„TE LESZEL A MÁSODIK LENIN” : Petru Groza ideológiai fordulata az 1920-as évek végén és az 1930-as évek első felében

Petru Groza (1884–1958) was one of the most influential figures in the history of 20th century’s Romania, who, both as a private person and as a politician, advocated the need for historical reconciliation between Hungary and Romania. In the late 1920s, he embarked on an ideological quest and became intensely preoccupied with the question of Bolshevism and the person and historical role of Béla Kun. In my study, I will describe the long process, lasting several years, during which his left turn in thinking took place. Using newly discovered archival sources in Romania, I show that the future prime minister and later president of the state had a strong sense of mission and vocation, and an inner conviction that he would be the leader of the new communist Romania. I argue that the final impulse for his left turn was his meeting with Hillel Kohn in December 1931 and their subsequent meetings. As one of the “animators” of the ’Ekésfront’, formed in 1933, and later as a leader of undisputed authority, he initially proclaimed ideological neutrality out of caution and positioned himself politically in the centre. But this failed to deceive the powers that be, and he and the radical programme of the ’Ekésfront’ increasingly came under the scrutiny of the authorities.