Ștefan Foriș
Romanian communist activist, journalist, and politician (1892–1946) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Ștefan Foriș?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Ștefan Foriș (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈʃteˈfan ˈforiʃ]; born István Fóris, also known as Marius; 9 May 1892 – summer 1946) was a Hungarian and Romanian communist journalist who served as general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR or PCdR) between December 1940 and April 1944. Born a Transylvanian Csángó and an Austro-Hungarian subject, he saw action with the Hungarian Landwehr throughout World War I. While training in mathematics at Eötvös Loránd University, he affiliated with the Galileo Circle and, moving to the far-left, entered the Hungarian Communist Party in late 1918. During the brief existence of a Hungarian Soviet Republic, he joined the war against Romania (1919), but subsequently opted to settle in the Romanian Kingdom, at Brașov. Foriș emerged as a local leader of the Socialist Party, largely failing at convincing his subordinates to join the PCR upon its creation (1921). He took up underground work even before the PCR was formally outlawed, while establishing his public profile as an accountant and a correspondent for moderate left-wing newspapers—including Adevărul and Facla.
Ștefan Foriș | |
---|---|
General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party | |
In office December 1940 – 4 April 1944 | |
Preceded by | Boris Stefanov (titular General Secretary) Béla Breiner (acting) |
Succeeded by | Emil Bodnăraș, Constantin Pîrvulescu, Iosif Rangheț (acting) Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (titular General Secretary) |
Personal details | |
Born | István Fóris (1892-05-09)9 May 1892 Tatrang, Brassó County, Austria-Hungary |
Died | Summer 1946 (aged 54) Dorobanți, Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania |
Nationality | Hungarian (to 1919) Romanian (1919–1946) |
Other political affiliations | Hungarian Communist Party (1918–1919) Socialist Party of Romania (1919–1921) Peasant Workers' Bloc (1926–1933) |
Spouse | Loti Csere |
Domestic partner(s) | Tatiana Leapis Victoria Sârbu |
Children | Vera-Victoria Foriș |
Alma mater | Eötvös Loránd University |
Occupation | Journalist, accountant |
Nickname(s) | Marius, Ungurul |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Austria-Hungary Soviet Hungary |
Branch/service | Hungarian Landwehr 32nd Artillery Regiment |
Years of service | 1914–1918 1919 |
Rank | Hadnagy |
Battles/wars | World War I Hungarian–Romanian War |
From his new home in Bucharest, Foriș presided upon two PCR front organizations, including the Red Aid's local branch and the Peasant Workers' Bloc. He was caught up in the repression of the mid-to-late 1920s, but escaped to the Soviet Union before being sentenced. He was a Comintern cadre to 1929, choosing to return to Bucharest in 1928, after a general amnesty. Foriș was assigned as head of agitprop, and worked in parallel as a correspondent of TASS; he also took a direct part in power struggles, being instrumental in the 1928 overthrow of general secretary Elek Köblös. A member of the PCR Central Committee in 1930, he was himself neutralized by the Romanian authorities between 1931 and 1935, when he was jailed and, by his own account, repeatedly beaten. Upon reemerging, he became personally involved in forging the PCR's popular front strategy, though he failed in his main goal of forming a reciprocal alliance with the National Peasants' Party. Under the National Renaissance Front dictatorship (1938–1940), Foriș traced a controversial policy for the PCR, sparking his personal conflict with activist Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu.
Foriș emerged as PCR leader following the ouster of Boris Stefanov, and was recognized as such by the Comintern during another one of his Soviet travels. He presided upon a particularly inauspicious period in communist history, which saw dwindling support for the PCR; Foriș was also tasked with explaining the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, with its truce between the Comintern and fascism—locally represented by the Iron Guard. He was notorious for his failure to predict the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and Romania in mid 1941, thereafter finding his legitimacy openly challenged by Petre "Zidaru" Gheorghe and Teohari Georgescu; in the aftermath, he also refused to sponsor a partisan movement, and obstructed others from attempting to form one. Foriș's leadership style also relied on isolation and atomization of the existing party cells, a matter which contributed to his own demise. In 1943, he upset the powerful "prison faction" centered on Caransebeș penitentiary—its leaders, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Emil Bodnăraș, conspired with Constantin Pîrvulescu to have Foriș deposed.
In April 1944, an unusually docile Foriș agreed to Bodnăraș's forceful demands, and resigned on the spot. He was kidnapped alongside his lover Victoria Sârbu, and then held hostage in PCR safe houses. Gheorghiu-Dej eventually took over as general secretary, and only tolerated Foriș as a contributor to the PCR's illegal press. After the anti-German coup of 23 August, which brought the PCR into government, the Foriș–Sârbu couple was repeatedly tormented, and made aware that their freedom was relative. Allegedly contemplating emigration into Hungary, Foriș was again kidnapped on orders from the new party elite, and bludgeoned to death by Gheorghe Pintilie. He was singled out as a traitor in party literature, though his fate remained undisclosed until April 1968, which was three years after Gheorghiu-Dej's own death. Foriș was only partly rehabilitated by Nicolae Ceaușescu as the new general secretary, with constant reference being made to his "grave mistakes"; as a sign of reconciliation, his remains were dug up and reburied in the Freedom Park necropolis.