Communist Romania 297157 223910253 2008-07-06T13:38:31Z Conte di Cavour 2960764 {{Infobox Former Country |native_name = ''Republica Socialistă România''¹ |conventional_long_name = Socialist Republic of Romania |common_name = Romania |continent = Europe |country = Romania |era = Cold War |status = Satellite state |empire = Soviet Union |event_start = Monarchy abolished |event_end = [[Nicolae Ceauşescu|Fall of Ceauşescu]] |year_start = 1947 |year_end = 1989 |date_start = December 30 |date_end = December 22 |p1 = Kingdom of Romania |flag_p1 =Flag of Romania.svg |s1 = Romania |flag_s1 =Flag of Romania.svg |image_flag =Flag of Romania (1965-1989).svg |image_coat = Coat of arms of the Socialist Republic of Romania.svg |image_map = LocationRomania - Cold War.png |national_anthem = [[Zdrobite cătuşe]] (1947 - 1953)<br>[[Te slăvim Românie]] (1953 - 1977)<br />[[Trei Culori]] (1977-1989) |common_languages = [[Romanian language|Romanian]] |capital = Bucharest |government_type = Socialist republic |legislature = [[Marea Adunare Naţionalǎ]] |strongman1 de facto = Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej |year_strongman1 = 1947 - 1965 |title_leader = [[List of Presidents of Romania|Head of State]] |leader1 = Constantin Parhon |year_leader1 = 1947 - 1952 |leader2 = Petru Groza |year_leader2 = 1952 - 1958 |leader3 = Ion Gheorghe Maurer |year_leader3 = 1958 - 1961 |leader4 = Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej |year_leader4 = 1961 – 1965 |leader5 = Chivu Stoica |year_leader5 = 1965-1967 |leader6 = Nicolae Ceauşescu |year_leader6 = 1967-1989 |stat_area1 = 237500 |stat_pop1 = 22852123 |stat_year1 = 1989 |currency = Romanian Leu |currency_code = ROL |administrative_divisions = [[Rayons]] and [[Judeţ]]e |time_zone = [[East European Time|EET]] |utc_offset = +2 |time_zone_DST = [[East European Summer Time|EEST]] <br /> Observed starting 1971 |utc_offset_DST = +3 |calling_code = 40 |footnotes= ¹ Until 1965 the official name was '''Republica Populară Romînă''' (''People's Republic of Romania'').<br> The administrative divisions of the country were [[Administrative divisions of the Peoples' Republic of Romania|rayons]] between 1950 - 1968 and [[judeţ]]e from 1968 on. }} '''Communist Romania''' refers to the period of the [[history of Romania]] when its government was dominated by the [[Romanian Communist Party]]. During this period the country was consecutively known as the '''Romanian People's Republic''' ([[Romanian language|Romanian]]: ''Republica Populară Romînă'') and the '''Socialist Republic of Romania''' (''Republica Socialistă România''). After [[World War II]], the [[Soviet Union]] pressed for inclusion of [[Romania|Romania's]] formerly illegal Communist Party in the post-war government, while non-communist political leaders were steadily eliminated from political life. [[Michael of Romania|King Michael]] abdicated under pressure and went into exile in December 1947, and the Romanian People's Republic was declared. During the early years, Romania's scarce resources after World War II were drained by the "[[SovRom]]" agreements: mixed Soviet-Romanian companies established in the aftermath of World War II to mask the looting of Romania by the Soviet Union, in addition to excessive war reparations paid to the USSR. A large number of people were executed or died in custody; estimates vary from 137<ref>Balazs Szalontai, [http://www.asianresearch.org/articles/1555.html "The dynamic of repression: The global impact of the Stalinist model, 1944-1953"], Association for Asian Research, [[September 9]], [[2003]]</ref>, to tens of thousands,<ref name="judt">[[Tony Judt]], ''[[Postwar (book)|Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945]]'', [[Penguin Press]], 2005. ISBN 1-59420-065-3. "In addition to well over a million in detainees in prison, labor camps, and slave labor on the [[Danube-Black Sea Canal]], of whom tens of thousands died and whose numbers don't include those [[Flight and expulsion of Germans from Romania during and after World War II|deported to the Soviet Union]], Romania was remarkable for the severity of its prison conditions".</ref> to hundreds of thousands.<ref name="cioroianu">[[Adrian Cioroianu]], ''Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc'', [[Editura Curtea Veche]], Bucharest, 2005. ISBN 9736691756. During debates over the overall number of victims of the Communist regime between 1947 and 1964, [[Corneliu Coposu]] spoke of 282,000 arrests and 190,000 deaths in custody.</ref><ref name="caraza">Grigore Caraza, [http://www.procesulcomunismului.com/marturii/fonduri/gcaraza/aiud/docs/cap4.htm "Aiud însângerat"], Bucharest: Editura Vremea XXI, 2004. ISBN 973-645-050-3. The text says: "This is how hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the terrible communist prisons"; in the prison of Aiud alone there were 625 political prisoners who were starved to death from 1945 to 1964 </ref><ref name="applebaum">[[Anne Applebaum]], ''Gulag: A History'', Doubleday, April, 2003. ISBN 0-7679-0056-1. The author gives an estimate of 200,000 dead at the Danube-Black Sea Canal alone.</ref> Many more were imprisoned for political, economical or other reasons. There were a large number of abuses, deaths and incidents of torture against a large range of people.<ref name="caraza"/> In the early 1960s, Romania's communist government began to assert some independence from the Soviet Union. [[Nicolae Ceauşescu]] became head of the Communist Party in 1965 and head of state in 1967. Ceauşescu's denunciation of the 1968 Soviet invasion of [[Czechoslovakia]] and a brief relaxation in internal repression helped give him a positive image both at home and in the West. Rapid economic growth fueled by foreign credits gradually gave way to austerity and political repression that led to the fall of the communist regime in December 1989. ==Rise of the Communists== {{main|Soviet occupation of Romania}} When [[Michael of Romania|King Michael (Mihai)]], supported by the main political parties, overthrew [[Ion Antonescu]] in August 1944, breaking Romania away from the [[Axis Powers|Axis]] and bringing it over to the [[Allies|Allied]] side, Michael could do nothing to erase the memory of his country's recent active participation in the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]]. Romanian forces fought under Soviet command, driving through Northern [[Transylvania]] into [[Hungary]] proper, and on into [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Austria]] and [[Germany]]. However, the Soviets treated Romania as conquered territory,{{Fact|date=July 2007}} and Soviet troops remained in the country as occupying forces under the pretext that Romanian authorities could not guarantee the security and stability Northern Transylvania. {{History of Romania}} The [[Yalta Conference]] had granted the Soviet Union a predominant interest in Romania, the [[Paris Peace Treaties]] failed to acknowledge Romania as a [[co-belligerence|co-belligerent]], and the [[Red Army]] was sitting on Romanian soil. The Communists played only a minor role in Michael's wartime government, headed by General [[Nicolae Rădescu]], but this changed in March 1945, when Dr. [[Petru Groza]] of the [[Ploughmen's Front]], a party closely associated with the Communists, became prime minister. Although his government was broad, including members of most major prewar parties except the [[Iron Guard]], the Communists held the key ministries. The King was not happy with the direction of this government, but when he attempted to force Groza's resignation by refusing to sign any legislation (a move known as "the royal strike"), Groza simply chose to enact laws without bothering to obtain Michael's signature. On [[November 8]], [[1945]], King Michael's [[name day]], an [[anti-communism|anti-communist]] demonstration in front of the [[National Museum of Art of Romania|Royal Palace]] in [[Bucharest]] was met with force, resulting in dozens of killed and wounded; Soviet officers restrained Romanian soldiers and police from firing on civilians, and Soviet troops restored order.<ref name="Stone">David R. Stone, [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09592290500533775 "The 1945 Ethridge Mission to Bulgaria and Romania and the Origins of the Cold War in the Balkans"], Diplomacy & Statecraft, Volume 17, no. 1, March 2006, pp. 93-112.</ref> Despite the King's disapproval, the first Groza government brought [[Land reform in Romania|land reform]] and women's [[suffrage]]. However, it also brought the beginnings of Soviet domination of Romania. In the [[Romanian general election, 1946|elections]] of [[November 19]], [[1946]], Communists claimed by electoral fraud 80% of the votes given under Soviet military pressure and diversions. After forming government, the Communists worked to eliminate the role of the centrist parties; notably, the [[National Peasant Party]] was accused of espionage after it became clear in 1947 that their leaders were meeting secretly with [[United States]] officials. A [[show trial]] of their leadership was then arranged, and they were put in jail. Other parties were forced to "merge" with the Communists. In 1946–7, hundreds of participants in the pro-Axis regime were executed as war criminals, primarily for their involvement in [[the Holocaust]] and for attacking the Soviet Union. Antonescu himself was executed [[June 1]], [[1946]]. By 1948, most non-Communist politicians were either executed, in exile or in prison. Romania remained the only monarchy in the [[Eastern Bloc]] by 1947. On [[December 30]] of that year, the Communists forced King Michael to [[abdication|abdicate]]. The Communists declared a [[People's Republic]], formalized with the constitution of [[April 13]], [[1948]]. The new constitution forbade and punished any association which had "fascist or anti-democratic nature". It also granted the freedom of press, speech and assembly for the working class. In the face of wide-scale killings, imprisonments and harassment of local peasants during forced collectivization, entire private property nationalization and political oppressiveness, the Constitution of 1948 and the subsequent basic texts were never respected by governments or the new judges appointed during dictatorship. The Communist government also disbanded the [[Romanian Greek-Catholic Uniate Church]], declaring its merger with the [[Romanian Orthodox Church]]. == Early years of the communist state == {{seealso|Romanian anti-communist resistance movement}} [[Image:Romania's Resistance 1948-1960.jpg|400px|right|thumb|Resistance in the early years]] The early years of Communist rule in Romania were marked by repeated changes of course and by numerous arrests and imprisonments as factions contended for dominance. The country's resources were also drained by the Soviet's [[SovRom]] agreements, which facilitated shipping of Romanian goods to the Soviet Union at nominal prices. In all ministries there were Soviet "advisers" who reported directly to Moscow and held the real decision-making powers. All walks of life were infiltrated by agents and informers of the secret police. In 1948 the earlier agrarian reform was reversed, replaced by a move toward [[collective farm]]ing. This resulted in forced [[Collectivization in Romania|collectivization]], since wealthier peasants generally did not want to give up their land voluntarily, and had to be "convinced" by beatings, intimidation, arrests and deportations. On [[June 11]], [[1948]], all banks and large businesses were nationalized. In the Communist leadership, there appear to have been three important factions, all of them [[Stalinist]], differentiated more by their respective personal histories than by any deep political or philosophical differences: # The "Muscovites", notably [[Ana Pauker]] and [[Vasile Luca]], had spent the war in Moscow. # The "Prison Communists", notably [[Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej]], had been imprisoned during the war. # The somewhat less firmly Stalinist "Secretariat Communists", notably [[Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu]] had made it through the Antonescu years by hiding within Romania and had participated in the broad governments immediately after [[Romania during World War II#the royal coup|King Michael's 1944 coup]]. Ultimately, with [[Joseph Stalin]]'s backing, and probably due in part to the anti-Semitic policies of late Stalinism (Pauker was [[Jewish]]), Gheorghiu-Dej and the "Prison Communists" won out. Pauker was purged from the party (along with 192,000 other party members); Pătrăşcanu was executed after a [[show trial]]. == The Gheorghiu-Dej era == [[Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej|Gheorghiu-Dej]], a firm Stalinist, was not pleased with the reforms in [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s Soviet Union after Stalin's death in 1953. He also blanched at [[Comecon]]'s goal of turning Romania into the "breadbasket" of the East Bloc, pursuing a program of the development of heavy industry. He also closed Romania's largest labor camps, abandoned the Danube–Black Sea Canal project, halted rationing and hiked workers' wages. Further, there was continuing resentment that historically Romanian lands remained part of the Soviet Union as the [[Moldavian SSR]]. These factors combined to put Romania under Gheorghiu-Dej on a relatively independent and nationalist route. Gheorghiu-Dej identified with [[Stalinism]], and the more liberal Soviet regime threatened to undermine his authority. In an effort to reinforce his position, Gheorghiu-Dej pledged cooperation with any state, regardless of political-economic system, as long as it recognized international equality and did not interfere in other nations' domestic affairs. This policy led to a tightening of Romania's bonds with [[China]], which also advocated national self-determination. Gheorghiu-Dej resigned as the party's general secretary in 1954 but retained the premiership; a four-member collective secretariat, including [[Nicolae Ceauşescu]], controlled the party for a year before Gheorghiu-Dej again took up the reins. Despite its new policy of international cooperation, Romania joined the Warsaw Treaty Organization ([[Warsaw Pact]]) in 1955, which entailed subordinating and integrating a portion of its military into the Soviet military machine. Romania later refused to allow Warsaw Pact maneuvers on its soil and limited its participation in military maneuvers elsewhere within the alliance. In 1956, the Soviet premier, [[Nikita Khrushchev]], denounced Stalin in a [[Secret Speech|secret speech]] before the Twentieth Congress of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (CPSU). Gheorghiu-Dej and the leadership of the [[Romanian Workers' Party]] (''Partidul Muncitoresc Român'', PMR) were fully braced to weather de-Stalinization. Gheorghiu-Dej made Pauker, Luca and Georgescu scapegoats for the Romanian communists' past excesses and claimed that the Romanian party had purged its Stalinist elements even before Stalin had died. In October 1956, [[Poland]]'s communist leaders refused to succumb to Soviet military threats to intervene in domestic political affairs and install a more obedient [[politburo]]. A few weeks later, the Communist Party in [[Hungary]] virtually disintegrated during a popular revolution. Poland's [[Polish October|defiance]] and Hungary's popular uprising inspired Romanian students and workers to demonstrate in university and industrial towns calling for liberty, better living conditions, and an end to Soviet domination. Under the pretext that the Hungarian uprising might incite his nation's own revolt, Gheorghiu-Dej took radical measures which meant persecutions and jailing of various "suspects", especially people of Hungarian origin. He also advocated swift Soviet intervention, and the Soviet Union reinforced its military presence in Romania, particularly along the Hungarian border. Although Romania's unrest proved fragmentary and controllable, Hungary's was not, so in November [[Moscow]] mounted a [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|bloody invasion]] of Hungary. Romania and Yugoslavia both offered to take part in the military intervention in Hungary in 1956, but Nikita Khruschev rejected them. After the Revolution of 1956, Gheorghiu-Dej worked closely with Hungary's new leader, [[János Kádár]], who was installed by the Soviet Union. Romania took Hungary's former premier (leader of the 1956 revolution) [[Imre Nagy]] into custody. He was jailed at Snagov, north of Bucharest. After a series of interrogations by Soviets and Romanian authorities, Nagy was returned to [[Budapest]] for trial and execution. In [[Transylvania]], the Romanian authorities merged [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and [[Romanian language|Romanian]] universities at [[Cluj-Napoca|Cluj]], putting an end to the Hungarian Bólyai University, and also worked on gradually eliminating Hungarian education in middle schools by transforming them into Romanian ones. Under the pretext of calling numerous ethnic Hungarians "irredentists" who were "dangers to Romania's territorial integrity", the communist regime led by Gheorghiu-Dej jailed a large number of Hungarians, as well as executing some. During his 2007 visit, Hungarian president [[László Sólyom]] asked for the rehabilitation of the politically persecuted Hungarians, among whom were numerous poets, writers, university teachers. The Hungarian president also mentioned that 20 Hungarians were executed and that over 40 thousand years of jail were given in total to ethnic Hungarians. The request for rehabilitation of the politically persecuted Hungarians was not taken into consideration by the Romanian side.{{Fact|date=March 2008}} Gheorghiu-Dej spread fears about Hungary wanting to take over Transylvania. He took a two-pronged approach to the problem, arresting the leaders of the Hungarian People's Alliance, but, under Soviet pressure, establishing a nominally [[Hungarian Autonomous Province|autonomous Hungarian region]] in the [[Székely]] land. Romania's government also took measures to allay domestic discontent by reducing investments in heavy industry, boosting output of consumer goods, decentralizing economic management, hiking wages and incentives, and instituting elements of worker management. The authorities eliminated compulsory deliveries for private farmers but reaccelerated the collectivization program in the mid-1950s, albeit less brutally than earlier. The government declared collectivization complete in 1962, when collective and state farms controlled 77% of the [[arable land]]. Despite Gheorghiu-Dej's claim that he had purged the Romanian party of Stalinists, he remained susceptible to attack for his obvious complicity in the party's activities from 1944 to 1953. At a plenary PMR meeting in March 1956, [[Miron Constantinescu]] and [[Iosif Chişinevschi]], both [[Politburo]] members and deputy premiers, criticized Gheorghiu-Dej. Constantinescu, who advocated a Khrushchev-style liberalization, posed a particular threat to Gheorghiu-Dej because he enjoyed good connections with the Moscow leadership. The PMR purged Constantinescu and Chişinevschi in 1957, denouncing both as Stalinists and charging them with complicity with Pauker. Afterwards, Gheorghiu-Dej faced no serious challenge to his leadership. Ceauşescu replaced Constantinescu as head of PMR cadres. Some Romanian Jews initially favored Communism, in reaction to the anti-Semitism of the Fascists during World War II. However, by the 1950s, most were disappointed with the increasing discrimination of the Party and the limitations for [[Aliyah|emigration to Israel]]. == Persecution, the labor camp system and anti-communist resistance == {{main|Romanian anti-communist resistance movement|Bărăgan deportations|Piteşti prison}} Harsh persecutions of any real or imagined enemies of the Communist regime started with the Soviet occupation in 1945. The Soviet army behaved as an occupation force (although theoretically it was an ally against Nazi Germany), and could arrest virtually anyone at will, for perceived "fascist" or "anti-Soviet" activities. The occupation period was marked by frequent rapes, looting and brutality against the civilian population.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Shortly after Soviet occupation, ethnic Germans (who were Romanian citizens and had been living as a community in Romania for 800 years) were deported to the Donbas coal mines (see [[Flight and expulsion of Germans from Romania during and after World War II]]). Despite the King's protest, who pointed out that this was against international law, an estimated 70,000 men and women were forced to leave their homes, starting in January 1945, before the war had even ended. They were loaded in cattle cars and put to work in the Soviet mines for up to ten years as "reparations", where about one in five died from disease, accidents and malnutrition. Once the Communist regime became more entrenched, the number of arrests increased. All strata of society were involved, but particularly targeted were the pre-war elites, such as intellectuals, clerics, teachers, former politicians (even if they had left-leaning views) and anybody who could potentially form the nucleus of anti-Communist resistance. The existing prisons were filled with political prisoners, and a new system of forced labor camps and prisons was created, modeled after the Soviet Gulag. A futile project to dig the [[Danube-Black Sea Canal]] served as a pretext for the erection of several labor camps, where numerous people died. Some of the most notorious prisons included [[Sighet]], [[Gherla]], [[Piteşti]] and [[Aiud]], and forced labor camps were set up at lead mines and in the [[Danube Delta]]. The [[Piteşti prison|prison in Piteşti]] was the epicenter of a particularly vicious communist "experiment" during this era. It involved both psychological and physical torture, resulting in the total breakdown of the individual. The ultimate aim was to force prisoners to "confess" to imaginary crimes or "denounce" themselves and others, therefore prolonging their prison sentences. This "experiment" resulted in numerous suicides inside the prison and was ultimately stopped. The Stalinist measures of the Communist government included [[Bărăgan deportations|deportation of peasants]] from the [[Banat]] (south-east Transylvania, at the border with Yugoslavia), started on June 18, 1951. About 45,000 people were given two hours to collect their belongings, loaded up in cattle cars under armed guard, and were then forcibly "resettled" in barren spots on the eastern plains ([[Bărăgan Plain|Bărăgan]]). This was meant as an intimidation tactic to force the remaining peasants to join collective farms. Most deportees lived in the Bărăgan for 5 years (until 1956), but some remained there permanently. Anti-communist resistance also had an organized form, and many people opposing the regime took up arms and formed partisan groups, comprising 10-40 people. There were attacks on police posts and sabotage. Some of the famous partisans were [[Elisabeta Rizea]] from [[Nucşoara]] and [[Gheorghe Arsenescu]]. Despite a large number of secret police (''[[Securitate]]'') and army troops massed against them, armed resistance in the mountains continued until the early 1960s, and one of the best known partisan leaders was not captured until 1974. Another form of anti-communist resistance, non-violent this time, was the [[Bucharest student movement of 1956|student movement of 1956]]. In reaction to the anti-communist revolt in Hungary, echoes were felt all over the Eastern bloc. Protests took place in some university centers resulting in numerous arrests and expulsions. The most organized student movement was in [[Timişoara]], where 3000 were arrested.<ref>"[http://www.9am.ro/stiri-revista-presei/2007-10-25/trei-mii-de-studenti-timisoreni-arestati-si-torturati.html Trei mii de studenţi timişoreni, arestaţi şi torturaţi]", ''România liberă'', 25 October 2007.</ref> In Bucharest and Cluj, organized groups were set up which tried to make common cause with the anti-communist movement in Hungary and coordinate activity. The authorities' reaction was immediate - students were arrested or suspended from their courses, some teachers were dismissed, and new associations were set up to supervise student activities. == The Ceauşescu regime ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Transylvania]] --> [[Image:Coat of arms of the Socialist Republic of Romania.svg|right|210px|thumb|The Coat of Arms of [[The Socialist Republic of Romania]] (1965–89)]] Gheorghiu-Dej died in 1965 in unclear circumstances (his death apparently occurred when he was in Moscow for medical treatment) and, after the inevitable power struggle, was succeeded by the previously obscure [[Nicolae Ceauşescu]]. Where Gheorghiu-Dej had hewed to a Stalinist line while the Soviet Union was in a reformist period, Ceauşescu initially appeared to be a reformist, precisely as the Soviet Union was headed into its [[Neo-Stalinism|neo-Stalinist]] era under [[Leonid Brezhnev]]. Gheorghiu-Dej exploited the Russian - Chinese dispute in his last two years and began to oppose the hegemony of the Soviet Union from a Romanian national position. Ceauşescu, supported by a part of the former collaborators of Gheorghiu-Dej, like Maurer, continued this line which was naturally very popular in the country. The relations with Western countries, but also with many other states, began to be strengthened in what seemed to be the national interest of Romania. The forced Soviet (mostly Russian) cultural influence in the country which characterized the fifties was stopped. In 1965, following the example of Czechoslovakia, the name of the country was changed to Republica Socialistă România (The Socialist Republic of Romania) — RSR — and PMR was renamed once again to Partidul Communist Român — The Romanian Communist Party (PCR). In his early years in power, Ceauşescu was genuinely popular, both at home and abroad. Agricultural goods were abundant, consumer goods began to reappear, there was a cultural thaw, and, most importantly abroad, he spoke out against the 1968 Soviet invasion of [[Czechoslovakia]]. While his reputation at home soon paled, he continued to have uncommonly good relations with Western governments and with institutions such as the [[International Monetary Fund]] and [[World Bank]] because of his independent political line. Romania under Ceauşescu maintained and sometimes improved diplomatic and other relations with, among others, [[West Germany]], [[Israel]], [[China]], [[Albania]], Pinochet's [[Chile]], all for various reasons on the outs with Moscow. However, even at the start, reproductive freedom was severely restricted. Wishing to increase the birth rate, in 1966, Ceauşescu promulgated the [[decree 770]] [[abortion in Romania|restricting abortion]] and [[contraception]]: only women over the age of 40 or who already had at least four children were eligible for either; in 1972 this became women over the age of 45 or who already had at least five children. Mandatory gynecological revisions and penalizations against unmarried women and childless couples completed the [[natalist]] measures. The birthrate of 1967 was almost double the one of 1966, leaving a ''[[decreţei]]'' [[cohort (demography)|cohort]] who suffered of crowded public services. Restrictions of human rights were typical of a Stalinist regime: a massive force of secret police (the "[[Securitate]]"), censorship, relocations, but not on the same scale as in the 1950s. During the Ceauşescu era, there was a secret ongoing "trade" between Romania on one side and Israel and West Germany on the other side, under which Israel and West Germany paid money to Romania to allow Romanian citizens with certified Jewish or German ancestry to emigrate to Israel and West Germany, respectively. [[Image:Defilare 23 August.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[23 August]] parade]] Ceauşescu's Romania continued to pursue Gheorghiu-Dej's policy of industrialization, but still produced few goods of a quality suitable for the world market. Also, after a visit to [[North Korea]], Ceauşescu developed a megalomaniacal vision of completely remaking the country; this became known as [[systematization (Romania)|systematization]]. A large portion of the capital, [[Bucharest]], was torn down to make way for the [[Palace of the Parliament|Casa Poporului]] (now House of Parliament) complex and [[Centrul Civic]] (Civic Center), but the [[Romanian Revolution of 1989|December 1989 Revolution]] left much of the huge complex unfinished, such as a new National Library and the National Museum of History. During the huge demolitions in the 1980s, this area was popularly called "[[Ceauşima]]" - a bitter satirical allusion of Ceauşescu and [[Hiroshima]]<ref>Lonely Planet, [http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/europe/romania?att=39312 Romania - Dracula romanticism and a country on fast-forward], accessed on October 18, 2006</ref>. Currently it is being redeveloped as a commercial area known as Esplanada. Prior to the mid-1970s, Bucharest, as most other cities, was developed by expanding the city, especially towards the south, east and west, by building high density dormitory neighbourhoods at the outskirts of the city, some (such as [[Drumul Taberei]]) of architectural and urban planning value. Conservation plans were made, especially during the 1960s and early 1970s, but all was halted, after Ceauşescu embarked on what is known as ''"Mica revoluţie culturală"'' ("The Small Cultural Revolution"), after visiting [[North Korea]] and the [[People's Republic of China]] and then delivering a speech known as the [[July Theses]]. The [[1977 Bucharest Earthquake|big earthquake of 1977]] shocked Bucharest, many buildings collapsed, and many others were weakened; this was the backdrop that led to a policy of large-scale demolition which affected monuments of historical significance or architectural masterpieces such as the monumental Vǎcǎreşti Monastery (1722), the "Sfânta Vineri" (1645) and "Enei" (1611) Churches, the Cotroceni (1679) and Pantelimon (1750) Monasteries, the [[art deco]] "Republic's Stadium" (ANEF Stadium, 1926). Even the Palace of Justice — built by Romania's foremost architect, [[Ion Mincu]], was scheduled for demolition in early 1990, according to the systematisation papers. Yet another tactic was abandoning and neglecting buildings and bringing them into such a state that they would require being torn down. Thus, the policy towards the city after the earthquake was not one of reconstruction, but one of demolition and building anew. Post-earthquake estimates commissioned by the office of the city's mayor judged that only 23 buildings were beyond repair, none of them of any historic value.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} An analysis by the Union of Architects, commissioned in 1990, claims that over 2000 buildings were torn down, with over 77 of very high architectural importance, most of them in good condition. Even Gara de Nord (the city's main train station), listed on the Romanian Architectural Heritage List, was scheduled to be torn down and replaced in early 1992. Despite all of this, and despite the appalling treatment of [[HIV]]-infected [[orphan]]s, the country continued to have a notably good system of schools and generally good medical care. Also, not every industrialization project was a failure: Ceauşescu left Romania with a reasonably effective system of power generation and transmission, gave Bucharest [[Bucharest Metro|a functioning subway]], and left many cities with an increase in habitable apartment buildings. [[Image:Coada la ulei.jpg|thumb|250px|A queue for cooking oil, Bucharest, late 1980s]] In the 1980s, Ceauşescu became simultaneously obsessed with repaying Western loans and with building himself a [[Palace of the People (Romania)|palace]] of unprecedented proportions, along with an equally grandiose neighborhood, [[Centrul Civic]], to accompany it. These led to a shortage of available goods for the average Romanian. By 1984, despite high crop yield and food production, food rationing was introduced on a wide scale (the government promoted it as "a means to reduce obesity" and "rational eating"). Bread, milk, butter, cooking oil, sugar, pork, beef, chicken, and in some places even potatoes were rationed in most of Romania by 1989, with rations being made smaller every year (by 1989, a person could legally buy only 10 eggs per month, half to one loaf of bread per day, depending on the place of residence, or 500 grams of any kind of meat{{Fact|date=February 2007}}). Most of what was available were export rejects, as most of the quality goods were exported, even underpriced, in order to obtain [[hard currency]], either to pay the debt, or to push forward in the ever-growing pursuits of heavy industrialisation. Romanians became accustomed to ''"tacâmuri de pui"'' (chicken wings, claws and so on), mixed cooking oil (mostly unrefined, dark, [[soy]] oil, of the poorest grade), "Bucureşti Salami" (consisting of soy, [[bonemeal]], [[offal]] and pork lard), [[ersatz]] coffee (made of corn), oceanic fish and sardines as a meat replacement, cheese mixed with starch or flour, untasty juices as [[Cil-Cola]] or [[Cireşica]] {{Fact|date=February 2007}}. Even these products were in very scarce supply, with queues whenever such products were available. All quality products, such as [[Sibiu Salami|Sibiu]] and [[Victoria Salami]], high- and mid-grade meats, and [[Dobrudja]] peaches were designated as "export-only", and were available to Romanians only on the thriving [[black market]]{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. By 1985, despite Romania's huge refining capacity, petrol was strictly rationed, with supplies drastically cut, a Sunday curfew was instated, and many buses and taxis converted to [[methane]] propulsion (they were mockingly named "bombs"). Electricity was rationed to divert supplies to heavy industry, with a maximum monthly allowed consumption of 20 [[Kilowatt hour|kWh]] per family (everything over this limit was heavily taxed), and very frequent [[Rolling blackout|blackout]]s (generally 1–2 hours daily){{Fact|date=February 2007}}. Only one in five streetlights were to be kept on, and television was reduced to a 2 hours each day, mostly propaganda. [[Image:Propaganda poster Ceausescu.jpg|thumb|250px|A propaganda poster on the streets of Bucharest, 1986. The caption reads "65 years since the creation of the Romanian Communist Party", while in the background it reads "Ceauşescu Era" and "The Party. Ceauşescu. Romania"]] Gas and heating were also turned off; people in cities had to turn to natural gas containers (''"butelii"''), or charcoal stoves, even though they were connected to the gas mains. According to a decree of 1988, all public spaces had to be kept to a temperature of no more than 16 degrees [[Celsius]] (about 63 degrees [[Fahrenheit]]) in winter (the only institutions exempted were kindergartens and hospitals), with some (such as factories){{Fact|date=February 2007}}, kept at no more than 14 degrees (about 59 degrees Fahrenheit). All shops were to close no later than 5:30 p.m., in order to preserve electricity. A thriving black market appeared, with [[Kent (cigarette)|Kent]] cigarettes becoming Romania's second currency (it was illegal and punished with up to ten years imprisonment to own or trade any foreign currency), used to purchase everything, from food to clothes or medicine. Health care dropped substantially, as drugs were no longer imported{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. Control over society became stricter and stricter, with an [[East Germany|East German]]-style [[Telephone tapping in the Eastern Bloc|phone bugging system]] installed, and with [[Securitate]] recruiting more agents, extending censorship and keeping tabs and records on a large segment of the population. By 1989, according to CNSAS (the Council for Studies of the Archives of the Former Securitate), one in three Romanians was an informant for the Securitate. Due to this state of affairs, income from tourism dropped substantially, the number of foreign tourists visiting Romania dropping by 75%, with the three main tour operators that organized trips in Romania leaving the country by 1987. There was also a revival of the effort to build: * a [[Danube-Black Sea Canal|Danube–Black Sea Canal]], which was completed, * a nationwide canal system and irrigation network, some of which was completed, but most of which still a project, or abandoned, * an effort to improve the railway system with electrification and a modern control system, * a [[nuclear reactor|nuclear power plant]] at [[Cernavodă]], * a national [[hydroelectricity|hydroelectric]] power system, including the [[Iron Gate (Danube)|Porţile de Fier]] power station on the [[Danube]] in cooperation with [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], * a network of oil refineries, * a fairly developed oceanic fishing fleet, * naval shipyards at [[Constanţa]], * a good industrial basis for the chemical and heavy machinery industries, and * a rather well-developed foreign policy. On the negative side, the legacy of the period was a bloated heavy industry using archaic production methods, consuming lots of resources, and producing low-value goods (the refining capacity is over ten times what was needed, the steel production capabilities two-and-a-half times, the [[aluminium]] production facilities five times). Most of what was produced could not be sold anywhere, and ended up sitting and deteriorating outside the factories where it was made, while light industries were ridiculously undersized (Romanians had to wait three years for a washing machine, two-to-three years for a color TV, five-to-ten years for a car){{Fact|date=February 2007}}, and technologically obsolete (in 1989, Romania, produced 1960s cars and 1970s TVs and washing machines){{Fact|date=February 2007}}. The communication network was, with the exception of the modernization of the trunk railway lines, left at the 1950s level. Romania had, in 1989, only a 100 km (68 mile) stretch of motorway, and it was in a very poor state. The telephone network was one of the least reliable in Europe, with 1930s–1950s manual [[telephone switch|switching]] technologies in villages, and early 1960s automatic switching in towns and cities, and based on an under-sized backbone. By 1989, in Romania, there were about 700,000 phone lines, for a population of 23 million.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} TV broadcasts were limited to two hours daily, mostly propaganda, with most people choosing to watch [[Bulgarian television|Bulgaria]]n, [[Yugoslavian television|Serbia]]n, [[Hungarian television|Hungarian]] or [[Soviet television|Soviet Russian TV]], wherever the signal was sufficiently strong, using illegal antennas or mini satellite dishes. There were almost no computers, [[8-bit]] clones of Western [[home computer]]s being directly shipped to serve as workstations in factories and such. Another legacy of this era was pollution: Ceauşescu's government scored badly on this count even by the standards of the Eastern European communist states. Examples include [[Copşa Mică]] with its infamous Carbon Powder factory (in the 1980s, the whole city could be seen from [[satellite]] as covered by a thick black cloud), [[Hunedoara]], or the plan, launched in 1989, to convert the unique [[Danube Delta]] — a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage site]] — to plain agricultural fields. == Downfall == {{main|Braşov Rebellion|Romanian Revolution of 1989}} Unlike the Soviet Union at the same time, Romania did not develop a large, privileged elite. Outside of Ceauşescu's own relatives, government officials were frequently rotated from one job to another and moved around geographically, to reduce the chance of anyone developing a power base. This prevented the rise of the [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]]-era reformist communism found in Hungary or the Soviet Union. Similarly, unlike in [[Poland]], Ceauşescu reacted to strikes entirely through a strategy of further oppression. Romania was nearly the last of the Eastern European communist regimes to fall; its fall was also the most violent up to that time. The events of December 1989 are much in dispute. Protests and riots broke out in [[Timişoara]] on [[December 17]] and soldiers opened fire on the protesters, killing about 100 people. After cutting short a two-day trip to [[Iran]], Ceauşescu held a televised speech on [[December 20]], in which he condemned the events of Timişoara, considering them an act of foreign intervention in the internal affairs of Romania and an aggression through foreign secret services on Romania's sovereignty, and declared National Curfew, convoking a mass meeting in his support in Bucharest for the next day. The uprising of Timişoara became known across the country, and in the morning of [[December 21]], protests spread to [[Sibiu]], Bucharest, and elsewhere. On [[December 21]] the meeting at the CC Building in Bucharest turned into chaos and finally into riot, Ceauşescu hiding himself in the CC Building after losing control of his own "supporters". On the morning of the next day, [[December 22]], it was announced that the army general Vasile Milea was dead by suicide; people were besieging the CC Building, while the Securitate did nothing to help Ceauşescu. Ceauşescu soon fled in an helicopter from the rooftop of the CC Building, only to find himself abandoned in [[Târgovişte]], where he was finally formally tried and shot by a [[kangaroo court]] on [[December 25]]. === Controversy over the events of December 1989 === For several months after the events of December 1989, it was widely argued that [[Ion Iliescu]] and the [[National Salvation Front]] (FSN) had merely taken advantage of the chaos to stage a coup. While, ultimately, a great deal did change in Romania, it is still very contentious among Romanians and other observers as to whether this was their intent from the outset, or merely pragmatic playing of the cards they were dealt. It is clear that by December 1989 Ceauşescu's harsh and counterproductive economic and political policies had cost him the support of many government officials and even the most loyal Communist Party cadres, most of whom joined forces with the popular revolution or simply refused to support him. This loss of support from regime officials ultimately set the stage for Ceauşescu's demise. ==See also== *''[[Reconstruction (film)]]''- a documentary about Communist Romania *[[List of Romanian communists]] * [[Scânteia]] - The [[Romanian Communist Party]]'s Newspaper * The [[Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania]] *[[Administrative divisions of the Peoples' Republic of Romania]] *[[Systematization (Romania)]] <div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br> <hr noshade size="4" width="100%"/> &lt; '''[[Romania during World War II|World War II]] | [[History of Romania]] | [[History of Romania since 1989|Present Romania]] ''' &gt; <hr noshade size="4" width="100%"/> </div> ==References== {{reflist}} == External links == *[http://www.ceausescu.org/ Ceausescu.org], extensive website on Communist Romania. *[http://www.memorialsighet.ro/en/ MemorialSighet.ro], memorial site to the victims of Communism in Romania, based at [[Sighet prison]]. *[http://oneescape.com Fascinating escape story from Communist Romania] {{Romanian topics}} {{Communist Eastern Europe}} [[Category:Communist Romania| ]] [[cy:Rwmania Gomiwnyddol]] [[es:República Socialista de Rumania]] [[fi:Romanian sosialistinen kansantasavalta]] [[hr:Socijalistička Republika Rumunjska]] [[os:Социалистон Республикæ Румыни]] [[it:Repubblica Socialista Rumena]] [[nl:Volksrepubliek Roemenië]] [[pl:Rumuńska Republika Ludowa]] [[pt:Romênia comunista]] [[ro:România socialistă]] [[ru:Социалистическая Республика Румыния]] [[zh:罗马尼亚社会主义共和国]]