Romanian Writers' Society
Towards the end of the 19th century, a growing number of Romanian writers felt the need for a professional association to defend their interests before editors and bookstores and facilitate mutual aid.
Although the circle surrounding the Literatură și artă magazine shared these objectives, the idea of an independent association developed later and under pressure from foreign professional organizations that were concerned about intellectual property rights.
The small number of participants was due to a lack of interest from older writers, opposition from certain public figures to society's strictly professional character, and the exclusion of literary critics, a clause against which Chendi strongly protested.
The initiative was promoted in the press, with the editor of the Minerva newspaper, Vasile Savel, publishing a series of articles on the need for a society and its potential goals.
Despite being launched hastily during the summer holidays, the articles were successful, drawing responses from Constantin Rădulescu-Motru, Adam, Chendi, Eugen Lovinescu, Sadoveanu, Scurtu, Anghel, Iosif and Nicolae N. Beldiceanu.
Additionally, Nicolae Iorga, Simion Mehedinți, Corneliu Moldovanu, Dimitrie Teleor and Aurel Alexandrescu-Dorna expressed their opinions on the topic in their own periodicals.
It was decided that older writers and leading critics would be invited to join, with the exception of Iorga, due to his "negative and offensive" attitude; they would be free to choose between active and honorary status.
To give the society a more permanent character, it decided to organize literary meetings in towns and rural areas, as well as in Transylvania and Bukovina, acquire a headquarters, publish a bulletin, and gain legal recognition.
After obtaining a pledge of financial aid from Minister Spiru Haret, he launched a public appeal for a writers' publishing house in the Universul newspaper.
Upon being invited to join, Imperial Russian-born Jewish critic Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea wrote an open letter to Anghel, lamenting that membership was based not on the value of one's work but on one's birth certificate.
Amid rising polemics, in January 1910, the society asked the Romanian Parliament to reject a law granting citizenship to Jewish critic Eugen Porn.
Thanks to the importance of contemporary writers and the symbolic capital acquired by some of them, such as Goga, Alexandru Lapedatu, Ion Pillat, Nichifor Crainic, Rebreanu, and Mihai Ralea, as well as their presence in influential government and legislative posts, the SSR received a series of subsidies from certain ministries (Education, Arts, Finance, Labor, Interior) as well as other institutions.
In certain years, funding also came from the profits of the Constanța Casino, fees received during the month-long festival of Bucharest, and fairly generous sums paid by studios for film censorship.
After many unfulfilled promises, in 1934, the city hall granted a lot for a Writers' Palace, centrally located on Carol I Boulevard and valued at around 4.5 million lei.
Due to generous donations from Condiescu's associate King Carol II, as well as from ministries and banks, the fund quickly reached 6.8 million lei.
The society tried its hand in various businesses, including a lottery, two movie theaters (in Brașov and Arad), postcards with famous writers' faces, and medals, which either resulted in small revenues or losses.
Starting just after World War I, the society granted pensions to the widows and children of deceased writers (Macedonski, Chendi, George Coșbuc, Gârleanu, Slavici and Panait Istrati, as well as to the sisters of Mihail Eminescu).
It also financed writers who found themselves in difficult situations, such as Maria Cunțan, Ion Gorun, Panait Mușoiu, Artur Enășescu, Eugen Boureanul, Caton Theodorian, Alexandru Obedenaru and George Bacovia.
The SSR granted Căile Ferate Române rail passes to its members and funded rest trips to the Sâmbăta de Sus palace and the main hotel in Bușteni.
A. Bassarabescu (1926), Boureanul, Vasile Demetrius and Savel (1927), Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu, Emanoil Bucuța and Ion Foti (1928), I. C. Vissarion, Davidescu and Demetrius (1929), Alexandru Cazaban, Brăescu and Mateiu Caragiale (1930), Ion Petrovici and Camil Petrescu (1931), Sergiu Dan and George Mihail Zamfirescu (1932), G. M. Vlădescu and Galaction (1933), Mircea Damian and Victor Ion Popa (1934), Anton Holban, Neagu Rădulescu, Horia Furtună, Mihail Celarianu and Octav Dessila (1935), Papadat-Bengescu and Mircea Eliade (1936), Mircea Gesticone, Dauș and Ioan Missir (1938), Zamfirescu and Radu Boureanu (1939).
[1] The poetry prize recipients were: George Gregorian and Al. T. Stamatiad (1922), Claudia Millian and G. Talaz (1923), Davidescu and Moldovanu (1924), Foti, Constantin Râuleț and Adrian Maniu (1925), Aron Cotruș, Ion Dongorozi, Radu Gyr and Bacovia (1926), Perpessicius, George Dumitrescu, Artur Enășescu and Pillat (1927), Vasile Voiculescu, Zaharia Stancu and Boureanu (1928), Celarianu, Arghezi and Talaz (1929), Ion Barbu, Lucian Blaga and Eugen Jebeleanu (1930), Eugeniu Sperantia and Stamatiad (1931), Ilarie Voronca, D. Nanu and Virgil Gheorghiu (1932), Boureanu and Dan Botta (1933), Dumitrescu, N. Crevedia, Simion Stolnicu and Maria Banuș (1934), Mircea Streinul, Emil Gulian, Maniu and Vlaicu Bârna (1935), Ștefan Baciu (1936), Iulian Vesper, Teofil Lianu and Șerban Bascovici (1938), Celarianu, Emil Giurgiuca, Gyr and Aurel Chirescu (1939).
[1] After the National Legionary State came to power that September, the committee aligned itself with regime policy, and in early October decided to expel eleven Jewish writers: Felix Aderca, Camil Baltazar, Dan, A. Dominic, Scarlat Froda, Virgil Monda, I. Peltz, Mihail Sebastian, Leopold Stern, A. Toma and Voronca.
Thus, the only honorees were Nicolae Ottescu, Ruxanda Levente, George Lesnea, Pompiliu Constantinescu, Gheorghiu, George Ionescu and Bascovici in 1940; Stahl, Demetrius, Alexandru Busuioceanu, Eugen Bălan, Radu Tudoran, Dumitru Almaș, Dragoș Protopopescu, Otilia Cazimir, Ion Buzdugan and Stelian Constantin-Stelian, in 1941; Alexandru Al. Philippide, Mihail Șerban, Cotruș, Ovidiu Papadima, Boureanu, Octav Sargețiu, Mircea Mărcoiu and Laura Dragomirescu in 1942.
In early September, a group of thirty writers called for a general assembly, citing the absence of Herescu (who was abroad and unable to return) and the presence in the committee of individuals compromised by collaboration with the deposed Ion Antonescu regime.
The new committee members were N. D. Cocea, Papadat-Bengescu, Cezar Petrescu, Cazaban, Celarianu, Stancu (who resigned and was replaced by Perpessicius), Mihai Beniuc, Lucia Demetrius, Boureanu, Cicerone Theodorescu and Jebeleanu.
[1] By the end of November, successive meetings of the committee had resulted in an unknown number of expulsions, with a further 46 members suspended but given the possibility of accounting for their past deeds.
Meanwhile, the society's professional role was largely ceded for a time to the Union of Artists', Writers' and Journalists' Syndicates, a body founded in August 1945.
The new committee also included Galaction, Cocea, Cezar Petrescu, Celarianu, Ion Popescu-Puțuri, Lucia Demetrius, Călugăru, Theodorescu, Dinu Bondi and Stancu as members; Carol Ardeleanu and Dumitru Corbea as accountants; Vintilă Russu-Șirianu, Bogza, Teofil Rudenco, Agatha Bacovia, Toma and C. Argeșanu as the honoring jury; and Baltazar, Aurel Baranga, Oscar Lemnaru, Tudor Șoimaru and Sașa Pană as alternate members.
