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Mihai Stelescu

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Stelescu (front row, left) withCodreanuby his side during anIron Guardrally in 1933.

Mihai Stelescu(1907 – July 16, 1936) was aRomanianpolitical activist.

Biography

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With the Iron Guard

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Born inGalați,[1]he joined, while still in high school,[1]theLegion of the Archangel Michael(later also known as theIron Guard), an ultra-nationalist,Fascist,andantisemiticpolitical movement led byCorneliu Zelea Codreanu.

A prominent activist in his nativeCovurlui County,[1]jailed more than once for his activism, he was awarded theWhite Cross(Crucea Albă), the movement's highest distinction, and eventually became Codreanu's lieutenant. In 1932, he was one of five members of the Legion to be elected toParliamenton the lists of theCorneliu Codreanu Grouping;he was also the youngest member of the Parliament at the time.[2]Stelescu, together with Codreanu, GeneralGheorghe Cantacuzino-Grănicerul,Nichifor Crainic,and others, was tried forcriminal conspiracyfollowing the assassination ofPrime MinisterIon G. Duca— all wereacquittedby a jury comprising Legion sympathisers.[3]

In September 1934, for mysterious reasons, Stelescu was investigated by a party jury under the leadership of Cantacuzino-Grănicerul;[4]expelled, he is thought to have broken away from the Legion before the actual verdict.[4]As a consequence, in 1935, he created his own political movement, originally called theWhite Eagles(Vulturii Albi),[5]but later known as theCrusade of Romanianism(Cruciada Românismului), and began publishing a weekly magazine of the same name, in which he fiercely attacked Codreanu and the Legion.

Dissidence and controversy

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There are conflicting accounts of what caused Stelescu's dissidence. According to the Legion's version (published much later by Codreanu's successor,Horia Sima) Stelescu was motivated by envy of Codreanu, and had even plotted to assassinate him; moreover, through his wife's relatives, he had made contact with political operators close toKingCarol II,who, as the foremost opponent of the Legion, encouraged and supported his action.[6]Other sources have alleged that Stelescu had even been an agent ofSiguranța Statului,a hypothesis relying on a statement of the writerPanait Istrati,who was a sympathiser ofCruciada Românismului;he reportedly told the writerAlexandru Talexthat Stelescu was "the man of those who keep me under surveillance"[7](a likely reference to Romanian authorities, suspicious of Istrati's earlier communist activism).

However, the Legionnaires bitterly hated Stelescu as anapostate,and that the details of the plot to assassinate Codreanu are hardly credible; at that time, the King would probably have supported anything that promised to reduce the Legion's growth and influence.

The dissidence may have been precipitated by the fact that Codreanu had assigned Cantacuzino-Grănicerul, rather than Stelescu, to lead the Legion's legal front, theAll for the Fatherland Party(Partidul Totul pentru Țară), the political expression of the Legion at the time.[8]It is, however, more likely that Stelescu's motivations were primarily political: Stelescu, together with the more radical sections of the Guard, was arguably disenchanted with Codreanu's attempt focus on attempts to obtain legal power.[9]

At the same time, there is evidence that Stelescu questioned Codreanu's unconditional support forNazi Germany(to which he preferredItalian fascism).[10]According to Grigore Traian Pop, who cites another piece of writing by Stelescu, this was not the case, Stelescu having become an adversary of bothNazismand Italian fascism.[11]

Stelescu also attacked the Guard's leader for maintaining secret contacts with the authorities and receiving bribes and subsidies, claiming that, in 1935, during the repression of the Guard, the leader had taken refuge in the residence of a female relative ofElena Lupescu,the King's mistress — "While everybody was staying inJilava,and in other prisons, you were being sheltered by a lady. She was a person adverse to your action. How did you get along so well? ".[12]He also challenged Codreanu's public image by suggesting that the Guard's leader was in reality a bon viveur, as well as uncultured and aplagiarist.[11]On one occasion, he defied Codreanu's violent methods, writing anopen letterstating: "[If I am to be killed,] I ask for one indulgence, let the 'Chief' in person come [and do it], and, if possible, not in the back".[13]

Crusade of Romanianism

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Main article:Crusade of Romanianism

The Crusade of Romanianism was a nationalist and eclectic organisation, presenting a moreleftistand social colouring (its political programme included such items as decent wages, a mandatory8-hour work day,and pensions for invalid workers) than other right-wing organisations of that time. Stelescu's dissidence may be compared to those ofOtto StrasserorManuel Hedilla.[14]According to Talex, Stelescu had the will to make a party.[15]Istrati probably contributed to balancing the ideologies in theCrusade's discourse.[16]

Stelescu received support from a small number of well-known personalities (theRomanian ArmyofficerNicolae Rădescu,alongside Talex and Istrati), but few Legionnaires joined him. The dissidence's overall impact on the movement was minor, although the Legion did later adopt some of the social aspects of Stelescu's programme. Faced with lack of appeal, the group adhered to theConstitutional Front,a nationalistelectoral allianceformed around theNational Liberal Party-BrătianuandAlexandru Averescu'sPeople's Party(it also included for some time the short-livedCitizen Bloc,presided byGrigore Forțu).[17]

Death

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In 1936, Stelescu was admitted to theSpitalul Brâncovenesc,a Bucharest hospital, for anappendectomy.While recovering, he was found by theDecemviri(the "Ten Men" ), anIron Guard death squadled byIon Caratănaseand probably created in 1935 inTârgu Mureș(during a youth congress tolerated by theGheorghe Tătărescuexecutive).[18]

According to the Legion's version, the assassins riddled his body with some 200 bullets, after which they left the hospital unmolested and surrendered voluntarily to the police. The alternative version claims that the assassins fired some 120 bullets (other sources point a number as low as 38),[19]after which they attacked the cadaver with hatchets or axes, and danced around it until the police arrived.[20]The rumors, disseminated right after the murder, that members of the death squad had engaged in acts ofcannibalism,are unfounded.[19]

All ten members of theDecemviriwere immediately arrested. They were each found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison with hard labour. While officially both Codreanu and theDecemviriclaimed that action had taken place without Codreanu's knowledge or consent, the probability remains highly unlikely;[21]furthermore, Codreanu personally awarded each one of them theWhite Crosswhile they were kept in prison.[21]

On November 30, 1938, all 10 members of theDecemviri,along with the Nicadori death squad and Codreanu, were killed during a purge of the Iron Guard ordered by King Carol II. The men were strangled to death while being transported toJilava Prison.Their bodies were dissolved in acid, and placed under seven tons of concrete.

Notes

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  1. ^abcPop, p.44
  2. ^Pop, p.45; Veiga, p.159
  3. ^Ornea, p.300
  4. ^abPop, p.45
  5. ^Alexandrescu et al., p.23; Pop, p.45
  6. ^Ornea, p.306; Pop, pp.46-47; Veiga, p.233, 241
  7. ^Istrati, in Pop, p.45
  8. ^Cosma, p.208
  9. ^Veiga, pp.228-230
  10. ^Veiga, p.229, 230
  11. ^abPop, p.46
  12. ^Stelescu, 1935, in Ornea, pp.298-299
  13. ^Stelescu, 1935, in Ornea, p.307
  14. ^Ioanid, pp.88–89
  15. ^Talex, in Pop, p.44
  16. ^Veiga, p.229
  17. ^Gruber, Cap.V
  18. ^Ornea, p.305, 307
  19. ^abPop, p.47
  20. ^Cosma, p.210; Ioanid, p.89; Veiga, p.229
  21. ^abCosma, p.211; Pop, p.47

References

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  • Ion Alexandrescu, Ion Bulei, Ion Mamina, and Ioan Scurtu (1995)Partidele politice din România, 1862–1994: Enciclopedie,Bucharest, Editura Mediaprint,ISBN973-96934-0-7(in Romanian)
  • Neagu Cosma (1998)Culisele Palatului Regal,Ediție revăzută și adăugită, Bucharest, Editura Globus.ISBN973-49-0099-4(in Romanian)
  • (in Romanian)Victoria Gabriela Gruber, Summary ofPartidul Național Liberal (Gheorghe Brătianu)(PDF file)
  • Radu Ioanid (1990)The Sword of the Archangel: Fascist Ideology in Romania,East European Monographs, No. 292, Boulder, New York, East European Monographs,ISBN0-88033-189-5
  • Șerban N. Ionescu (1994)Who Was Who in Twentieth-Century Romania,Boulder, New York: East European Monographs, No. 395,ISBN0-88033-292-1
  • Z. Ornea(1995)Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească,Bucharest, Ed. Fundației Culturale Române,ISBN973-9155-43-X(in Romanian)
  • Grigore Traian Pop, "Cînd disidența se pedepsește cu moartea. Un asasinat ritual: Mihail Stelescu", inDosarele Istoriei,6/IV (1999)
  • Francisco Veiga(1993)Istoria Gărzii de Fier, 1919-1941: Mistica ultranaționalismului,Bucharest, Humanitas (Romanian-language version of the 1989 Spanish editionLa mística del ultranacionalismo (Historia de la Guardia de Hierro) Rumania, 1919–1941,Bellaterra: Publicacions de laUniversitat Autònoma de Barcelona,ISBN84-7488-497-7)
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