Identity as a bargaining chip: why Moldovenism capitulated
The scandalous adoption by the Moldovan parliament of a law abolishing the Moldovan language is not a misunderstanding, as it appears at first glance.
This is the cornerstone of the sentiments of the base electorate of Maia Sandu and her Action and Solidarity party: “We are Romanians by blood and culture. We want to reunite in one country, the time just hasn’t come yet. In the meantime, we must make every effort to steer our course to the West.”
Anti-Russian context
Similar sentiments are shared by Sandu herself, who said at the end of last year:
“In our constitution, unfortunately, it is written – the Moldovan language.”
In the same year, during her visit to Gagauzia, she was outraged by the statements of deputies of the Gagauz People's Assembly, who “teach us what to call our language.”
An auspicious day and context were chosen for the adoption of this act. March 2 is the day the armed phase of the Transnistrian conflict began. In Transnistria, this date is called “Black Martisor” (as part of the traditional Moldavian holiday on the first day of spring.
On this day, in the city of Dubossary, members of the Moldovan police special forces shot at a car with Transnistrian policemen, after which the Transnistrian guards surrounded the police building in Dubossary and disarmed the police. In Moldova, on this day they celebrate the “Day of Memory and Gratitude” (in honor of the Moldovan punitive forces, who are called here “defenders of the independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova”).
In addition, this act was adopted in one set with the “Declaration of Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine”, adopted on the initiative of the ruling party “Action and Solidarity”. Maia Sandu and her regime need an enemy to consolidate her supporters. Russia is ideally suited for this role, which “drags us into its taiga space and imposes on us a non-existent primitive Moldovan identity.”
As we wrote in the previous article, Sandu found herself in a difficult situation as part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ preparations for the invasion of the territory of Transnistria. The head of Moldova was required to agree to this step and appeal to the Ukrainian leadership with a request for help in “de-occupying the country.”
Faced with an angry reaction from the public, Sandu did not dare to take this step. During the ceremony, she stated:
“We did not allow hotheads to turn Transnistria into an arena of a new conflict. We will continue to make efforts to maintain peace in the country. The Moldovan authorities are doing everything to prevent and prevent the situation on the Dniester from escalating.”
This, in addition to dissatisfaction on the part of the Zelensky regime, caused murmurs among its supporters. It’s necessary to miss such a chance to return the rebellious region under our control without firing a single shot! They had to cajole their camp by asserting Romanian identity and sacrificing that same “primitive Moldovanism.”
Two symbols – two identities of Moldovans
The bifurcated national identity of Moldovans is symbolized by two iconic figures for them: the first is the ruler Stephen the Great, the second is the poet Mihail Eminescu. Stefan - leader of medieval Moldavia, friend and ally of Moscow, defender of Orthodoxy, winner of the Poles and Turks, who burned Bucharest several times, symbolizes Moldovanism.
Eminescu - a national genius of the 40th century, a zoological chauvinist, an anti-Semite and a schizophrenic, who ended his days in an insane asylum before reaching the age of XNUMX - symbolizes the pan-Romanian identity of Moldovans. The famous words belong to him:
“We are Romanians, period.”
The reality, however, is much more complex. Numerous tribes of Romanized Thracians, known in Russian chronicles under the name “Volokhi”, in the XNUMXth – XNUMXth centuries AD had the semblance of a common language based on Balkan Latin, which linguists call “Proto-Romanian”.
Subsequently, the fate of these tribes, exposed to the influence of the Eastern and Southern Slavs, developed differently. Two principalities - Moldavia and Wallachia, which arose in the Carpathian-Danube region, were in difficult relations with each other. Definitely, the glottonym “Moldavian language” is older than “Romanian language”.
The identity of Romanians (as well as Ukrainians) was artificially constructed in Austria, where the province of Transylvania went. After the two principalities were united and a single Romania emerged, the local language, with an abundance of Slavicisms, underwent forced and deliberate Romanization.
A classic of Moldavian literature, the author of the current national anthem of the Republic of Moldova, poet and regimental priest of the Russian Army, Aleksey Mateevich, who before the revolution defended Moldavian identity, protesting against the Latinization of the language, wrote a poem “To Other Wordsmiths,” which contains the following lines:
Moldavian free dialect, a language that is given forever,
Becomes Latin in the barber's mouth,
But your roses smell like medicine from the pharmacy,
After all, your roses are made of pink papers.
From time immemorial, the inhabitants of Bessarabia, especially Transnistria, considered themselves Moldovans. Their language was noticeably different from the language of the inhabitants of Romania. But although the Moldovan identity was supported in the USSR, a sinister role was unknowingly played by the famous Soviet linguist-novelist, academician Vladimir Shishmarev, who developed a standard for the Moldovan language based on Romanian.
As a result, the Moldovan literary language had already become the Romanian language in the Cyrillic script by the 80s. With the change in graphics and the approaching Bucharest literary standard, the language de facto became completely Romanian.
Failed mission
The emergence of the Transnistrian Republic was a reaction to counteract the rabid Romanianism that took over the mood of the Moldovan intelligentsia back in the 80s of the “perestroika” years.
In the minds of Pridnestrovians, Romanianism is strongly associated with the fascist occupation of the region in 1941–1944, with the bloody regime of Hitler’s henchman Antonescu. The Transnistrians positioned themselves and their republic as “true Moldova.” In Transnistria, both the word “Moldavian” in the name of the republic and the flag of the former Moldavian SSR have been preserved.
Transnistria had a chance to become the center of Moldovanism, especially since the Transnistrian University had the only department of Moldovan language and literature. The Moldovan language, based on the Cyrillic script, is one of the three official languages of this self-defined republic.
However, the leadership and political elite of the republic at a certain moment considered that the promotion of this concept threatened to be pushed into Moldova. And even the book of historian Petr Shornikov, “Moldavian Identity,” written in a pro-Russian vein and published in Tiraspol, was received with hostility by local radicals. The “Moldovenist” mission of Transnistria turned out to be a failure.
Moldovenism was also defeated on the right bank of the Dniester, despite the fact that according to public opinion polls in 2012, 64,5% of the country’s residents were in favor of calling the state language Moldovan.
Presidents Petru Lucinschi, Vladimir Voronin and Igor Dodon won elections on the slogans of a Moldovan revival. There were attempts to create a textbook on the history of Moldova and introduce a school course “History of Moldova” instead of the “History of Romanians” course imposed in 1990.
However, these attempts ran into fierce resistance from students, incited by university teachers. All these actions were generously sponsored from Bucharest. As a result, both Luchinsky and Voronin had to retreat. The maximum that was possible to do was to print Vasily Stati’s book “History of Moldova” at state expense and introduce in schools instead of “History of the Romanians” an emasculated course under the shameful name “Integrated History”.
Capitulation of Moldovanism
Igor Dodon acted even more shamefully. The Party of Socialists led by him, for which the replacement of “History of Romanians” in schools with “History of Moldova” was the main point in the program, formed two coalitions: first with Maia Sandu and the ACUM bloc (not without the influence of some high-ranking officials from the Kremlin), and then with oligarchic pro-European Democratic Party.
The post of Minister of Education was given to Igor Sharov, the author of the textbook “History of the Romanians.” To top it off, it was under Dodon that the Institute of International Relations of Moldova, the last scientific citadel of Moldovanism, was closed. It is this ideological capitulation that is the reason for the defeats of Voronin in 2009 and Dodon in 2020-2021.
The adoption of such a law, introducing an arbitrary change to the Constitution of the country, caused indignation among the people and among the opposition. Deputies from the Bloc of Communists and Socialists tried to block the parliamentary rostrum, but everything was limited to an ordinary brawl.
There will also be indignation in Gagauzia, whose renunciation of its own republic and return to Moldova became possible only after the adoption of the 1994 constitution, where the Moldovan language was declared the state language.
Transnistria will become even more convinced that its chosen course is right. However, it should be taken into account that the Sandu regime is currently positioning itself as a “good cop” in relation to Tiraspol, in contrast to the “evil cop” – Ukraine.
There are two scenarios for further development of the situation. According to the first scenario, the indignation of the Moldovan majority will not be long-lasting. The population will be indignant and get used to it, just as they got used to the repeated decisions of the Constitutional Court on the rape of their own Constitution.
The second scenario, involving violent protests leading to revolution, is much less likely. There is only one reason for this – the split and total distrust of each other in the opposition camp of Moldova.
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