Nicolae Andruţă Ceauşescu ( 26 January 1918 – 25 December 1989) was a
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
n politician who was the
Secretary GeneralA number of international organizations, political parties, and other bodies use the title Secretary General or Secretary-General for their chief administrative officer.-International intergovernmental organizations:...
of the
Romanian Communist PartyThe Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
from 1965 to 1989, President of the Council of State from 1967, and
President of RomaniaThe President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . He or she can serve two terms. During his term in office, the President must not be a member of any political party.The current President of Romania is Traian...
from 1974 to 1989. His rule was marked in the first decade by an open policy towards
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
and the United States of America, which deviated from that of the other
Warsaw PactThe Warsaw Pact is the informal name for the mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance subscribed by eight Communist states in Eastern Europe, that was established at the USSR’s initiative and realised on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw, Poland...
states during the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
. He continued a trend first established by his predecessor,
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-DejGheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:...
, who had tactfully coaxed the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
into withdrawing troops from Romania in 1958. Ceauşescu's second decade was characterized by an increasingly erratic
personality cultA cult of personality arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships and Stalinist governments....
, nationalism and a deterioration in foreign relations with the Western powers as well as the Soviet Union. Ceauşescu's government was overthrown in a December 1989 military coup, and he was shot following a televised two-hour session by a
kangaroo courtA kangaroo court or kangaroo trial, sometimes likened to a drumhead court-martial, refers to a sham legal proceeding or court. The colloquial phrase "kangaroo court" is used to describe judicial proceedings that deny due process rights in the name of expediency...
.
Early life and career
Born in the village of
ScorniceştiScorniceşti is a town in Olt County, Romania with a population of 12,802. The town administers 13 villages and has a total area of 170 km², being the locality with the largest area in the county of Olt, surpassing even its capital...
,
Olt CountyOlt is a county of Romania, in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia . The capital city is Slatina.- Demographics :...
, Ceauşescu moved to
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
at the age of 11 to work in the factories. He was the son of a peasant (see
Ceauşescu familyNicolae Ceauşescu, who led Romania from 1965 to 1989, had a large family, several members of which wielded influence in Communist Romania. Below are given outlines of his immediate family members' lives, with links to those who have separate articles about them....
for descriptions of his parents and siblings.) He joined the then-illegal Communist Party of Romania in early 1932 and was first arrested, in 1933, for agitating during a strike. He was arrested again, in 1934, first for collecting signatures on a petition protesting the trial of railway workers and twice more for other similar activities. These arrests earned him the description "dangerous communist agitator" and "active distributor of communist and
anti-fascistAnti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, organizations, governments and individuals. Most major resistance movements during World War II were anti-fascist....
propagandaPropaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience...
" on his police record. He then went underground, but was captured and imprisoned in 1936 for two years at
Doftana PrisonDoftana is a Romanian prison. Built in 1895, it was used in the 1930s to detain political prisoners, among them the future president Nicolae Ceauşescu...
for anti-fascist activities.
While out of jail in 1939, he met
Elena PetrescuElena Ceauşescu was the wife of Romania's Communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu, and Deputy Prime Minister of Romania.-Background:...
(they married in 1946) —she would play an increasing role in his political life over the decades. He was arrested and imprisoned again in 1940. In 1943, he was transferred to
Târgu JiuTârgu Jiu is the capital of Gorj County, Oltenia, Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu. Eight villages are administered by the city: Bârseşti, Drăgoeni, Iezureni, Polata, Preajba Mare, Româneşti, Slobozia and Ursaţi.-History:The settlement was...
internment campInternment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of ‘interning’; confinement within the limits of a country or place"...
where he shared a cell with
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-DejGheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:...
, becoming his protégé. After
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when Romania was beginning to fall under
SovietThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
influence, he served as secretary of the
Union of Communist YouthThe Union of Communist Youth was the Romanian Communist Party's youth organisation, modelled after the Soviet Komsomol. It aimed to cultivate young cadres into the party, as well as to help create the "new man" envisioned by communist ideologues.-History:Founded in 1922, the UTC went underground...
(1944–1945).
After the Communists seized power in Romania in 1947, he headed the Ministry of Agriculture, then served as Deputy Minister of the Armed Forces under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. In 1952, Gheorghiu-Dej brought him onto the
Central CommitteeA central Committee is commonly the central executive unit of a Leninist or Communist party, whether ruling or non-ruling. In a Communist party, the Central Committee is made up of delegates elected at a Party Congress...
months after the party's "Muscovite faction" led by
Ana PaukerAna Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
had been purged. In 1954, he became a full member of the
PolitburoPolitburo, from German Politbüro, short for Political Bureau, , is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.- Marxist-Leninist states :...
and eventually rose to occupy the second-highest position in the party hierarchy.
Leadership of Romania
Three days after the death of Gheorghiu-Dej in March 1965, Ceauşescu became
first secretaryThe term General Secretary denotes a leader of various unions, parties, churches or associations. The most notable usages are the following:...
of the Romanian Workers' Party. One of his first acts was to change the name of the party to The Romanian Communist Party, and declare the country the
Socialist Republic of RomaniaCommunist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the leading role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
rather than a
People's RepublicPeople's Republic, also especially in other languages Popular Republic, is a title that has often been used by Marxist-Leninist governments to describe their state...
. In 1967, he consolidated his power by becoming president of the State Council.
Initially, Ceauşescu became a popular figure in Romania and also in the Western World, due to his independent foreign policy, challenging the authority of the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. In the 1960s, he ended Romania's active participation in the
Warsaw PactThe Warsaw Pact is the informal name for the mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance subscribed by eight Communist states in Eastern Europe, that was established at the USSR’s initiative and realised on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw, Poland...
(though Romania formally remained a member); he refused to take part in the
1968 invasion of CzechoslovakiaThe Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
by Warsaw Pact forces, and actively and openly condemned that action. Although the Soviet Union largely tolerated Ceauşescu's recalcitrance, his seeming independence from Moscow earned Romania maverick status within the
Eastern BlocThe terms Eastern Bloc, Communist Bloc or Soviet Bloc were used to refer to the former Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, including the countries of the Warsaw Pact, along with Yugoslavia and Albania, which were not aligned with the Soviet Union after 1948 and 1960...
.
During the following years Ceauşescu pursued an open policy towards the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
. Romania was the first communist country to recognize
West GermanyWest Germany is a common English name for the period of the Federal Republic of Germany between its' formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic was dissolved and the five states on its territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany,...
, the first to join the
International Monetary FundThe International Monetary Fund is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments...
, and the first to receive a US President,
Richard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States and is the only president to resign the office. He was also the 36th Vice President of the United States ....
. In 1971 Romania became a GATT member. Also
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
and
YugoslaviaYugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.The first country to be known by this...
were the only East European countries that entered into trade agreements with the
European Economic CommunityThe European Economic Community was an international organisation that existed between 1958 and 1993 which was created to bring about economic integration between Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.It was...
before the fall of the Communist bloc.
A series of official visits to Western countries (including the US,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
) helped Ceauşescu to present himself as a reforming communist, pursuing an independent foreign policy within the Soviet Bloc. Also he became eager to be seen as an enlightened international statesman, able to mediate in international conflicts and to gain international respect for Romania. Ceauşescu negotiated in international affairs, such as the opening of US relations with
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
in 1969 or the visit to
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
of president
Anwar SadatMuhammad Anwar Al Sadat, or Anwar El Sadat , was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination on 6 October 1981...
of
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
in 1977. Also Romania was the only country in the world to maintain normal diplomatic relations with both Israel and PLO
In 1974, Ceauşescu became "President of Romania", further consolidating his power. He followed an independent policy in foreign relations—for example, in 1984, Romania was one of only three Communist-ruled countries (the others being the People's Republic of China, and
YugoslaviaThe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the second half of World War II until it was formally dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro,...
) to take part in the American-organized
1984 Summer OlympicsThe 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984. Los Angeles was selected as the host of the Games on May 18, 1978 on the 80th IOC session at Athens, Greece, without a vote,...
. Also, the country was the first of the Eastern Bloc to have official relations with the
European CommunityThe European Community is the first of the three pillars of the European Union created under the Maastricht Treaty . It is based upon the principle of supranationalism and has its origins in the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union. If the Treaty of Lisbon comes into...
: an agreement including Romania in the Community's Generalised System of Preferences was signed in 1974 and an Agreement on Industrial Products was signed in 1980. However, Ceauşescu refused to implement any liberal reforms. The evolution of his regime followed the Stalinist path already traced by Gheorghiu-Dej. Their opposition to Soviet control was mainly determined by the unwillingness to proceed to
de-StalinizationDe-Stalinization refers to the process of eliminating the cult of personality and Stalinist political system created by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.Stalin was succeeded by a collective leadership after his death in 1953...
. The secret police (
SecuritateThe Securitate , was the secret service of Communist Romania. Previously the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului...
) maintained firm control over speech and the media, and tolerated no internal opposition.
Beginning in 1972, Ceauşescu instituted a program of systematisation. Promoted as a way to build a "multilaterally developed socialist society", the program of demolition, resettlement, and construction began in the countryside, but culminated with an attempt to reshape the country's capital completely. Over one fifth of central
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
, including churches and historic buildings,
was demolished in the 1980sDuring the final few years of the presidency of Nicolae Ceauşescu , who ruled Romania from 1965 until 1989, significant portions of the historic center of Bucharest, Romania's capital, were demolished to accommodate standardized apartment blocks and government buildings, including the grandiose...
, in order to rebuild the city in his own style. The People's House ("Casa Poporului") in Bucharest, now the
Palace of the ParliamentThe Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania is a multi-purpose building containing both chambers of the Romanian Parliament. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Palace is the world's largest civilian administrative building , most expensive administrative building, and...
, is the world's second largest administrative building, after
The PentagonThe Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself....
. Ceauşescu also planned to bulldoze many villages in order to move the peasants into blocks of flats in the cities, as part of his "urbanisation" and "industrialisation" programs. An NGO project called "Sister Villages" that created bonds between European and Romanian communities may have played a role in thwarting these plans.
The 1966 decree
In 1966, the Ceauşescu regime banned all
abortionAn abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo. An abortion can occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be induced, in humans and other species...
, and introduced other policies to increase the very low
birth rateCrude birth rate is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year.According to the United Nations' World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision Population Database, crude birth rate is the Number of births over a given period divided by the person-years lived by the population over that...
and fertility rate - including a special tax amounting to between ten and twenty percent on the incomes of men and women who remained childless after the age of twenty-five, whether married or single. The inability to procreate due to medical reasons did not make a difference. Abortion was permitted only in cases where the woman in question was over forty-two, or already the mother of four (later five) children. Mothers of at least five children would be entitled to significant benefits, while mothers of at least ten children were declared
heroine mothers by the
Romanian StateCommunist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the leading role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
. However, few women ever sought this status; instead, the average Romanian family during the Communist era had two to three children (see
Demographics of RomaniaThis article is about the demographic features of the population of Romania, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....
). Furthermore, a considerable number of women either died or were maimed during clandestine abortions.
The government also targeted rising
divorceDivorce or dissolution of marriage is the final termination of a marriage, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between two persons...
rates and made divorce much more difficult - it was decreed that a marriage could be dissolved only in exceptional cases. By the late 1960s, the population began to swell, accompanied by rising poverty and increased
homelessnessHomelessness is the condition and social category of people who don't have a regular house or dwelling because they cannot afford, pay for, or are otherwise unable to maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or they lack "fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence" The actual legal...
(
street childStreet Child is a debut album by Mexican alternative rock vocalist, Elan. It contains her biggest hit, Midnight.Ricardo Burgos from Sony Music called Street Child "a history making release in Latin America".-Re-edition track listing:...
ren) in the urban areas. In turn, a new problem was created by uncontrollable
child abandonmentChild abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting it. Causes include many social and cultural factors as well as mental illness...
, which swelled the
orphanageOrphanage is the name to describe a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable to care for them...
population (See
CighidCighid is probably the most infamous children's home in Romania. It won notoriety in March 1990 shortly after the fall of the Ceauşescu-Regime.-Background information:...
) and facilitated a rampant
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
epidemicDefining an epidemic can be subjective, depending in part on what is "expected". An epidemic may be restricted to one locale , more general or even global...
in the late 1980s - created by the regime's refusal to acknowledge the existence of the disease, and its unwillingness to allow for any
HIV testHIV tests are used to detect the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus in serum, saliva, or urine. Such tests may detect HIV antibodies, antigens, or RNA.- Terminology :...
to be carried out.
July Theses
Ceauşescu visited the People's Republic of China,
North KoreaNorth Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea...
and
North VietnamNorth Vietnam, also called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976....
in 1971 and was inspired by the hardline model he found there. He took great interest in the idea of total national transformation as embodied in the programs of the Korean Workers' Party and China's
Cultural RevolutionThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a period of widespread social and political upheaval in the People’s Republic of China between 1966 and 1976, resulting in nation-wide chaos and economic disarray.It was launched by Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China, on May 16,...
. Shortly after returning home, he began to emulate North Korea's system, influenced by the
JucheThe Juche Idea is the official state ideology of North Korea. It teaches that "man is the master of everything and decides everything," and that the Korean people are the masters of Korea's revolution. Juche is a component of Kimilsungism, North Korea's political system...
philosophy of North Korean President Kim Il Sung. North Korean books on Juche were translated into Romanian and widely distributed in the country. On 6 July 1971, he delivered a speech before the Executive Committee of the PCR. This quasi-
MaoistMaoism, variably and officially known as Mao Zedong Thought , is a variant of Marxism derived from the teachings of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong , widely applied as the political and military guiding ideology in the Communist Party of China from Mao's ascendancy to its leadership until the...
speech, which came to be known as the
July ThesesThe July Theses is a name commonly given to a speech delivered by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu on July 6 1971, before the Executive Committee of the Romanian Communist Party...
, contained seventeen proposals. Among these were: continuous growth in the "leading role" of the Party; improvement of Party education and of mass political action; youth participation on large construction projects as part of their "patriotic work"; an intensification of political-ideological education in schools and universities, as well as in children's, youth and student organisations; and an expansion of political propaganda, orienting radio and television shows to this end, as well as publishing houses, theatres and cinemas, opera, ballet, artists' unions, promoting a "militant, revolutionary" character in artistic productions. The liberalisation of 1965 was condemned and an Index of banned books and authors was re-established.
The Theses heralded the beginning of a "mini
cultural revolutionThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a period of widespread social and political upheaval in the People’s Republic of China between 1966 and 1976, resulting in nation-wide chaos and economic disarray.It was launched by Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China, on May 16,...
" in Romania, launching a
Neo-StalinistNeo-Stalinism is a political term referring to attempts at rehabilitating the role of Joseph Stalin in history and re-establishing the political course of Stalin, at least partially. The term is also used to designate the modern political regimes in some states, political and social life of which...
offensive against cultural autonomy, reaffirming an ideological basis for literature that, in theory, the Party had hardly abandoned. Although presented in terms of "Socialist Humanism", the Theses in fact marked a return to the strict guidelines of
Socialist RealismSocialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style of realistic art which has as its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
, and attacks on non-compliant
intellectualAn intellectual is a person who uses his or her intelligence and analytical thinking, either in a professional or a personal capacity.-Terminology and endeavours:...
s. Strict ideological conformity in the humanities and social sciences was demanded. Competence and aesthetics were to be replaced by ideology; professionals were to be replaced by
agitatorsAgitprop is a portmanteau of agitation and propaganda. The term originated in Bolshevist Russia , where the term was a shortened form of отдел агитации и пропаганды , i.e., Department for Agitation and Propaganda, which was part of the Central and regional committees of the Communist Party of the...
; and culture was once again to become an instrument for political-ideological
propagandaPropaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience...
.
Pacepa defection
In 1978,
Ion Mihai PacepaIon Mihai Pacepa is the highest-ranking intelligence official ever to have defected from the former Eastern Bloc...
, a senior member of the Romanian political police (
SecuritateThe Securitate , was the secret service of Communist Romania. Previously the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului...
),
defectedIn politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
to the United States. A 2-star general, he was the highest ranking defector from the
Eastern BlocThe terms Eastern Bloc, Communist Bloc or Soviet Bloc were used to refer to the former Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, including the countries of the Warsaw Pact, along with Yugoslavia and Albania, which were not aligned with the Soviet Union after 1948 and 1960...
in the history of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
. His defection was a powerful blow against the regime, forcing Ceauşescu to overhaul the architecture of the Securitate. Pacepa's 1986 book,
Red Horizons: Chronicles of a Communist Spy Chief (ISBN 0895265702), claims to expose details of Ceauşescu's regime, such as collaboration with
ArabThe Arab World refers to Arabic-speaking countries stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast...
terroristsTerrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism...
, massive
espionageEspionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, as the legitimate holder of the information may change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
on American industry and elaborate efforts to rally
WesternThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
political support. After Pacepa's defection, the country became more isolated and economic growth faltered. Ceauşescu's intelligence agency became subject to heavy infiltration by foreign intelligence agencies and he started to lose control of the country. He tried several reorganizations in a bid to get rid of old collaborators of Pacepa, but to no avail.
Foreign debt
Despite his increasingly totalitarian rule, Ceauşescu's political independence from the Soviet Union and his protests against the invasion of
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
in 1968 drew the interest of
WesternThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
powers, who briefly believed he was an anti-Soviet maverick and hoped to create a schism in the Warsaw Pact by funding him. Ceauşescu did not realise that the funding was not always very favorable. Ceauşescu was able to borrow heavily (more than $13 billion) from the West to finance economic development programs, but these loans ultimately devastated the country's financial situation. In an attempt to correct this situation, Ceauşescu decided to eradicate Romania's foreign debts. He organised a
referendumA referendum , ballot question, or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal...
and managed to change the
constitutionA constitution is a set of rules for government—often codified as a written document—that establishes principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political principles, and establishing the...
, adding a
clauseIn grammar, a clause is a pair or group of words that consist of a subject and a predicate, although in some languages and some types of clauses, the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase. It may instead be marked on the verb...
that barred Romania from taking foreign debts in the future. The referendum yielded a nearly unanimous "yes" vote.
In the 1980s, Ceauşescu ordered the
exportIn economics, an export is any good or commodity, transported from one country to another country in a legitimate fashion, typically for use in trade. Export goods or services are provided to foreign consumers by domestic producers. Export is an important part of international trade...
of much of the country's agricultural and
industrialAn industry is the manufacturing of a good or service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw...
productionManufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to make things for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
in order to repay its debts. The resulting domestic shortages made the everyday life of Romanian citizens a fight for survival as food
rationingRationing is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...
was introduced and
heatingHeating may refer to:*HVAC: Heating, ventilation and air-conditioningHeating devices, or systems:*Block heater, or headbolt heater, an electric heater that heats the engine of a car to ease starting in cold weather*Boiler...
,
gasThis page is about the physical properties of gas as a state of matter. For the uses of gases, and other meanings, see Gas .A gas is one of four states of matter. Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid...
and
electricityElectricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge...
black-outs became the rule. During the 1980s, there was a steady decrease in the living standard, especially the availability and quality of food and general goods in stores. The official explanation was that the country was paying its debts and people accepted the suffering, believing it to be for a short time only and for the ultimate good.
The debt was fully paid in summer 1989, shortly before Ceauşescu was overthrown, but heavy exports continued until the
revolutionThe Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a week-long series of increasingly violent riots and fighting in late December 1989 that overthrew the Government of Nicolae Ceauşescu. After a trial, Ceauşescu and his wife Elena were executed...
, which took place in December.
Tensions
By 1989, Ceauşescu was showing signs of complete denial of reality. While the country was going through extremely difficult times with long bread queues in front of empty food shops, he was often shown on state TV entering stores filled with food supplies, visiting large food and arts festivals where people would serve him mouthwatering food while praising the "high living standard" achieved under his rule. Special contingents of food deliveries would fill stores before his visits, and even well-fed cows would be transported across country in anticipation of his visits to farms. Staples such as flour, eggs, butter and milk were difficult to find and most people started to depend on small gardens grown either in small city alleys or out in the country. In late 1989, daily TV broadcasts showed lists of CAPs (
kolkhozA kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...
es) with alleged record harvests, in blatant contradiction to the shortages experienced by the average Romanian at the time.
Some people, believing that Ceauşescu was not aware of what was going on in the country, attempted to hand him petitions and complaint letters during his many visits around the country. However, each time he got a letter, he would immediately pass it on to members of his security. Whether or not Ceauşescu ever read any of them will probably remain unknown. According to rumours of the time, people attempting to hand letters directly to Ceauşescu risked adverse consequences, courtesy of the secret police
SecuritateThe Securitate , was the secret service of Communist Romania. Previously the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului...
. People were strongly discouraged from addressing him and there was a general sense that things had reached an overall low.
Revolution
Ceauşescu's regime collapsed after a series of violent events in
TimişoaraTimişoara , also known as "The City of Athletes", is a city in the Banat region of western Romania...
and
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
in December 1989. In November 1989, the XIVth Congress of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) saw Ceauşescu, then aged 71, re-elected for another 5 years as leader of the PCR.
Timişoara
Demonstrations in the city of
TimişoaraTimişoara , also known as "The City of Athletes", is a city in the Banat region of western Romania...
were triggered by the government-sponsored attempt to evict
László TőkésLászló Tőkés is an ethnic Hungarian politician in Romania, bishop of the Romanian Reformed Church District of Piatra Craiului , Transylvania, Romania...
, an ethnic Hungarian
pastorThe term pastor usually refers to an ordained person within a Christian church. In some countries the term is more usually used in traditional Protestant churches but is also used in reference to priests and bishops within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches. The...
, accused by the government of inciting
ethnic hatredEthnic hatred, inter-ethnic hatred, racial hatred, or ethnic tension refers to feelings and acts of prejudice and hostility towards an ethnic group in various degrees. See list of anti-ethnic and anti-national terms for specific cases....
. Members of his ethnic Hungarian congregation surrounded his apartment in a show of support.
Romanian students spontaneously joined the demonstration, which soon lost nearly all connection to its initial cause and became a more general anti-government demonstration. Regular
militaryA military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. As an adjective the term "military" is also used to refer to any property or aspect of a military...
forces,
policeA police service is a public force empowered to enforce the law and provide security through the legitimized use of force.The term is most commonly associated with police services of a state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of...
and
SecuritateThe Securitate , was the secret service of Communist Romania. Previously the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului...
fired on demonstrators on December 17, 1989. On December 18, 1989, Ceauşescu departed for a visit to
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
, leaving the duty of crushing the Timişoara revolt to his subordinates and his wife. Upon his return on the evening of December 20, the situation became even more tense, and he gave a televised speech from the TV
studioA studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture,scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, cinematography, animation, radio or television broadcasting or the...
inside Central Committee Building (CC Building), in which he spoke about the events at Timişoara in terms of an "interference of foreign forces in Romania's internal affairs" and an "external aggression on Romania's sovereignty".
The country, which had no information of the Timişoara events from the national
mediaThe news media refers to the section of the mass media that focuses on presenting current news to the public.These include print media ; broadcast media , and increasingly Internet-based media .The term news trade refers to the concept of the news media as a business...
, learned about the Timişoara revolt from western
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
stations such as
Voice of AmericaVoice of America is the official external radio and television broadcasting service of the United States federal government. Its oversight entity is the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio, TV and the Internet around the world in...
and
Radio Free EuropeRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is an international broadcast organization that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe and Middle Asia. RFE/RL is supervised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, with the US Secretary of State among its members. It is funded by the...
, and by word of mouth. On the next day, December 21, a mass
meetingIn a meeting, two or more people come together for the purpose of discussing a predetermined topic such as business or community event planning, often in a formal setting....
was staged. Official media presented it as a "spontaneous movement of support for Ceauşescu", emulating the 1968 meeting in which Ceauşescu had spoken against the
invasionAn invasion is a military offensive consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces of one geopolitical entity aggressively entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or re-establishing control or authority over a...
of
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
by Warsaw Pact forces.
Overthrow
The mass meeting of December 21, held in what is now
Revolution SquareRevolution Square is a square in central Bucharest, on Calea Victoriei. Known as Piaţa Palatului until 1989, it was later renamed after the 1989 Romanian Revolution....
, degenerated into chaos. The image of Ceauşescu's uncomprehending expression as the crowd began to boo him remains one of the defining moments of the collapse of Communism in
Eastern EuropeEastern Europe is a region lying in the Eastern part of Europe. The term is highly context-dependent and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. The stunned couple (the dictator and his wife), failing to control the crowds, finally took cover inside the building, where they remained until the next day. The rest of the day saw a revolt of the Bucharest population, which had assembled in University Square and confronted the police and army at barricades. The unarmed rioters, however, were no match for the military apparatus concentrated in Bucharest, which cleared the streets by midnight and arrested hundreds of people in the process. Nevertheless, these seminal events are regarded to this day as the
de facto revolution.
Although the television broadcasts of the "support meeting" and subsequent events had been interrupted, Ceauşescu's reaction to the events had already been imprinted on the country's collective memory. By the morning of December 22, the
rebellionRebellion is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors from civil disobedience and mass nonviolent resistance, to violent and organized attempts to destroy an established authority such as the government. Those who participate in rebellions are...
had already spread to all major cities. The suspicious death of
Vasile MileaVasile Milea was Nicolae Ceauşescu's minister of defense during the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and was involved in the reprisal phase of the revolution that took 162 lives....
, the
defence ministerA defence minister is a cabinet position which regulates the armed forces in some sovereign nations. The minister usually has a very important role in a cabinet....
, was announced by the media. Immediately thereafter, Ceauşescu presided over the CPEX meeting and assumed the leadership of the army. He made a desperate attempt to address the crowd gathered in front of the Central Committee building. This was rejected by the rioters who forced open the doors of the building, by now left unprotected, forcing the Ceauşescus to flee by
helicopterA helicopter is an aircraft that is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors, each rotor consisting of two or more rotor blades. Helicopters are classified as rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft to distinguish them from fixed-wing aircraft because the helicopter achieves lift with the...
.
During the course of the revolution the western press published estimates of the number of people killed by the Securitate in supporting Ceauşescu. The count increased rapidly until an estimated 64,000 fatalities were widely reported across front pages. The Hungarian military attaché expressed doubt regarding these figures, pointing out the unfeasible logistics of killing such a large number of people in such a short period of time. After Ceauşescu's death hospitals across the country reported an actual death toll of less than one thousand, and probably much lower than that.
Execution
Ceauşescu and his wife Elena fled the capital with Emil Bobu and
Manea MănescuManea Mănescu was a former Romanian communist politician who served as Prime Minister for five years during Nicolae Ceauşescu's Communist regime....
and headed, by helicopter, for Ceauşescu's
SnagovSnagov is a commune, located 40 km north of Bucharest in Ilfov County, Romania. According to the 2002 census, 99.2% of the population is ethnic Romanian and 0.4% are Roma. The commune is composed of five villages: Ciofliceni, Ghermăneşti, Snagov, Tâncăbeşti and Vlădiceasca.-History:Snagov village...
residence, from where they fled again, this time for
TârgovişteTârgovişte is a city in the Dâmboviţa county of Romania. It is situated on the right bank of the Ialomiţa River. , it had an estimated population of 89,000. One village, Priseaca, is administered by the city.-Name:...
. Near Târgovişte they abandoned the helicopter, having been ordered to land by the army, which by that time had restricted flying in Romania's air space. The Ceauşescus were held by the police while the policemen listened to the radio. They were eventually turned over to the army. On Christmas Day, December 25, the two were sentenced to death by a military court on charges ranging from illegal gathering of wealth to
genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of...
, and were executed in Târgovişte.
The Ceauşescus were executed by a firing squad consisting of elite paratroop regiment soldiers Ionel Boeru, Dorin Cârlan and Octavian Gheorghiu, while reportedly hundreds of others also volunteered. The firing squad did not wait for the Ceauşescus to be tied up and blindfolded, as is customary, but instead began shooting as soon as they appeared. The firing happened too soon for the film crew covering the events to record it. After the shooting the bodies were covered with canvas. The hasty trial and the images of the dead Ceauşescus were videotaped and the footage promptly released in numerous western countries. Later that day it was also shown on Romanian television.
The Ceauşescu couple's graves are located in
Ghencea cemeteryGhencea cemetery, located in Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania, has two branches, military and civilian. A number of prominent figures are buried there, including Nicolae, Elena and Nicu Ceauşescu, Gheorghe Argeşanu, Ilie Verdeţ, Costică Toma and Nicolae Tonitza....
in Bucharest. Nicolae and Elena are buried on opposite sides of a path. The graves themselves are unassuming, but they tend to be covered in flowers and symbols of the regime. Some allege that the graves do not, in reality, contain their bodies. As of April 2007, their son
ValentinValentin Ceauşescu is a Romanian physicist.Valentin is the son of former President of Romania Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife, Elena Ceauşescu...
has lost an appeal for an investigation into the matter. Upon his death in 1996 the elder son,
NicuNicu Ceauşescu Nicu Ceauşescu Nicu Ceauşescu ( (September 1, 1951–September 26 1996) was the third child of Romanian leader Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu. He was a close associate of his father's political regime and considered the President's heir apparent.-Life during Communism:...
, was buried nearby in the same cemetery. According to
Jurnalul NaţionalJurnalul Naţional is a Romanian newspaper, part of the Intact media group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular TV station Antena 1....
, requests were made by the Ceauşescus' daughter
ZoiaZoia Ceauşescu was a Romanian mathematician, the daughter of Communist leader Nicolae and his wife, Elena Ceauşescu....
and by supporters of their political views to move their remains to
mausoleumA mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
s or to purpose-built churches. These have been denied by the government.
Personality cult and authoritarianism
Ceauşescu created a pervasive personality cult, giving himself the titles of "
ConducătorConducător was the title used officially in two instances by Romanian politicians.-History:The word is derived from the Romanian verb a conduce, from the Latin ducere , cognate with such titles as dux, duke, duce and doge...
" ("Leader") and "Geniul din Carpaţi" ("The Genius of the Carpathians"), with help from Proletarian Culture (
ProletkultProletkult is an portmanteau of "proletarskaya kultura" , Russian for "proletarian culture". It was a movement active in the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1925 to provide the foundations for what was intended to be a truly proletarian art devoid of bourgeois influence.In the first half of 1918...
) poets such as
Adrian PăunescuAdrian Păunescu is a notable Romanian poet, journalist, and politician.-Early life:Born in Copăceni, Bălţi County, in what is now the Republic of Moldova, Păunescu spent his childhood in Bârca, Dolj County. He did his secondary studies at Carol I High School in Craiova...
and
Corneliu Vadim TudorCorneliu Vadim Tudor is leader of the Greater Romania Party , writer, and journalist...
, and even had a king-like sceptre made for himself. Such excesses prompted the painter
Salvador DalíSalvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol was a Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres....
to send a congratulatory telegram to the "Conducător." The Communist Party daily
ScînteiaScînteia was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history...
published the message, unaware that it was a work of
satireSatire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods,...
. To avoid new treasons after Pacepa's defection, Ceauşescu also invested his wife
ElenaElena Ceauşescu was the wife of Romania's Communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu, and Deputy Prime Minister of Romania.-Background:...
and other members of his family with important positions in the government.
Statesmanship
Ceauşescu made efforts to act as a mediator between the
PLOThe Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United...
and
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
. He organised a successful referendum for reducing the size of the Romanian Army by 5% and held large rallies for peace.
Ceauşescu tried to play a role of influence and guidance to South American countries. He was a close ally and personal friend of dictator
PresidentThe President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , is Congo's elected Head of State, and the ex officio "Supreme Commander" of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ....
Mobutu Sese SekoMobutu Sésé Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga , commonly known as Mobutu or Mobutu Sésé Seko , born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, became the President of Zaire after deposing Joseph Kasavubu. He remained in office for 31.5 years...
of
ZaïreThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971, and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".Known as the Belgian Congo up until its...
. Relations were in fact not just state-to-state, but party-to-party between the
MPRThe Popular Movement of the Revolution was a Zairian political party established in 1967 by then-President Joseph-Désiré Mobutu...
and the
Romanian Communist PartyThe Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
. Many believe that Ceauşescu's death played a role in influencing Mobutu to "democratize" Zaïre in 1990.
Also, France granted Ceauşescu the Legion of Honour and in 1978 he became an Honorary British Knight (
GCBThe Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the medieval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, removed) in the UK, whereas the illiterate Elena Ceauşescu was arranged to be 'elected' to membership of a Science Academy in the USA; all of these, and more, were arranged by the Ceauşescus as a propaganda ploy through the consular cultural attachés of Romanian embassies in the countries involved.
Ceauşescu's Romania was the only
Warsaw PactThe Warsaw Pact is the informal name for the mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance subscribed by eight Communist states in Eastern Europe, that was established at the USSR’s initiative and realised on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw, Poland...
country that did not sever diplomatic relations with
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
after
Augusto PinochetAugusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was a Chilean army general and later head of state as president. He was the Commander in Chief of the Chilean army from 1973 to 1998, president of the Government Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981 and President of the Republic from 1974 until the return of...
's coup.
Weaknesses
Ceauşescu's control of every aspect of religious, educational, commercial, social, and civic life further aggravated the situation. In 1987, an attempted strike at
BraşovBraşov is a city in Romania and the capital of Braşov County, with a population of 284,596, according to the 2002 census, is the 8th largest Romanian city....
failed: the army occupied the factories and crushed the workers' demonstrations.
Throughout 1989, Ceauşescu became ever more isolated in the Communist world: in August 1989, he proposed a
summitA summit meeting is a meeting of heads of state or government, usually with considerable media exposure, tight security and a prearranged agenda.Notable summit meetings include those of Franklin D...
to discuss the problems of Eastern European Communism and defend socialism in these countries, but his proposal was turned down by the
Warsaw PactThe Warsaw Pact is the informal name for the mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance subscribed by eight Communist states in Eastern Europe, that was established at the USSR’s initiative and realised on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw, Poland...
states and the People's Republic of China. Even after the fall of the
Berlin Wall|-||-||-||-||}The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier erected by the German Democratic Republic completely encircling West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany...
and the downfall of Ceauşescu’s close comrades GDR leader Eric Honecker, who resigned, and
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
n leader
Todor ZhivkovTodor Hristov Zhivkov was a communist politician and leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from March 4, 1954 until November 10, 1989.- Early life :...
, who was replaced in November 1989, Ceauşescu ignored the threat to his position as the last old-style Communist leader in Eastern Europe.
Other
Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu had three children,
Valentin CeauşescuValentin Ceauşescu is a Romanian physicist.Valentin is the son of former President of Romania Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife, Elena Ceauşescu...
(born 1948) a nuclear physicist,
Nicu CeauşescuNicu Ceauşescu Nicu Ceauşescu Nicu Ceauşescu ( (September 1, 1951–September 26 1996) was the third child of Romanian leader Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu. He was a close associate of his father's political regime and considered the President's heir apparent.-Life during Communism:...
(1951–1996) also a physicist, and a daughter
Zoia CeauşescuZoia Ceauşescu was a Romanian mathematician, the daughter of Communist leader Nicolae and his wife, Elena Ceauşescu....
(1949–2006), who was a mathematician. After the death of his parents, Nicu Ceauşescu ordered the construction of an
OrthodoxThe Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
church, the walls of which are decorated with portraits of his parents.
Ceauşescu is the only recipient of the Danish
Order of the ElephantThe Order of the Elephant is the highest order of Denmark. A Danish religious confraternity called the Fellowship of the Mother of God with a badge of the Virgin Mary holding her Son within a crescent moon and surrounded with the rays of the sun, which hung from a collar of links in the form of...
ever to have it revoked. This happened on December 23, 1989, when HM
Queen Margrethe IIMargrethe II is the Queen of Denmark...
ordered the insignia to be returned to Denmark, and for Ceauşescu's name to be deleted from the official records.
Ceauşescu was likewise stripped of his honorary
GCBThe Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the medieval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(Knight, Grand Cross of the Bath) by Queen
Elizabeth II of the United KingdomElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
on the day before his execution. Queen Elizabeth also returned the Romanian Order Ceauşescu had bestowed upon her.
On his 70th birthday in 1988 Ceauşescu was decorated with the Karl-Marx-Orden by then
Socialist Unity Party of GermanyThe Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a Communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
(SED) chief
Erich HoneckerErich Honecker was a German Communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until 1989....
; through this he was honoured for his rejection of
Mikhail GorbachevMikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was the second-to-last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until 1991, and the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1988 until its collapse in 1991...
's reforms.
In a similar way to some EU countries, praising the crimes of totalitarian regimes and denigrating their victims is forbidden by law in Romania; this includes the Ceauşescu regime. Dinel Staicu was imposed a 25,000
leiThe leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
(approx. 9,000
United States dollarThe United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
s) fine for praising Ceauşescu and displaying his pictures on his private television channel (
3TV Oltenia).
Ceauşescu's last days in power were dramatized in a stage musical,
The Fall of Ceauşescu, written and composed by Ron Conner. It premiered at the Los Angeles Theater Center in September 1995 and was attended by Ion Iliescu, the then president of Romania who had been visiting Los Angeles at the time.
"Ceauşism"
While the term
Ceauşism became widely used inside Romania, usually as a pejorative, it never achieved status in
academiaAcademia, Acadème, or the Academy are collective terms for the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research....
. This feature can be explained taking in view the largely crude and syncretic character of the dogma. Ceauşescu attempted the inclusion of his views in mainstream
MarxistMarxism is the political philosophy and economic worldview based upon a materialist interpretation of history, a Marxist analysis of capitalism, a theory of social change, and an atheist view of human liberation derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; three primary aspects of...
theory, to which he added his belief in a "multilaterally developed socialist society" as a necessary stage between the Marxist concepts of Socialist and Communist societies (a critical view reveals that the main reason for the interval is the disappearance of the State and Party structures in Communism). A Romanian Encyclopedic Dictionary entry in 1978 underlines the concept as "a new, superior, stage in the socialist development of Romania [...] begun by the 1971-1975 [sic] Five-Year Plan, prolonged over several [succeeding and projected] Five-Year Plans".
The main trait observed was a form of Romanian
nationalismNationalism is an ideology, a sentiment, a form of culture, or a social movement that focuses on the nation. It is a type of collectivism emphasizing the collective of a specific nation...
, one which arguably propelled Ceauşescu to power in 1965, and probably accounted for the Party leadership that was gathered around
Ion Gheorghe MaurerIon Gheorghe Iosif Maurer was a Romanian communist politician and lawyer.-Biography:Born in Bucharest to an French father and a French mother, he completed studies in Law and became an attorney, defending in court members of the illegal leftist and Anti-fascist movements...
choosing him over the more orthodox
Gheorghe ApostolGheorghe Apostol is a Romanian politician, and a former leader of the Communist Party noted for his rivalry with Nicolae Ceauşescu. He was born near Tudor Vladimirescu, Galaţi County.-Early life:...
. Although he had previously been a careful supporter of the official lines, Ceauşescu came to embody Romanian society's wish for independence after what were broadly considered to have been years of Soviet directives and purges, during and after the
SovRomThe SovRoms were economic enterprises established in Romania following the Communist takeover at the end of World War II, in place until 1954-1956 ....
fiasco. He carried this nationalist option inside the Party, manipulating it against the nominated successor Apostol. This nationalist policy was not without more timid precedent: for example, the Gheorghiu-Dej regime had overseen the withdrawal of the
Red ArmyThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
in 1958.
As well, it had engineered the publishing of several works that were subversive of the Russian and Soviet image, such as the final volumes of the official
History of Romania, no longer glossing over the traditional points of tension with Russia and the Soviet Union (even alluding to an unlawful Soviet presence in
BessarabiaBessarabia is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west...
). In the final years of Gheorghiu-Dej's rule more problems were brought out in the open, with the publication of a collection of
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism...
texts that dealt with Romanian topics, showing Marx's previously-censored, politically uncomfortable views of Russia.
However, Ceauşescu was prepared to take a more decisive step in questioning Soviet policies. In the early years of his rule, he generally relaxed political pressures inside Romanian society, which led to the late 1960s and early 1970s being the most liberal decade in Communist Romania. Gaining the public's confidence, Ceauşescu took a clear stand against the 1968 crushing of the
Prague SpringThe Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
by
Leonid BrezhnevLeonid Ilyich Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, serving in that position longer than anyone except Joseph Stalin...
. After a visit paid by
Charles de GaulleCharles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II...
earlier in the same year (during which the French President gave recognition to the incipient maverick), Ceauşescu's public speech in August deeply impressed the population, not only through its themes, but also by the unique fact that it was unscripted. He immediately attracted Western sympathies and backing, which lasted, out of inertia, beyond the liberal phase of his regime; at the same time, the period brought forward the threat of armed Soviet invasion: significantly, many young men inside Romania joined the
Patriotic GuardsThe Patriotic Guards were Romanian paramilitary formations formed during the Communist era, designed to form the additional defense in case of an attack from the outside.-History:...
created on the spur of the moment, in order to meet the perceived threat. President Richard Nixon was invited to Bucharest in 1969, which was the first visit of a United States president to a Communist country.
Alexander DubčekAlexander Dubček was a Slovak politician and briefly leader of Czechoslovakia , famous for his attempt to reform the Communist regime...
's version of
Socialism with a human face was never suited to Romanian communist goals. Ceauşescu found himself briefly aligned with Dubček's
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and
Josip Broz TitoJosip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito (Cyrillic script: Јосип Броз Тито, (7 or 25 May 1892 – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. He was Secretary-General (later President) of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (1939–80), and went on to lead the World War II...
's
Socialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaThe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the second half of World War II until it was formally dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro,...
. The latter friendship was to last well into the 1980s, with Ceauşescu adapting the
TitoistTitoism is an adaptation of communist ideology named after Josip Broz Tito, leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, primarily used to describe the specific socialist system built in Yugoslavia after its refusal of the 1948 Resolution of the Cominform, when the Communist Party of...
doctrine of "independent socialist development" to suit his own objectives. Romania proclaimed itself a "Socialist" (in place of "People's") Republic to show that it was fulfilling Marxist goals without Moscow's overseeing.
The system exacerbated its nationalist traits, which it progressively blended with
JucheThe Juche Idea is the official state ideology of North Korea. It teaches that "man is the master of everything and decides everything," and that the Korean people are the masters of Korea's revolution. Juche is a component of Kimilsungism, North Korea's political system...
and
MaoistMaoism, variably and officially known as Mao Zedong Thought , is a variant of Marxism derived from the teachings of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong , widely applied as the political and military guiding ideology in the Communist Party of China from Mao's ascendancy to its leadership until the...
ideals. In 1971, the Party, which had already been completely purged of internal opposition (with the possible exception of
Gheorghe Gaston MarinGheorghe Gaston Marin is a Romanian former communist politician who had many roles under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceauşescu. Late in his life, he emigrated to Israel....
), approved the
July ThesesThe July Theses is a name commonly given to a speech delivered by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu on July 6 1971, before the Executive Committee of the Romanian Communist Party...
, expressing Ceauşescu's disdain of Western models as a whole, and the reevaluation of the recent liberalisation as
bourgeoisHistorically, the bourgeoisie were a social class of people, characterized by their ownership of capital and the related culture. They were a part of the middle or merchant classes of European feudalism, where their power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those...
. The 1974 11th Congress tightened the grip on Romanian culture, guiding it towards Ceauşescu's nationalist principles: notably, Romanian historians were demanded to refer to
DaciansThe Dacians were an Indo-European people, the ancient inhabitants of Dacia , present-day Romania and Moldova, parts of Sarmatia and Scythia Minor in southeastern Europe...
as having "an unorganised State", part of a political continuum that culminated in the Socialist Republic. The regime continued its cultural dialogue with ancient forms, with Ceauşescu connecting his cult of personality to figures such as Mircea cel Bătrân (whom he styled
Mircea the Great) and Mihai Viteazul; it also started adding Dacian or Roman versions to the names of cities and towns (
Drobeta to Turnu Severin,
Napoca to
ClujCluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth largest city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equally distant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
).
A new generation of committed supporters on the outside confirmed the regime's character. Ceauşescu probably never gave importance to the fact that his policies constituted a
paradigmThe word paradigm has been used in linguistics and science to describe distinct concepts....
for theorists of
National BolshevismNational Bolshevism is a political movement that claims to combine elements of nationalism and Bolshevism.National Bolshevism is often anti-capitalist in tone, and sympathetic towards certain nationalist forms of communism and socialism. Nevertheless, National Bolshevism is separate and distinct...
such as
Jean-François ThiriartJean-Francois Thiriart was a Belgian far right politician.-Youth:Initially a Socialist, Thiriart evolved into a Nationalist form of non-Marxist Socialism....
, but there was a publicised connection between him and
Iosif Constantin DrăganIosif Constantin Drăgan was a Romanian and Italian businessman, writer and historian. In 2005, he was the second wealthiest Romanian, according to the Romanian financial magazine Capital, having a wealth estimated at $850 million...
, an
Iron GuardThe Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II...
ist Romanian-Italian
émigréÉmigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out," but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
millionaire (Drăgan was already committed to a Dacian
ProtochronismProtochronism is a modern tendency in cultural nationalism. The term was coined in Romania to describe the marked tendency of the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime to ascribe, largely relying on questionable data and subjective interpretations, an idealised past to the country as a whole...
that largely echoed the official cultural policy).
Nicolae Ceauşescu had a major influence on modern-day Romanian
populistPopulism is a political discourse that juxtaposes "the people" with "the elites." Populism may comprise an ideology urging social and political system changes and/or a rhetorical style deployed by members of political or social movements...
rhetorics. In his final years, he had begun to rehabilitate the image of pro-
NaziNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
dictator
Ion AntonescuIon Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
. Although Antonescu's was never a fully official myth in Ceauşescu's time, today's
xenophobicXenophobia is a dislike and/or fear of that which is unknown or different from oneself. It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from...
politicians such as
Corneliu Vadim TudorCorneliu Vadim Tudor is leader of the Greater Romania Party , writer, and journalist...
have coupled the images of the two leaders into their versions of a national Pantheon. The conflict with Hungary over the treatment of the Magyar minority in Romania had several unusual aspects: not only was it a vitriolic argument between two officially
Socialist stateThe term socialist republic can carry one of several different meanings.Strictly speaking, any real or hypothetical state that officially claims to support or uphold the principles of socialism may be called a socialist state...
s (as Hungary had not yet officially embarked on the course to a
free marketA free market describes a market without economic intervention and regulation by government except to regulate against force or fraud. The terminology is used by economists and in popular culture. A free market requires protection of property rights, but no regulation, no subsidization, no single...
economy), it also marked the moment when Hungary, a state behind the
Iron CurtainThe concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991...
, appealed to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe for sanctions to be taken against Romania. This meant that the later 1980s were marked by a pronounced anti-Hungarian discourse, which owed more to nationalist tradition than Marxism, and the ultimate isolation of Romania on the World stage.
The strong opposition of his regime to all forms of
perestroikais the Russian term for the political and economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
and
glasnostwas the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of 1980s....
placed Ceauşescu at odds with
Mikhail GorbachevMikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was the second-to-last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until 1991, and the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1988 until its collapse in 1991...
. In a dramatic twist, Ceauşescu demanded that the Soviet leadership return to its previous stance, even asking for a Soviet crackdown on all Eastern Bloc liberation movements in the second half of 1989.
In November 1989, at the XIVth and last congress of the PCR, Ceauşescu condemned the
Molotov-Ribbentrop PactThe Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, colloquially named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and signed in...
and asked for the annulment of its consequences. In effect, this amounted to claiming back
BessarabiaBessarabia is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west...
(most of which was then a Soviet republic and since 1991 has been an independent state) and northern
BukovinaBukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains...
, both of which had been occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and again at the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Selected published works
- Report during the joint solemn session of the CC of the Romanian Communist Party, the National Council of the Socialist Unity Front and the Grand National Assembly: Marking the 60th anniversary of the creation of a Unitary Romanian National State, 1978
- Major problems of our time: Eliminating underdevelopment, bridging gaps between states, building a new international economic order, 1980
- The solving of the national question in Romania (Socio-political thought of Romania's President), 1980
- Ceauşescu: Builder of Modern Romania and International Statesman, 1983
- The nation and co-habiting nationalities in the contemporary epoch (Philosophical thought of Romania's president), 1983
- Istoria poporului Român în concepţia preşedintelui, 1988
External links