<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This text re-constructs the evolution of anticommunist ideas and practices during the period of Romania’s ‘great union’, while it also sketches the international context that enabled this evolution. It is a genealogical discourse analysis that serves for a better understanding of Romania’s present political and social climate. The political, diplomatic and military process of crafting ‘Greater Romania’ between 1918 and 1919 rested fundamentally on the anticommunist discourse. This discourse functioned as a pretext for the armed interventions in the desired territories. It also helped to securitize and pacify these three territories. The Romanian army entered Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transylvania with the goal of protecting the local population against Bolshevik disorders and ‘anarchy’. The anticommunist discourse evolved from the panic generated by retreating Russian soldiers and the ‘anarchy’ they created towards the fear of contagion with the revolutionary ‘psychosis’. The answer to the communist threat was invariably violent and militaristic in nature. The ideas and issues raised by the communists were never legitimized as a political project but as a crime and a pathology that could destroy society. In this context, what we now refer to as ‘the Great Union’ was largely the substitution of social and economic projects with the hegemonic narrative of anti-communism.</p></abstract>

This text re-constructs the evolution of anticommunist ideas and practices during the period of Romania’s ‘great union’, while it also sketches the international context that enabled this evolution. It is a genealogical discourse analysis that serves for a better understanding of Romania’s present political and social climate. The political, diplomatic and military process of crafting ‘Greater Romania’ between 1918 and 1919 rested fundamentally on the anticommunist discourse. This discourse functioned as a pretext for the armed interventions in the desired territories. It also helped to securitize and pacify these three territories. The Romanian army entered Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transylvania with the goal of protecting the local population against Bolshevik disorders and ‘anarchy’. The anticommunist discourse evolved from the panic generated by retreating Russian soldiers and the ‘anarchy’ they created towards the fear of contagion with the revolutionary ‘psychosis’. The answer to the communist threat was invariably violent and militaristic in nature. The ideas and issues raised by the communists were never legitimized as a political project but as a crime and a pathology that could destroy society. In this context, what we now refer to as ‘the Great Union’ was largely the substitution of social and economic projects with the hegemonic narrative of anti-communism.

Romania’s Great Union and the Anti-Communist Discourse

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, European and Regional Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Romania\u2019s Great Union and the Anti-Communist Discourse"}

This text re-constructs the evolution of anticommunist ideas and practices during the period of Romania’s ‘great union’, while it also sketches the...

Romania’s Great Union and the Anti-Communist Discourse

Published Online: Feb 20, 2020

Page range: 39 - 57

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/auseur-2019-0011

Keywords
anti-communism, history of Romania, First World War, security, Transylvania, discourse analysis

© 2019 Manuel Mireanu, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Romania’s Great Union and the Anti-Communist Discourse

Published Online: Feb 20, 2020

Page range: 39 - 57

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/auseur-2019-0011

Keywordsanti-communism, history of Romania, First World War, security, Transylvania, discourse analysis

© 2019 Manuel Mireanu, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
anti-communism, history of Romania, First World War, security, Transylvania, discourse analysis