Founding Members Portfolio as of 16 December 1938 Individuals who did not join was:
Iuliu Maniu (former Prime Minister 1928–1930, 1930, 1932–1933, PNȚ),
Virgil Madgearu,
Mihai Popovici,
Grigore Iunian,
Nicolae L. Lupu,
Dinu Brătianu and
Gheorghe I. Brătianu Context The conflict between Carol II and the Iron Guard became noted during the
election of December 1937, when the monarch backed the
National Liberal Party (PNL) of incumbent Premier Tătărescu, expecting it to carry the vote; in effect, the result was inconclusive, with none of the parties receiving enough of a percentage to be awarded a
majority bonus, and with political rivalries preventing any single coalition. Faced with this outcome, Carol chose to back the antisemitic
National Christian Party (PNC) of
Octavian Goga and
A. C. Cuza, appointing Goga as the new Prime Minister on December 26, 1937—effectively, this led the two main traditional parties, the PNL and the
National Peasants' Party (PNȚ), to become marginalized. Instead, the new regime's establishment caused a migration of politicians from the PNȚ, comprising
Armand Călinescu, who chose to support the new policies and joined the Goga cabinet. A
paramilitary grouping, the blue-shirted
Lăncieri, was established as the new arm of the regime, and soon began acting against both groups of Iron Guard agitators and members of the
Jewish community. The incidents had negative effects on Romanian society: the Jewish
middle class boycotted the system by withdrawing their investments and refusing to pay taxes (to the point where the
National Bank of Romania declared the regime's
insolvency), while
France and the
United Kingdom threatened Romania with sanctions, and the
Soviet Union withdrew its embassy from
Bucharest. The new
corporatist and
authoritarian Constitution of Romania, promulgated on February 20, 1938, proclaimed stately interest to be above individual ones. According to its text, "all Romanians, regardless of their ethnicity and their religious faith" were required to "sacrifice themselves in defending [the country's] integrity, independence and dignity", while it was stipulated that "no one can consider oneself free from civil and military, public or private duties on the grounds of one's religious faith or any other kind of faith". A law passed in April, defining the "defense of state order", restricted all other forms of political association, forbade political chants and paramilitary displays, banned the press organs of political parties, and condemned political contacts between Romanian forces and outside patrons. In April, following an orchestrated conflict between Iorga and Codreanu, a large number of Iron Guard activists, including Codreanu himself, was prosecuted and jailed on orders from Călinescu, the
Minister of Internal Affairs. As Carol witnessed the failure of European countries to defend themselves from
Nazi German advances, consecrated by the
Anschluss and the
Munich Agreement, he met with
Adolf Hitler at
Berghof (November 24, 1938), and became convinced that Romania faced a similar fate. He subsequently ordered the Iron Guard, whom he perceived as a
fifth column for the Germans, to be decapitated: during the following days, Codreanu and the majority of top-ranking Guardists were assassinated, while secondary ones, led by
Horia Sima, fled the country and took refuge in Germany, where they remained after the outbreak of
World War II. There, they began plotting a revenge against the regime's officials, including Carol.
Creation The FRN itself was created as the first monopoly party in Romania's history, through the Royal Decree of December 15, 1938. The legislation proclaimed that,
ex officio, all members of the Royal Council were its members, while all citizens over the age of 20 could apply to join; by law, people who engaged in any other political activity faced being stripped of their
civil rights for as long as 5 years. In May 1939, the electoral law suffered drastic changes: the voting age was raised to 30, voters had to be
literate and employed in one of three fields (agriculture and manual labor, commerce and industry, intellectual professions), and new, fewer precincts were drawn up (11 in all, standing for the 10 new
ținuturi and
Bucharest). The
Senate, whose eligible members could only be voted into office by high-ranking members of corporations or
guilds (
bresle), comprised a number of
members for life (in addition to those already holding the office by the time the law was adopted, these were religious leaders and various members of the
House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen—a seat was reserved for
Mihai, the heir to the throne and "
Grand-Voivode of
Alba Iulia", from the date of his coming of age). (the Western press held, overall, a sympathetic view of the FRN). The Front adopted
fascist symbols and discourse. After January 1939, party members wore uniforms (
navy blue or white in color), with various ceremonial hats. The
Roman salute was a mandatory greeting. and their ideology has been described as "
operetta fascism". Among the
far right tendencies it absorbed was the small-scale fascist-inspired
feminist and
racist movement formed by
Alexandrina Cantacuzino (
Gruparea Națională a Femeilor Române, the National Grouping of Romanian Women). Although Cantacuzino's ideology remained relatively influential for the following years, the Grouping itself was dissolved in 1939. The FRN continued to make use of
antisemitism, and appealed to
nationalists by promising to find an answer to the "
Jewish Question". The arbitrary measure of the
Octavian Goga cabinet, through which hundreds of thousands of Jews had been stripped of their citizenship, was continued through a requirement that all those excluded be registered as foreigners. Members of the community were encouraged to leave the country. Nevertheless, violence was reduced, especially since its main agents, the Iron Guard and the
National Christian Party, had been outlawed. Notably, the FRN also incorporated much of the leftist tendency inside the PNȚ (Călinescu,
Mihail Ghelmegeanu,
Petre Andrei,
Mihai Ralea,
Cezar Petrescu), drawing on a
Poporanist legacy, while enlisting support from well-known
socialists such as
Gala Galaction, the later becoming undersecretary in the Ministry of Labour and member of the Senate of Romania. The corporatist structure, which, in theory, covered the entire Romanian society, was centered on newly founded guilds, overseen by Flueraș and forming the basis for representation in
Parliament. According to
Marthe Bibesco: "Among [the parliamentarians], many have daubed the king in mud and, at the smallest proof of weakness on his part, are ready to daub him anew. This is probably why he has given them clothes that stain easily—to prevent them from smirching themselves. But who could ever stop them?" (
Nicolae Malaxa, an industrialist and personal friend of Carol, collected profits of 300–1,000% during the FRN period). Iorga also made an angry remark in respect to the new Constitution: "Our Constitution should be the product of the nation, relying on strict principles of the soul and the manifestations of our people. Our
first Constitution was created by a certain
Alecu Constantinescu, and that of last February by
Istrate Micescu, an idiotic jurist who only sees that which is written in his manuals and that which the king has told him." In contrast with official ideology, Carol allowed other opposition parties to exist in all but on paper, kept contacts with them, and, in early 1940, had meetings with the PNL's
Dinu Brătianu, the PNȚ's
Ion Mihalache, and the dissident left-winger
Nicolae N. Lupu, In this context, social opposition and the
labor movement were insignificant. and had survived inside the country by infiltrating the left wings of other groupings. In late summer 1939, the Romanian public opinion was shocked by news of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which effected an agreement between Romania's most powerful adversaries, and the regime began preparing for war: it organized military training for the population beginning in late August, and invested large sums into arms production (it was announced that the
Romanian Naval Forces were fitted with one vessel each month). These measures signified that salaries of state employees fell by as much as 40%, to which was added the toll of
expropriations. The United Kingdom significantly increased its imports from Romania, attempting to prevent products from reaching Germany, while
Minister of Finance Mitiță Constantinescu imposed a tax on many outgoing products (according to Argetoianu, the decision was approved due to "the exceptional times we are living through, when we must sacrifice all interest to save the country's borders"). At the same time, Romania began offering Germany a series of deals, hoping to dissuade its hostility: the latter received advantageous
clearing agreements, while the
Reichswerke joined
Nicolae Malaxa in taking over the businesses of
Max Auschnitt, who had been arrested in September. Eventually, as Germany completed its
invasion of Poland and continued to voice support for
Hungary in relation to Romanian-ruled
Transylvania, Romania conceded to German economic demands (on March 7, 1940, the
Gheorghe Tătărescu executive agreed to direct almost all cereal and oil exports towards
Berlin). The change in policy also resulted in the reorganisation of the FRN as the
Party of the Nation (June 21–2), under the leadership of
Ion Gigurtu. The PN's character was significantly more
fascist and
totalitarian than the FRN had been, to the point where it has been described as a newly founded grouping. However, the FRN had been taking on a more fascist character for a time before then; as early as 1939, ministers greeted Carol with a fascist-style salute. Carol also decided to appeal to Iron Guard assistance, allowed its freed activists to join the PN if they chose to do so, The notorious Antisemite
Nichifor Crainic, who was sympathetic to the Guard, was also assigned a cabinet post, as Minister of Propaganda. The new authorities produced the first
racial segregation laws, based on the
Nuremberg Legislation and aimed at the
Jewish community—these notably introduced the legal concept of
români de sânge ("Romanians by blood"), as a distinct category inside the body of Romanian citizens. On July 3, after the retreat had been completed, Carol remarked: "News from Bessarabia is even sadder. Unfortunately I was right about the so-called [National Renaissance Front], as some of its leaders there seem to have converted to
Bolshevism and were among the first to welcome Soviet troops with
red flags and flowers." The process described by Carol is known to have occurred in
Soroca, where FRN officials (the former Prefect Petre Sfeclă, the Mayor Gheorghe Lupașcu, party branch leader Alexandru Anop, and school inspector Petre Hrițcu) hosted a ceremonial welcome for the
Red Army. On August 30, 1940, Germany and
Fascist Italy pressured Romania into signing the
Second Vienna Award, which assigned
Northern Transylvania to Hungary (which also brought the German military presence within hours of the
oil fields in
Prahova County). Through the cession of
Southern Dobruja to
Bulgaria (the
Treaty of Craiova) in early September,
Greater Romania had come to an end, ending up in the shape it had at the end of
World War I. Faced with such incidents, Carol chose to reform his own government, and appealed to his rival, General
Ion Antonescu, to form a
military dictatorship and a cabinet. After agreeing, Antonescu, with support from various political forces and the
Romanian Army, pressured Carol to step down and be replaced with his son
Mihai. On September 6, 1940, the monarch agreed to leave his throne and country, settling in
Brazil at the start of 1941; what contributed to this decision was Sima's support for Antonescu, and threat to assassinate Carol. Eight days after Carol's departure, the Iron Guard joined
Conducător Antonescu in government, thereby establishing the
National Legionary State (in existence until the
Legionnaires' Rebellion of January 1941). Right after dealing with opposition inside his own camp (by marginalizing the radical faction of
Ion Zelea Codreanu), Sima issued calls for a violent reprisal against the former top FRN and PN politicians. On the night of November 26–27, 1940, sixty-four
political prisoners
were massacred in
Jilava by
Corpul Muncitoresc Legionar and Iron Guard affiliates in the
Romanian Police (in theory, as reprisal for the killing of
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu). At the same time, three former Police commissioners, held under arrest in Bucharest precincts, were also assassinated. On the evening of November 27, Iron Guard members stormed into the houses of
Nicolae Iorga and the PNȚ's
Virgil Madgearu—the two were kidnapped and shot; earlier in the day, Army officials intervened to save the lives of former Premiers
Constantin Argetoianu and
Gheorghe Tătărescu. ==Cultural legacy==