A LESSER-KNOWN MOMENT IN CHRISTIAN RAKOVSKY’S BIOGRAPHY: HIS 1907 EXPULSION FROM ROMANIA

Анотація

In early July 1907, invoking the stipulations of the “Law Concerning Foreigners,” which had been passed in 1881, the Romanian government took the decision to expel from Romania the well-known Socialist activist and militant, Christian Rakovsky. This decision sparked a heated journalistic and legal debate, both inside Romania and outside its borders. The Romanian Liberal government, headed by Dimitrie A. Sturdza, was accused, in particular, of having resorted to a rather controversial administrative tool which seemed highly dubious from a legal viewpoint, mainly in order to consolidate its own political position and leverage. The government also aimed at discouraging and thwarting the activities of left-wing groups which had been accused of direct involvement in organizing the peasant uprising that had shaken the Romanian state earlier in 1907. Specifically, this article analyzes a number of archival documents currently held in the collections of the National Archive of the Republic of Moldova in Chișinău. These documents focus on the ways in which the Romanian authorities collected the relevant data concerning Christian Rakovsky’s legal status in Romania. Apparently, the authorities built their case for Rakovsky’s expulsion on the basis of the legislation regarding Dobruja’s integration into Romania, which had been passed after 1878.