Proclamation of the Moldavian Democratic Republic

On 15 December 1917 (2 December Old Style) in Kishinev the Sfatul Țării, or National Council, the assembly of representatives of Bessarabia, adopted a declaration on the constitution of the province. Its key sentence stated that Bessarabia, “basing itself on its historical past”, proclaimed itself henceforth the Moldavian Democratic Republic, which would form part of a federal democratic Russian republic as an equal member. The same day an armistice between Russia and the Central Powers was signed at Brest-Litovsk. The British chronology of the war records the proclamation of the republic only under 23 December, but Moldovan and Romanian works agree on 2 December in the Julian calendar, that is, 15 December in the Gregorian.

Bessarabia, the land between the Prut and the Dniester, the eastern part of the former Principality of Moldavia, had belonged to Russia since 1812. The largest group of its inhabitants, although according to the Russian census of 1897 less than half of the population, were Romanian-speaking Moldovans. Alongside them lived Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, Bulgarians, Gagauz and Germans. After the fall of tsarism congresses of peasants, teachers, clergy and co-operative members were held throughout the governorate, demanding autonomy and teaching in the mother tongue. The most important force proved to be the Moldovan soldiers of the Russian army. Their congress in Kishinev, sitting from 2 to 9 November (20–27 October Old Style), proclaimed the autonomy of Bessarabia and decided to convene a representative body for it. The Sfatul Țării was to have 120 members: 84 Moldovans and 36 representatives of the national minorities. They were not chosen in general elections. The delegates were selected by soldiers’ committees, a peasants’ congress, the zemstvo and municipal authorities, and professional and national organisations. The assembly met for the first time on 4 December (21 November Old Style) and elected as its chairman Ion Inculeț, a Socialist Revolutionary and a lecturer at the University of Petrograd.

The declaration of 15 December gave the Sfatul Țării full power until the convening of a constituent assembly of the republic, elected by universal suffrage. It promised the transfer of land to the peasants, the eight-hour working day, the abolition of the death penalty, protection of the rights of all the peoples living in the republic and the formation of Moldovan regiments to defend the country against anarchy. The minorities supported autonomy within Russia, while opinions among the Moldovans were divided: some dreamt of union with Romania, others thought that with Russian troops in the country this would be madness, and the left feared the Romanian “oligarchy”. Nevertheless the song “Deșteaptă-te, române!” (“Awaken, Romanian!”) was chosen as the republic’s anthem, and the Romanian tricolour served as its flag. On 21 December the Sfatul Țării set up a government, the Council of Directors General, headed by Pantelimon Erhan.

The new republic had little real power. Thousands of soldiers of the disintegrating Romanian Front, commanded by General Dmitry Shcherbachev, were streaming through Bessarabia. Only a few days earlier that front had been covered by the Armistice of Focșani. Deserters plundered villages, peasants divided the estates themselves, and more and more units in the country fell under the influence of the Bolsheviks and of the front’s revolutionary committee, Rumcherod. In January 1918 the Bolsheviks tried to seize power in Kishinev, and the leaders of the Sfatul Țării called in Romanian troops, which occupied the city in the second half of the month. On 6 February 1918 (24 January Old Style) the republic declared independence, and on 9 April (27 March Old Style) the Sfatul Țării voted for its union with Romania. The federation with Russia announced on 15 December never came into being.