Nichita Smochină (; Moldovan Cyrillic: Никита Смокинэ, Russian: Никита Парфеньевич Смокина, Nikita Parfenievich Smokina; also known as Mihai Florin; 14 March 1894 – 14 December 1980) was an ethnic Romanian activist, scholar, and political figure from what is now Transnistria. He is especially noted for campaigning on behalf of Romanians in the Soviet Union. He was first active in the Russian Empire, serving with distinction in World War I. He turned to Romanian nationalism in 1917 when he was serving as an officer in Russian Transcaucasia. Smochină met Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, recording Lenin's then-tolerant views on Romanian emancipation. Smochină was then active in the Ukrainian People's Republic, where he led the general caucus formed by Romanians in Tiraspol. He was also part of the Central Council, and earned his reputation as a champion of Transnistrian Romanian interests.
An anti-communist, Smochină narrowly escaped the Bolsheviks. In late 1919, together with his surviving family, he crossed into Greater Romania, making it their second home. As a protégé of historian Nicolae Iorga, he earned his academic credentials and made himself internationally known as an expert on minority rights. At the start of the 1920s, he contributed to historical research, ethnography and folkloristics, as well as jurisprudence. He became noted as an expert on Transnistria, which, under Soviet Ukrainian rule, formed a "Moldavian ASSR". His books covered the region's Russification and the introduction of irreligion, being singled out as a dangerous element by official representatives of the Soviet Union. Smochină's interwar activism also extended into humanitarian efforts, including the welcoming of refugees in Romania fleeing the Great Ukrainian Famine. His scientific work included a recovery of pre-Bolshevik or anti-Russian Romanian folklore in Transnistria and beyond.
During most of World War II, Smochină initially backed the authoritarian regime of Ion Antonescu and paid service to Gheorghe Alexianu's Transnistria Governorate. He later criticized the antisemitic surge, as embodied in the Odessa massacre. By 1942, he had become noted for his involvement in a conflict with Alexianu and Ștefan Bulat, but found renewed backing from the Antonescu government. He eventually left the region, alongside 10,000 Romanian refugees, during the Soviet counter-offensive of 1944. His activities as a folklorist, along with his exposure of Soviet brutality, made him a wanted man once the communist regime took over Romania. This meant Smochină had to live under assumed names until the mid 1950s. He was eventually captured, sent to prison, and stripped of his academic honors. Partly reinstated during national communism in the late 1960s, he spent his final decades encouraging the second-generation communist authorities to take a firmer stance against controversial Soviet policies such as "Moldovenism".
Biography
Origins and early life Nichita Smochină was born on the confines of historical Moldavia and Bessarabia. The entire area between the Dniester and the Southern Bug ("Transnistria" in the largest definition) was at the time part of the Russian Kherson Governorate. As he later recounted, the bountiful eastern bank of the Dniester was home to a thriving Romanian community; or, as he put it, a veritable "Romanian California".Brăiescu, p. 91; Datcu, pp. 15–16 His later research traced the first Romanian presence in that area to the Dark Ages, and revived by the Cossack Hetmanate's border policy, particularly in the 1650s. Alex. N. Smochină, "Moldova de dincolo de Nistru", in Dacia, Issue 5/1941, p. 2 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library) According to him, there were two main stages in the migration and resettlement of Moldavian peasants to what became his homeland. The first was under Moldavian Prince George Ducas (late 17th century), and the second under Russian Empress Catherine the Great.Băieșu, p. 104 Smochină spoke in detail about the Romanian colonies of 18th-century "New Russia", that reached as far east as Oleksandriia.
The Smochinăs were descendants of Romanian yeomen (răzeși), originally from Moldavia,Constantin (2010), p. 237 and reportedly spoke an archaic variant of the Romanian language. The literary historian Al. Husar, who met Smochină in the 1940s, recalled that his use of the eastern dialect had the "scent of ages" and "seemed to be a wonder of the Romanian language." Vasile Iancu, "Al. Husar: 'Caracterul dă autoritate sacerdoțiului critic' ", in România Literară, Issue 24/2005 Smochină's place of birth was Mahala village, on the eastern, non-Bessarabian, shore of the Dniester. Adrian Neculau, "Un român de peste Nistru", in Ziarul de Iași, March 26, 2011Brăiescu, p. 91; Chelaru et al., p. 16; Colesnic, p. 104; Constantin (2010), p. 237; Datcu (2010), p. 15 & (2017), p. 118; Guzun (2011), p. 239. See also Cirimpei, p. 173 His father, Parfeni, was the village Starosta for about 20 years. Nichita's mother, Ana Mircea, used the term "Romanian" to mean "male person".Brăiescu, p. 91 The couple had another four children.Colesnic, pp. 105–106
Primarily known to his family as "Vlaicu", Smochină learned Russian at the Orthodox Church school in Mahala, where he was colleagues with the future activists Arhip Ciurea and Mircea Carp. He then completed his secondary education in Dubăsari (Dubossary), earning a gold medal for his academic excellence.Brăiescu, p. 92 Afterwards, Smochină went to a Russian Cadet school in Minsk, and, reportedly, worked as a clerk for Dubăsari Tribunal. Mihai Tașcă, "Vezi cine a fost transnistreanul care 'a românizat moldovenii' ", in Adevărul Moldova, December 22, 2011 He was interested in philology and later became one of the few Romanian experts in the study of Old Church Slavonic.Constantin (2010), p. 238 When World War I erupted, he was serving in the Imperial Russian Army, and fought throughout the Caucasus campaign. His services were rewarded with the Order of St. George, and thus he joined the ranks of Russian nobility.Brăiescu, p. 92. See also Guzun (2011), p. 239 He was by then married to Agafia (or Agaphia), who gave birth to their first son, Alexandru Nichita on June 28, 1915 in Mahala.Datcu (2017), p. 121
Despite receiving Russian accolades, Smochină was becoming increasingly hostile to Tsarist autocracy and building up "unrestrained hatred" for Russian soldiers who mistreated their "Moldavian" comrades. The February Revolution caught him behind the lines in Tiflis Governorate. He was appointed military delegate by a Congress of non-Russian Peoples, organized under the Special Transcaucasian Committee in Tbilisi (May 1917),Guzun (2011), p. 239 where he demanded Romanian-language education for the Moldavian diaspora. The Congress sent him over to Petrograd for negotiations with the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (summer 1917).Chelaru et al., p. 16 As he later noted, he happened to hear a speech given by Vladimir Lenin, leader of the ultra-revolutionary Bolshevik faction, who was working to topple the Russian Provisional Government. Smochină was intrigued by Lenin's promise of self-determination for all of Russia's minorities: "As a Moldavian, I found this issue to be one of greatest interest". Smochină was interested in finding out Lenin's level of commitment in this respect, and was invited for an interview (as he recalled, this was only made possible because one of Lenin's bodyguards was originally from Mahala).
According to Smochină's own rendition of the encounter, when asked about his vision on the Moldavian question, Lenin began by stating: "You Moldavians have no interest in fighting on the side of Russia, who for centuries now has been enslaving your kind. Culturally, Moldavians are far more advanced than Russians."Chelaru et al., p. 17; Datcu (2010), p. 16. See also Brăiescu, p. 92 Lenin stated that what must be done was for Moldavians to take up arms and fight against the two "oppressors": Russia and "landowners' Romania".Chelaru et al., pp. 16–17; Datcu (2010), p. 16 According to Smochină, Lenin openly agreed that Moldavians, Bessarabians, and Romanians were in essence the same demonym: "Take inspiration from your Romanian blood brothers, but, again, beware of falling into the claws of Romanian boyar exploiters. [...] all Moldavians are Romanians".Chelaru et al., p. 17 The Bolshevik theorist appears to have incited the Transnistrians and Bessarabians to spread the flame of revolution into "boyar Romania", to "drown the hell out of the Romanian king and set up a Soviet Romania".Chelaru et al., p. 17. Partly rendered in Datcu (2010), p. 16 Reportedly, Lenin also urged the Transnistrian delegate to personally sabotage the war effort on the Caucasus Front, fraternize with the Ottomans, and demand "peace without annexations or indemnities".Chelaru et al., p. 17; Datcu (2010), pp. 16–17 As some Romanian historians have noted, "Lenin was not about to curb [a nation's independence], but did not specify in sufficiently clear terms what would happen if they should want to achieve self-determination in any social order other than communism."
Ukrainian deputy and Romanian refugee Smochină returned to his place of origin, which was being progressively included in the newly emancipated Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR), and began defending the interests of local Romanians. As head of the Mahala Zemstvo, he tried to prevent the breakdown of social and military order, and narrowly escaped with his life after being pursued by the Bolshevik committees. In December 1917, after a pro-Romanian Moldavian Democratic Republic had taken root in Bessarabia, he and Gheorghe Mare were involved with the separatist Congress of Transnistrian Moldavians in Tiraspol, where they flew the Romanian tricolor. Nicolae Dabija, "Trei culori...", in Literatura și Arta, October 27, 2011 Smochină stated: "We love our country so much that even our icons look to Romania." By 1918, he had become Prefect of Tiraspol, then envoy for Tyraspil County to the Central Council of Kiev, capital of the new Ukrainian People's Republic.Datcu (2010), p. 16; Guzun (2011), p. 239. See also Brăiescu, p. 92 During this period, Smochină became noted for his efforts to prevent Bessarabia from being absorbed into the UNR, openly criticizing Volodymyr Vynnychenko's government for expressing such annexionist wishes.
Just west of the Dniester, the union of Bessarabia with Romania was effected in late 1918. Transnistria itself was caught up in the Ukrainian–Soviet War and was taken by the Bolshevik Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, forming the "Moldavian Autonomous Oblast". Smochină's experience of Bolshevik rule was painful, and he described war communism as a trauma: "Entire properties were taken away, [Romanians in Transnistria] were left naked, downtrodden, worse off than during slavery".Datcu (2010), p. 17 Just as he was preparing to emigrate, he saw Moldavian peasants raiding his estate.Brăiescu, pp. 92–93 He finally escaped Soviet Ukraine on December 25, 1919, and crossed the Dniester into Greater Romania, settling in the former Moldavian capital of Iași.Brăiescu, p. 93; Datcu (2010), pp. 15, 18 & (2017), p. 118; Guzun (2011), p. 239 Historian Oleg Galushchenko notes that he was only successful on his second attempt, since for unknown reasons, the Romanian border guards initially had him deported back to the Ukrainian shore. Smochină "miraculously survived".Oleg Galushchenko, "Динамика численности и ареал расселения молдаван в конце XIX — начале XXI веков", in Revista de Etnologie și Culturologie, Vol. IV, 2008, p. 143