National Peasant Party

(NPP; Partidul Naţional-tărănesc), a bourgeois-landlord party in Rumania from 1926 to 1947. Among its leaders were I. Maniu, A. Vaida, and I. Mihal-ache. The party was formed through a merger of the National Party, founded in Transylvania in 1881, and the Peasant Party, founded in 1918. The NPP represented the interests of the industrial bourgeoisie, with ties to foreign capital, and the large landholders. The party was in power from November 1928 to November 1933, with the exception of the period from April 1931 to May 1932.

The NPP’s program, promulgated in 1935, was based on the idea of a “peasant state.” Demogogic appeals for such a state enabled the party to retain its influence over a large segment of the peasantry. Governments formed by the NPP suppressed demonstrations by the Rumanian working people, including the miners’ strike at Lupeni in August 1929 and the strike of workers at the railroad repair shops in Griviţa in February 1933. The leaders of the NPP contributed to the rise of fascism in Rumania and helped draw the country into the war against the USSR. In 1944–45 several representatives of the NPP were members of a government dominated by a reactionary majority. The leaders of the NPP opposed democratic reforms and encouraged the activity of reactionary gangs. In July 1947 the NPP was disbanded by a resolution of the Rumanian parliament.