page_title: Românul
section_title: Final decade
hierarchical_section_title: Românul / History / Final decade
caption_attribution_description: English: Dezrobirea Muncitorilor ("Workers' Emancipation"), socialist chromolithograph in the Romanian magazine Lumea Nouă, 11/1895. An unshackled proletarian, carrying the red flag with the inscription Proletari din toate ţerile, uniţi-vă! ("Proletarians of all countries, unite!"), gazes at an allegorical female figure, Social-Democraţia ("Social Democracy"). She holds up a tablet marked: Drepturi Politice - Votul Universal ("Political Rights - Universal Suffrage"). The naked child in the foreground holds up a crest marked Carl Marx - Capitalul ("Karl Marx - Das Kapital). The work is probably adapted from a non-Romanian source, credited under Tantal's signature: TANTAL după [illegible].
context_page_description: Românul, was a political and literary newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania, from 1857 to 1905. Established as the leading voice of Romanian liberalism in the state of Wallachia, it had direct connections to the radical ideology of Western Europe. Its founder and director was the aristocrat C. A. Rosetti, known as Romantic poet, Masonic promoter and left-wing activist, seconded by the brothers Ion C. Brătianu and Dimitrie Brătianu. Românul's roots were planted in the 1848 revolutionary movement, whose press organ, Pruncul Român, was a direct predecessor.
  In its first editions, Românul helped circulate the slogans of the national emancipation ideal, and campaigned for Moldavia to join Wallachia in a union of the principalities, the basis of modern Romania. Although that union was achieved in 1859, Rosetti fell out with the elected Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, censuring his dictatorial inclinations and being in turn censored. Românul men helped topple Cuza in February 1866, after which Românul became the expression of radicalism in government.
context_section_description: From early 1894, Românul was co-opted into supporting the PSDMR's own campaign for universal suffrage. Vintilă Rosetti's offices hosted the reunion of PSDMR-ists, Adevărul democrats, Evenimentul liberals, and left-wing agrarian factions. The resulting League for Universal Suffrage included, among others, V. Rosetti himself, Alexandru Ionescu, Vasile Kogălniceanu and Ioan Nădejde. As a parliamentarian, Rosetti backed the project each new time it was submitted, in 1895, 1896 and 1897—it gathered, at most, 45 from 100 possible votes.
  The effort was made difficult from the start: George Panu's anti-PNL radicals were more interested in supporting the Conservatives, while the peasant activist Constantin Dobrescu-Argeș stood accused of embezzlement. However, Vasile Kogălniceanu attached himself to the Românul offices, and was its managing editor until 1897. His Românul articles of 1895 were a strange occurrence, given the prevalent pro-Transylvanian agenda of the liberal milieus: Kogălniceanu proposed a union between Romania and Hungary, with increased rights for all ethnic groups.
  By that time, Vintilă Rosetti was being perceived as a champion of both the working class and the destitute aristocrats. Although they complained about the disorganization of the Romanian press, the Rosetti brothers were absent from efforts to create a journalists' trade union—unlike their colleagues at Timpul, Voința Națională, Adevărul, Universul or Epoca. Horia Rosetti was for a while deputy in the 1895 legislature, and was injured by rioting students, shortly before the fall of the second Dimitrie Sturdza cabinet. He no longer focused on political journalism, but on his main passion: the sport of fencing. His career in sports was crowned by his participation as a referee in the 1900 Olympic challenge and his appointment as coach of the national fencing team.
  Românul was slowly leaving the central stage of Romanian journalism. In 1899, it switched back from a daily to a weekly, was a bimonthly between 1901 and 1903, and, in its final edition, was again published once a week. The staff was enthusiastic when, in 1900, young journalist Constantin Al. Ionescu-Caion resumed the attack on Junimea. A contributor, N. Ținc, was convinced by Caion's faint proof of Caragiale's plagiarism, assessing that the Junimist "megalomaniacs" were morally bankrupt (the editorial was not published by Vintilă Rosetti, but survives in the Românul archives).
  Although moribund, the Rosettis' newspaper still offered a venue for young talents, such as Jewish journalist Henric Streitman. Caion himself was soon co-opted as the main editor. In January 1905, shortly before Rosetti's newspaper closed shop, he founded Românul Literar ("The Literary Romanian"). Caion's gazette, which was primarily a literary venue of the Symbolist movement, denied being a successor of Românul, but still numbered its issues in succession to Rosetti's.
caption: Socialist allegory in the PSDMR's Lumea Nouă journal: the female figure on the right holds up a table of stone with the words Drepturi Politice. Votul Universal ("Political Rights. Universal Suffrage")
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