionalism and the Routinization of Charisma: The Destructive Rule of the Legion, 6 September 1940- 23 January 1941 ....................................................................130 7.1. The Legion in Power: Succession to Charismatic Leadership ...................................... 130 4 7.2. Charisma and Violence: Criminal Revenge versus Christian Morality .........................137 8. Legionary Legacy Revived: Codreanu as a Contemporary Hero Model ............... 146 8.1. “The symbol of the Divine Will”: Codreanu as a Charismatic Giant ........................... 146 8.2. Charisma and Communist Leadership ...........................................................................151 9. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 159 9.1. Weber’s Ideal Type of Charismatic Authority: Heuristic Value and Limits .................159 9.2. The Legion and Generic Fascism: Toward a New Scholarly Consensus.......................162 10. Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 166 10.1. Archival Collections .................................................................................................. 166 10.2. Newspapers and Journals ........................................................................................... 166 10.3. Articles and Book Chapters ........................................................................................ 166 10.4. Books .......................................................................................................................... 170 11. Annexes ......................................................................................................................... 179 11.1. Tables .......................................................................................................................... 179 11.2. Sources - Documents 1-7 ............................................................................................ 182 5 List of Illustrations 1. The “Văcăreúteni” after their trial following the “Student Plot” in 1924 ..….................. 34 2.Wedding photograph of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and Elena Ilinoiu, near Focúani, 13 June June 1925 .............................................................................................................................. 36 3. The icon of Saint Michael from the Văcăreúti monastery .…............................................ 47 4. The cover of the official journal of the Legion, Pământul Strămoúesc (The Fatherland).. 52 5. Ion I. MoĠa (1902-1938), dressed in folk costume …....................................................... 73 6. The “Captain” - Corneliu Zelea Codreanu ....................................................................... 76 7. Corneliu Zelea Codreanu among relics of Romanian soldiers, at Predeal, in 1937 …..... 79 8. The Văcăreúteni, the charismatic staff of the Legion, around the venerated icon of Saint Michael .................................................................................................................................. 99 9. The funerals of MoĠa and Marin, 13 February 1937 ….................................................... 102 10. Miti Dumitrescu (1913-1939), the leader of the death squad which assassinated Prime Minister Armand Călinescu ................................................................................................. 126 11. The summary execution of the Legionary death squad, 23 September 1939 …............ 127 12. The exhumation of the corpses of Codreanu and of the members of two Legionary terrorist groups, the Decemviri and the Nicadori, Jilava, 27 November 1940 ...….............. 135 List of Tables Table One: Proportion of Ethnic Romanians in the General and Urban Population; Level of Urbanization; and Literacy Rates in Greater Romania by Historical Provinces,