Integrarea politică și social-economică a Basarabiei în cadrul României reflectată în caricatura propagandistică din Republica Autonomă Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească
Alexandru Molcosean
în vol. Trasee și convergențe culturale și naționale în România Mare. Provincii, identități, destine, coord. Maria Tătar-Dan, Nicolae Enciu, Corina Teodor, Giordano Altarozzi, Cluj-Napoca, Editura Mega, 2026, ISBN: 978-630-372-121-7, pp. 251-282.
Abstract
The Political and Socio-Economic Integration of Bessarabia into Romania as Reflected in Propagandistic Caricatures from the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The study analyzes the manner in which propagandistic caricature in the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (MASSR) was used to challenge the legitimacy of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania in 1918 and to construct a negative image of the Romanian administration in the province. The establishment of the MASSR on October 12, 1924, represented a geopolitical and ideological instrument of the Soviet Union, designed to transform the territory beyond the Dniester into a propagandistic “magnet” intended to attract Bessarabia into the Soviet sphere of influence. The research aims to identify the main propagandistic themes present in the caricatures published in the MASSR press, to contextualize them within the framework of interwar Romanian-Soviet relations, and to analyze the visual means employed to convey ideological messages. In a society characterised by a high level of illiteracy, caricature became an effective propaganda tool, capable of rapidly and accessibly conveying political and identity-related messages. The analysis of periodicals such as “Plugarul Roș”, “Drumul Leninist”, and “Krasnaia Besarabia” highlights that the press in the MASSR was strictly subordinate to the ideological directives issued from Moscow and Kyiv. The caricatures consistently promoted the image of Bessarabia as a territory “occupied” by Romania, dominated by violence, repression, and socio-economic exploitation. The figure of the Romanian gendarme frequently appears as a symbol of oppression, while the real difficulties of the province’s political and economic integration were exaggerated and transformed into propagandistic arguments against the Romanian state.
Keywords: Bessarabia; MASSR; Soviet propaganda; political caricature; Soviet Moldovenism