Vasile Vasilievici Stroescu Vasily Vasilyevich Stroesko Vasile de Stroesco Basile Stroesco | |
|---|---|
 Photograph of Stroescu, ca. 1900 | |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania | |
| In office 1919–1920 | |
| Constituency | Orhei County |
| Member of the Senate of Romania | |
| In office January 3, 1924 – April 13, 1926 | |
| Constituency | Reghin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 11, 1845 Trinca, Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | April 13, 1926 (aged 80) Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania |
| Resting place | Sfânta Vineri Cemetery, Bucharest |
| Political party | Bessarabian Peasants' Party |
| Other political affiliations | National Moldavian Party |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University Saint Petersburg State University University of Berlin |
| Profession | Landowner, judge, agriculturist, philanthropist, activist |
Vasile Vasilievici Stroescu[1] (Russian: Василий Васильевич Строеско, Vasily Vasilyevich Stroesko; November 11, 1845 – April 13, 1926), also known as Vasile de Stroesco,[2][3] Basile Stroesco,[4][5] or Vasile Stroiescu, was a Bessarabian and Romanian politician, landowner, and philanthropist. One of the proponents and sponsors of Romanian nationalism in Russia's Bessarabia Governorate, as well as among the Romanian communities of Austria-Hungary, he was also a champion of self-help and of cooperative farming. He inherited or purchased large estates, progressively dividing them among local peasants, while setting up local schools and churches for their use. An erudite and traveler, he abandoned his career in law to focus on his agricultural projects and cultural activism. For the latter work, he became an honorary member of the Romanian Academy.
Having backed the nationalist papers Basarabia and Cuvânt Moldovenesc, Stroescu was drawn into the more elitist cell of the nationalist movement, centered on the parts of the zemstva and gentry assembly. He was thus honorary president of the National Moldavian Party shortly after the February Revolution but, with Vladimir Herța, drifted away from the core of the movement to set up his own aristocratic branch. He became an absentee member of Sfatul Țării during the existence of a Moldavian Democratic Republic and its union with Romania. In 1919–1920, he served in the Assembly of Deputies, and was its de facto President for one day, on November 20, 1919. Rallying with the Bessarabian Peasants' Party, Stroescu became critical of the unification process, decrying government abuses in Bessarabia, and also objected to the 1920s land reform. At the age of eighty, he was elected to the Senate of Romania with backing from the Romanian National Party; he died shortly after in Bucharest, after a short battle with bronchitis, and was granted a state funeral.
- ^ Clark, p. 296; Constantin et al. (2012), pp. 559, 608; Lupu et al., p. 766
- ^ "Vasile de Stroesco" and ""Scrisoarea dlui V. de Stroesco, in Unirea, Issue 14/1910, pp. 1–2
- ^ (in Romanian) Ion Preasca, "Vasile Stroescu, boierul basarabean care a fost primul președinte al Parlamentului României Mari", in Adevărul Moldova, November 30, 2013
- ^ The Roumanian Occupation..., pp. 190–195, 207; Ciobanu, p. 69
- ^ "Communiqués", in Le Figaro, September 2, 1918, p. 2