The Romanian Social Democratic Party (Romanian: Partidul Social Democrat Român, or Partidul Social Democrat, PSD) was a social-democratic political party in Romania. It published the magazine România Muncitoare, and later Socialismul, Lumea Nouă, and Libertatea.
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Created under the name of Social Democratic Party of Romania (Partidul Social Democrat din România, PSDR) in February 1910, it viewed itself as a successor to the Romanian Social-Democratic Workers' Party, the latter having disbanded in April 1899 after a conflict between its reformist wing (deemed "generoşii" - "the generous ones"), which left in order to join the National Liberal Party, and the Marxist groups - which survived only in Bucharest as the Socialist Union of Romania (Uniunea Socialistă din România).
The PSDR affiliated with the Second International, and was noted for its activism in favor of the labour movement and internationalist pacifism, as well as its denounciation of the Romanian campaign in Bulgaria during the Second Balkan War. These policies got the party banned when Romania entered World War I (August 1916). Its members reunited after the war, and founded the Socialist Party of Romania (November 1918).
The majority of the new party became increasingly favorable to the Bolshevik option, reforming itself as the Communist Party of Romania (PCdR, later PCR), in May 1921. A minority wing formed the Federation of Romanian Socialist Parties (Federaţia Partidelor Socialiste din România), which reformed as the Social Democratic Party in May 1927 and affiliated with the 2½ International. The leader of the PSD in the following period was Constantin Titel Petrescu.
The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1940.[1]
In 1933, a communist-inspired group distinct from the PCdR left to form the Socialist Party (Partidul Socialist, also known as the Unitary Socialist Party, Partidul Socialist Unitar), led by Leon Ghelerter and Gheorghe Popovici (and joined by Gheorghe Cristescu).
Banned in 1938 by the personal dictatorship of King Carol II, the PSD remained active in clandestinity, peacefully resisting to the rise of Fascism, condemning the Iron Guard and the National Legionary State proclaimed in 1940. With the ascendancy of Ion Antonescu and Romania's participation in World War II alongside the Axis Powers (see Romania during World War II), the PSD, who remained favourable to the Allies, joined King Michael and other political groups in open resistance to the regime, becoming part of a clandestine National Democratic Bloc which included the National Peasants' Party, the National Liberals, and the Soviet Union-backed Communists.
In 1944, the PCR and the PSD formed a Singular Workers' Front (Frontul Unic Muncitoresc), which was meant to coordinate actions from the Left. The united fronts succeeded in overthrowing Antonescu's government on August 23, and backed the government of Constantin Sănătescu which declared war on the Axis.
Subsequently, PSD entered talks with PCR representative Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, leading to the creation of National Democratic Front (Frontul Naţional Democrat, FND) in February 1945 (which grouped the two parties together with Petru Groza's Ploughmen's Front, Mihai Ralea's Socialist Peasants' Party, and Mitiţă Constantinescu's Union of Patriots). Meant as an electoral alliance of the Left, the FND faced accusations from the PSD that it was becoming a tool for the PCR (especially after it had passed resolutions reflecting democratic centralism); the PSD left the Front in October of the same year. An internal struggle ensued between the pro-communist wing and Titel Petrescu's supporters; Petrescu's faction (including Lazăr Măglaşu and Ilie Mirescu) left the PSD in March 1946 to found the Independent Social Democratic Party (Partidul Social Democrat Independent, PSDI), which presented itself as an independent faction in the November 1946 general election - these were won by the FND after a large-scale electoral fraud engineered by the Groza government.
Under pressure from the PCR to create "a single party working class", the PSD accepted Marxism-Leninism and united with the Communists in February 1948, to create the Romanian Workers' Party (Partidul Muncitoresc Român, PMR), official name of the PCR as the ruling party of Communist Romania until 1965 (when it returned to its former title). PSD members, including Titel Petrescu, where victims of political repression, and many died in communist prisons.
After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the party reformed itself under the name Social Democratic Party of Romania, and rejoined the International. After entering alliances with the Democratic Party (forming Uniunea Social-Democrată during the 1996 legislative election), and taking part in the Romanian Democratic Convention governments of Victor Ciorbea, Radu Vasile, and Mugur Isărescu (briefly leading the coalition government with Alexandru Athanasiu in 1999), the PSDR adhered to the Social Democratic Pole of Romania, and fused into the Social Democratic Party on January 16, 2001.
A minority wing opposed to the merger survives as Partidul Social Democrat "Constantin Titel Petrescu".
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