Constantin Mille

Constantin Mille (; December 21, 1861 – February 20, 1927) was a Romanian journalist, novelist, poet, lawyer, and socialist militant, as well as a prominent human rights activist. A Marxist for much of his life, Mille was noted for his vocal support of peasant emancipation, for his early involvement with the Romanian Social Democratic Workers' Party (PSDMR), and his presence at the head of several magazines, culminating in his association with the moderate left-wing newspapers Adevărul and Dimineața. After serving as an independent member of the Chamber of Deputies for one mandate (1899–1903), he aligned his views with those of Take Ionescu, and became a supporter of Romania's entry into World War I alongside the Entente Powers. In addition to his political career, Mille was the author of two autobiographical novels (Dinu Millian, 1884, and O viață, 1914).

Biography

Early life and literature Born in Iași, he later indicated, in his Dinu Millian (written on the model set by Jules Vallès), that his childhood had been a tragic one, with his father suffering from a mental disorder and his mother falling severely ill. and became associated with other socialists, including the Russian-born Nicolae Russel, a physician and noted militant, as well as the locals Alexandru Bădărău, and the brothers Ioan and Gheorghe Nădejde. Mille also began his association with the Iași-based socialist magazine Contemporanul, which carried a polemic with the established literary society Junimea, and authored his first poems, collected in a "red notebook".

Allegedly winning Eminescu's admiration, Tradem concluded that "ithout profound meditation, without sensitivity, without imagination, an artist cannot become anything other than, at most, a fecund and passable worker, and not an illustrious figure that would endure".

The editors repeatedly issues calls for the creation of a working class party, and argued in favor of public ownership, but also took inspiration from Narodnik ideas (see Poporanism). Nicknamed the generoși ("generous ones"), and arguing that Romanian socialism could only be established when capitalism had been fully developed, they thus disagreed with the mainstream Marxist theorist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea. It followed in the wake of Contemporanul'''s 1891 disestablishment, and adhered to Dobrogeanu-Gherea's pamphlet Ce vor socialiștii români? ("What Do the Romanian Socialists Want?", 1886), which had set the tone for unifying the various socialist groups in the country. During the elections of 1899, the newspaper, through its correspondent Ioan Bacalbașa, investigated alleged violence by government forces in Slatina. Writing at the time, he identified the Third Republic's influential conservative, revanchist and antisemitic groups with a "militarist dictatorship". He introduced colored print and images, leading Dimineața to claim that it was the first daily to be published in color (1912), and was the first in his country to make use of Linotype machines (1907). and questioned the attitudes of former socialists who had joined the latter group (including Constantin Stere, who was serving as prefect). According to historian Anton Caragea, a confidential report of that year, presented to his superiors by the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Secret Service agent Günther, informed that Mille, as well as the editors of Universul and Epoca, had been advanced sums of money in order to exaggerate the amplitude of repression, and to incite both local and international outrage. According to Sever Bocu, who witnessed the debate, Mille considered Maniu's position "reactionary".

World War I At a time when the socialist movement grouped itself around the Zimmerwald Movement and called for Romania to stay out of the World War, Mille became instead a vocal supporter of joining the Entente Powers, insisting that Romania should assist France and take over Transylvania. He also claimed: "[Ionescu] thus compensated for the weakness of his party, both in men and ideas, through corrupting the press". Again present in Transylvania in 1921, he notably met and conversed with Hungarian historian and sociologist Oszkár Jászi. In 1923, he helped create Liga Drepturilor Omului (the League for Human Rights), reuniting a left-leaning activists such as Titel Petrescu, Rosetti, Constantin Rădulescu-Motru, Virgil Madgearu, Constantin Costa-Foru, Nicolae L. Lupu, Dem I. Dobrescu, Victor Eftimiu, and Grigore Iunian; it was active until 1928.

He gradually ceased his work at Adevărul'' and, shortly before his death, handed the paper over to a consortium headed by Aristide Blank. In January 1926, during the final stage of a scandal involving Prince Carol's wartime morganatic marriage to Zizi Lambrino, he came to the attention of the secret police, Siguranţa Statului, for supporting her claim that the marriage was illegally annulled by the Supreme Court, and for offering her assistance at a time when she visited Bucharest (according to Siguranța Statului, the two were related).