Democratic Bloc Rumania

a mass antifascist organization of Rumanian workers that existed from May 1935 to the autumn of 1937. It operated under the direction of the Communist Party of Rumania (CPR), which was then underground.

The Democratic Bloc’s program provided for a struggle to preserve and expand democratic liberties and the creation of an antifascist Popular Front. Organizations of the Democratic Bloc were established in all the major cities of Rumania. In late 1935 and early 1936 the Democratic Bloc and other mass democratic organizations of workers—the Farmers’ Front and MADOS (an organization of Hungarian workers, formed in 1934)—established a unified plan of action. The Democratic Front that grew out of these organizations was victorious in the partial parliamentary elections in February 1936 and in elections for local organs of government during the spring of 1937. In February and March 1936 the leaders of the Democratic Bloc were arrested, and in the autumn of 1937 the Democratic Bloc was dissolved. The activity of the Democratic Bloc was continued by the Democratic Alliance at the end of 1937 and the beginning of 1938.