page_title: Democratic Peasants' Party (Bukovina)
section_title: Termination and survivals
hierarchical_section_title: Democratic Peasants' Party (Bukovina) / History / Termination and survivals
caption_attribution_description: English: A cavalry unit of the Arcași, a Romanian paramilitary force in Bukovina. From the festivities organized at Bucșoaia in summer 1937, during which Romanian King Carol II (to whom the riders address their Roman salute) was made Vornic of the movement.
context_page_description: The Democratic Peasants' Party, also known as Democratic Party, Peasants' Party, National Democratic Party or Unirea Society, was a provincial party in Bukovina, Austria-Hungary, one of several groups claiming to represent the ethnic Romanians. It had a national liberal and left-wing populist agenda, and was mainly supported by "the peasants, the village teachers, and some of the intellectuals." Its leader was Aurel Onciul, seconded by Florea Lupu, both of whom were adversaries of the conservative and elitist Romanian National People's Party. Rejecting sectarianism, the PȚD combined Austrian and Romanian nationalism, as Onciul argued that Romanian aspirations could only be fulfilled inside the multi-ethnic empire. For this reason, and for its role in dividing the Romanian vote, the party was often accused of double-dealing.
  In 1902–1905, the PȚD pursued an alliance policy with politicians from the other ethnic groups—including, most controversially, Ukrainian nationalists. This resulted in the creation of a Progressive Peasants' Fellowship, which dominated the Diet of Bukovina and, in 1904, passed an electoral reform project drafted by Benno Straucher.
context_section_description: Throughout most of 1918, still a representative of Bukovina in the House, Onciul supported plans for the region's partition on an ethnic basis. On October 4, present at Czernowitz, he and Lupu were elected to the 50-member National Romanian Council, which rejected partition and also proposed merging the whole of Bukovina with Transylvania, to form an independent Romanian state. Alone among the Romanian intellectuals, Onciul refused to abide by this agenda, and, according to his adversaries, did everything in his power to obstruct their work. During negotiations, he threatened the anti-Austrian Sextil Pușcariu, hinting that Pușcariu risked a death sentence for his disloyalty. Onciul refused to recognize the National Council as a constitutional body, and instigated other Romanian Club members to do the same. This effort collapsed: parliamentarians Sârbu and George Grigorovici refused to follow Onciul's lead, and returned to Czernowitz.
  Foaia Poporului, published as a newspaper of the "National Peasants' Party", continued to press for the loyalist agenda during October, although the empire slowly disintegrated (see Republic of German-Austria). On November 6, as a self-appointed representative of the Romanians, Onciul agreed to divide Bukovina with the West Ukrainian People's Republic, which was represented locally by Omelian Popovych. The act, which validated the Ukrainian Galician Army (UHA) incursions into Bukovina, alarmed the other members of the National Council, who requested the intervention of the Romanian Army under Iacob Zadig and, eventually, Bukovina's merger into Greater Romania. Though he still favored Greater Austrian federalism, Onciul welcomed the UHA. He then appointed himself governor al Moldovei de Sus ("Governor of Upper Moldavia"), warning Zadig and his troops to stay out or risk being massacred by the Ukrainians. According to Cocuz, this period constitutes "full-blown treason" and a "deplorable end" to Onciul's career.
  Lupu was able to preserve his seat in the General Congress of Bukovina, which was soon after joined by returning exiles such as Doboș and Tofan. During Congress sessions, both he and Grigorovici contended that the partition plan had been a rational, rather than treasonous, option. Lupu then presented himself as leader of the "National Democratic Party", which in 1919 merged with Ion Nistor's mainstream nationalist and anti-Flondor group, the Democratic Union Party (PDU). In the November 1919 election, Lupu took a seat in the Romanian Assembly for Zastavna County. Though formally an independent, he was in practice backed by his Democratic Unionist allies. Publicly acknowledged as a PDU member, Tofan ran and won alongside Nistor in Rădăuți County. Both Simionivici and Voronca ran as independents in Cernăuți County, with only the former winning a seat. Meanwhile, Onciul found himself placed under arrest by the Romanian authorities, and, upon release, worked on plans for a large-scale land reform. The latter subject also preoccupied Lupu, who submitted an amendment regarding the application of land reform in Bessarabia. In one of his essays, published in 1919, Onciul acknowledged that Greater Romania had managed to fulfill the aspirations of his Bukovina constituents. As a final political act, he presented himself as a candidate in the election of May 1920. Onciul died in Bucharest, where he ran his own law firm, on September 30, 1921.
  The white-shirted Arcași groups were revived as independent paramilitary associations, and, reorganized by folklorist Valerian Dugan-Opaiț, had some 500,000 members and over 55 sections in 1926. The effort was reportedly slowed down by Romania's laws on corporate entities, which the mostly-peasant organizers had trouble interpreting. Also then, various sections were driven increasingly close to, and infiltrated by, the antisemitic far-right: as noted by Corbea-Hoișie, Onciul's own participation in diffusing antisemitic lore was partly responsible for this political evolution. From ca. 1923, various Arcași became sympathetic toward the National-Christian Defen
caption: Arcași youth on horseback giving the Roman salute to Carol II (Bucșoaia, 1937)
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