27 Facts About Constantin Bivol

Constantin Vasilievici Bivol was a Bessarabian politician and agriculturalist, brother of the more famous politician Nicolae Bivol.

In early 1918, Bivol supported the Republic's merger into the Kingdom of Romania, and was active within the post-union Bessarabian Peasants' Party.

Constantin Bivol had a stint in the Romanian Assembly of Deputies following elections in November 1919.

Constantin Bivol was transported to the Gulag, and died of malnutrition in Soviet Tataria.

Constantin Bivol's family was not informed of his death until a posthumous rehabilitation process, in 1990.

Constantin Bivol was born as a Russian citizen in Costesti, Kishinev Uyezd, with Nicolae as his brother.

In July 1918, Constantin Bivol remarked that he belonged to the Bessarabian yeomanry, whom he called "Bessarabia's oldest inhabitants", but that much of his property had been scattered into small and irretrievable pieces of land.

Constantin Bivol's brother was a member, but the circumstances of his election, and the institution which he represented, are still unclear.

Constantin Bivol endorsed a radical, egalitarian, and universal redistribution of the gentry's estates, arguing for the political goal of creating a "strong peasant class".

Constantin Bivol was hostile to the Orthodox clergy, arguing that priests should be dispossessed of their plots, and suggesting that monasteries only be granted land sparingly, in proportion to their staff.

Constantin Bivol argued that the only thing landowners could fear was losing such property as they no longer used for cultivation.

Constantin Bivol continued to favor complete redistribution, as defined by the slogan "all land to the laboring people", but, as Turcanu points out, he "swiftly" moderated his stance.

Constantin Bivol was supportive of this project, joining Halippa's Committee for the Unification of All Romanians and its 10-member leadership board.

Constantin Bivol proposed, and obtained, that banks be barred from ever foreclosing on the land assigned to peasants, which thus became inalienable.

Constantin Bivol was then assigned to the local commission which oversaw the land reform in Soroca Uyezd.

Constantin Bivol joined the group, and ran on its list during the legislative election of November 1919.

Constantin Bivol only served to the recall elections of May 1920, but continued to engage in local politics.

Constantin Bivol was elected Mayor of his native Costesti in 1925, though he only served as such to April 1926.

Constantin Bivol was ultimately deposed by Prefect Gabriel Niculescu-Muresanu, who had been petitioned by the local villagers.

Constantin Bivol was by then affiliated with the National Peasants' Party in 1925, but defected to the National Liberals in 1927.

Constantin Bivol witnessed the Soviet invasion of Bessarabia in June 1940, which transformed Bessarabia into a Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Constantin Bivol was one of 14 members of the Sfatul to be captured in that round-up; Major Nikolai Sazykin, who was commanding over the local NKVD, reported to his chief Lavrentiy Beria that they were all in his custody, and proposed a show trial.

Moraru argues that Constantin Bivol was continuously tortured, in what was an effort to make him confess to political crimes, and ultimately killed off when he would not oblige the NKVD.

Constantin Bivol's death was recorded as having taken place on March 12,1942, at No 4 Prison's hospital of Chistopol, in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Constantin Bivol's case was declared closed, due to lack of evidence as well as to his demise, though his family was left uninformed about his ultimate fate.

Constantin Bivol only underwent rehabilitation in the Soviet Union on July 16,1990.

Constantin Bivol is commemorated in Romania, where, in 2018, his life was showcased by the Sighet Memorial's "Men of the Union" exhibit.