Ștefan Tita (born Teodor Solomon; 14 August 1905 – 1 September 1977) was a Romanian left-wing activist and writer in multiple genres. He had his poetic debut as a teenager in 1919, after which he became noted first for his pacifist prose, and later for his contributions to social realism. Before World War II, he had also specialized in satire, and, reflecting his own Jewish roots, had taken up work in the revue genre at The Barașeum. After becoming a disciple of Ion Pas, Tita was attracted into the socialist and anti-fascist movement, joining the Social Democratic Party and working as editor of its press organs. The party was banned in 1938, but he himself continued to write for some two years, being integrated with Mihai Ralea's Muncă și Voe Bună organization. Jewish writers were banned altogether during the pro-Nazi regime established by Ion Antonescu; Tita had to rely on handouts for his survival.
Returning as a Social Democratic operative immediately after Antonescu's downfall in August 1944, Tita was generally enthusiastic about the leftward shift of Romanian politics; he was also employed as a censor by the Ministry of Propaganda, even though his own politics and Expressionist aesthetics did not yet fully align with the conduct demanded by the Romanian Communist Party. In 1945, as Pas took charge of the Ministry of Arts, he made Tita his right-hand man. Both figures were mistrusted by the communists, who established a Romanian people's republic on the closing days of 1947. Tita was sent to educate himself among the proletariat, then removed from his position at the ministry. He then oriented himself toward a career in communist agitprop, primarily active in political theater and songwriting, as well as focusing on translations from world literature, and on proofreading Pas' novels. His own contributions for the stage (some of which were done in collaboration with Ionel Țăranu and Liviu Floda) were often dismissed by the socialist-realist mainstream, as well as by independent critics, who described them as unbearably melodramatic.
The late 1950s witnessed Tita's return, primarily in the realms of children's and young adult literature—but also integrated within the emerging school of Romanian science fiction. Though prolific, and employed to write teleplays for the state television network, he was widely criticized for his extreme didacticism; he was additionally mocked for his rhyming anecdotes in the humor magazine Urzica, which reviewers found to be excessively bland, and also censured for his attempts at reviving the farce and sex comedy genres. In old age, he expanded on his previous contribution to agitprop songwriting, becoming recognized in pop music, which he infused with messages favoring socialist patriotism. His final plays were about two figures of 19th-century progressivism, Teodor Diamant and Constantin Daniel Rosenthal.
Biography Youth Tita, officially registered as Teodor Solomon,"Decrete. Ministerul Propagandei", in Monitorul Oficial, Issue 107/1945, p. 3904 was born in Bucharest, capital of the Romanian Kingdom, on 14 August 1905;N. Sterea, "Ștefan Tita", in România Literară, Issue 36/1977, p. 8 he was of Jewish origin.Sergiu Dan, "Pentru d. Al. Graur", in Dreptatea, 26 November 1944, p. 2Eugen Relgis, "Document. Eugen Relgis acuză!", in Minimum, Vol. I, Issue 8, November 1987, p. 45 Researcher and fellow children's author Tudor Opriș traces his published debut to 1919, when two of his epigrams were taken up by the student magazine Crinul.Tudor Opriș, Istoria debutului literar al scriitorilor români în timpul școlii (1820–2000), pp. 135–136. Bucharest: Aramis Print, 2002. He was studying at Gheorghe Șincai National College, during which time he formed his own "literary society" (cenaclu), which held meetings in his parents' attic.Viniciu Gafița, "Concursul Cheia de Aur. Dicționar de scriitori contemporani pentru copii. Ștefan Tita (1905–1977)", in Luminița, Vol. XXXI, Issue 7, 1981, p. 14 An anti-war poem of Tita's appeared in 1920 in Biblioteca Copiilor și a Tineretului.Al. Raicu, "Ștefan Tita septuagenar", in România Literară, Issue 42/1975, p. 2 The same magazine also put out his first works of prose, and of children's literature. According to his own recollections, as a teenager he also published anti-monarchic pieces in N. D. Cocea's magazine, Facla, but was not yet a socialist at that stage.Ștefan Tita, "Memoria sentimentelor. Ion Pas", in Almanahul Literar, 1975, p. 92
Tita enrolled at the University of Bucharest department of law, and in the meantime began working in the political press—from Aurora and Adevărul to Viața Romînească; he was also a contributor to Libertatea, put out by the Social Democratic Party (PSDR). Meeting and befriending Ion Pas while writing for Șantier magazine, he became fully supportive of the socialist agenda. Over the years, he contributed regularly to the other party magazine, Lumea Nouă, with articles which outlined his belief in a "progressive Romania". By 1934, he was a regular at Tudor Teodorescu-Braniște's Cuvântul Liber, a magazine that critic Lucian Boz described as the voice of Romania's social realism. Tita himself fit the trend, with "crudely realistic notes about life in the mahala".Lucian Boz, "Lirism social", in Adevărul, 14 August 1934, p. 3 In January 1935, Cuvântul Liber hosted his reportage about the most marginalized sections of the Bucharest proletariat, namely the bus-ticket collectors and the gong farmers."Mizeria", in Dimineața, 16 January 1935, p. 4 Increasingly, Tita's focus was on denouncing class inequalities and condemning fascism. Some of his contributions were featured in Pariser Tageszeitung, put out in France by refugees from Nazi Germany.Ion Hobana, "A cunoscut Pierre Boulle fabula pentru adulți Maâag?", in România Literară, Issue 40/1969, p. 7 They included the novella "Maâag", which had originally been carried by Cuvântul Liber. Largely a pacifist parable, it showed apemen being introduced to a murderous civilization; revisiting the piece in 1969, writer Ion Hobana proposed that the Pariser Tageszeitung translation may have been read by Pierre Boulle, and was then integrated as one of the literary inspirations for Boulle's own Planet of the Apes.
In August 1935, Tita announced that he was working on a novel called Sindicatul zeilor ("Trade Union of the Gods") and a volume called Fabule pentru adulți ("Fables for the Grown-Ups"), both set to appear at Adevăruls editorial venture."Caleidoscopul vieții intelectuale. Litere, știință, artă. Ștefan Tita", in Adevărul, 1 August 1935, p. 2 Instead, he produced a biography of the progressive activist Nicolae L. Lupu. Appearing at Carmen Sylva publishers in late 1936, it was afforded praise by Teodorescu-Braniște."Cărți și reviste. Pagini de istorie contimporană. Ștefan Tita: D-rul N. Lupu", in Adevărul Literar și Artistic, Issue 837, December 1936, p. 9 This was followed in 1938 by Tita's first volume of literary prose, Avantajul de-a fi câine ("The Perks of Being a Dog").Liviu Bratoloveanu, "In memoriam Ștefan Tita", in România Literară, Issue 30/1978, p. 8 Tita's close friend, the poet Liviu Bratoloveanu, describes it as a "novel [about] the misdeeds of capitalism and the horrors of war, seen from the angle of revolutionary socialism." This partly contradicts the description published in Timpul daily, which calls Avantajul a retrospective of interwar articles for left-wing newspaper and magazines (recommending them as "social sceneries described with humor and irony")."Cărți noui. Avantajul de-a fi câine", in Timpul, 15 June 1946, p. 2 Another one of Tita's writer friends, Al. Raicu, believed that Avantajul helped Tita be discovered as a "subtle humorist."
Following a ban on all political parties, King Carol II formed the catch-all National Renaissance Front—though Lumea Nouă was still being put out, with Tita as one of the editors. By January 1940, he was also collaborating with the regime's workers' service, Muncă și Voe Bună, being supervised by Mihai Ralea, Octav Livezeanu, and Mihail Sadoveanu."Revista Muncă și Voe Bună", in Neamul Românesc, 17 January 1940, p. 1 In a 1974 memoir mentioning his encounters with the senior contributor Gala Galaction, he acknowledged that the organization and its eponymous publication had a "semi-official character", but also argued that "the presence of a group of left-wing writers among the editors and collaborators impressed a profoundly democratic orientation on [the magazine]."Ștefan Tita, "O amintire despre Gala Galaction", in Almanahul Literar, 1974, p. 35 He also began writing on revues produced by Ion Pribeagu for the Barașeum Jewish Theater, appearing personally on its stage to recite his "causeries" in December 1938."Știri artistice", in Timpul, 11 December 1938, p. 4 In late 1940, the pro-Nazi dictatorship of Ion Antonescu banned Lumea Nouă, scattering its editorial team. Tita was still featured in the official magazine, Revista Fundațiilor Regale, with translations from French literary classics (Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Valéry, François Villon) which saw print in September 1941."Vitrina. Un nou număr din Revista Fundațiilor Regale", in Viața, 4 September 1941, p. 2 By 1942, Antonescu had signed decrees barring Jews from working in the press, effectively leaving Tita and others with no income; writer Eugen Relgis, who obtained that they receive financial support with funds redirected by the Central Jewish Office, also reports that Tita and his colleagues were destitute and ailing. In a November 1944 article, Sergiu Dan revealed that a group of Jewish authors—including himself and Tita, but also Camil Baltazar, A. A. Luca, and Isaia Răcăciuni—had continued to write unsigned pieces in various periodicals, of which some which nominally supported the Nazi agenda.
Tita returned to politics and writing after the Coup of 23 August 1944, which toppled Antonescu and his regime, also inaugurating a Soviet occupation. Per his own testimony, just days after the coup and braving bomb raids by the Germans, he had relaunched Libertatea, with Pas, I. Felea and others. On 9 September, the newspaper hosted a debate on the "literature of tomorrow", accompanied by Tita's article condemning writers who had isolated themselves in an "ivory tower", urging them to a political commitment. Lucian Chișu et al., "Dosar. Cronologia vieții literare românești 1944—1964", in Revista de Istorie și Teorie Literară, Issues 1–4/2007, pp. 196–198 During November, Răcăciuni co-opted Tita and other members of the restored PSDR on his projected magazine, Intermezzo, but their proposal was vetoed by a Soviet delegate within the Allied Commission.Dumitru Hîncu, "Document. Ați auzit de Dangulov S.A.?", in România Literară, Issue 23/2009, p. 12 On 19 March 1945, Tita himself became a press censor for the Ministry of Propaganda, answering to minister Petre Constantinescu-Iași and Colonel Traian Ullea;"Deciziuni. Ministerul Propagandei Naționale", in Monitorul Oficial, Issue 67/1945, p. 2146 on 31 March, the Ministry of Labor gave him a temporary employment as editor of its official magazine, Revista Muncitorească."Deciziuni. Ministerul Muncii", in Monitorul Oficial, Issue 75/1945, p. 2654 From May, he became permanently employed by the Propaganda Ministry's Press Directorate, as the main press secretary. At Libertatea, he wrote about the need for a sustained anti-fascist combat, upon the discovery in May 1945 of an Iron Guardist cell in Constanța."Revista presei", in Lupta Moldovei, 2 June 1945, p. 2
Communization