THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE ROMANIAN COMMUNIST PARTY
In: The journal of communist studies, Band 4, Heft 3, S. 331-334
ISSN: 0268-4535
THE SIXTH POST-WAR NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE ROMANIAN COMMUNIST PARTY CAME AT THE END OF A YEAR IN WHICH THE CONDITIONS OF ROMANIAN COMMUNISM HAD WORSENED SUBSTANTIALLY. THE ROMANIAN PEOPLE, WHO POSSESS A MINIMAL REVOLUTIONARY TRADITION AND CONFRONT A HIGHLY REPRESSIVE SYSTEM IN WHICH SECRET POLICE PENETRATION OF ALL ORGANIZATIONS IS WIDELY ASSUMED, HAVE NEVERTHELESS BEGUN TO ACT AGAINST THE CEAUSESCU REGIME. BUT DESPITE THE GRIEVOUS ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF SEVERE AUSTERITY, NEITHER MASS NOR INTRA-ELITE OPPOSITION TO CEAUSESCU HAS BEEN ABLE TO CRYSTALLIZE; POPULAR UNREST IS MORE FREQUENT, BUT CONTINUES TO BE DISPERSED AND SPORADIC. INTRA-PARTY CRITICISM OF CEAUSESCU IS AUDIBLE, BUT HALTING. THERE IS, SO FAR, NO DISCERNIBLE LEADER OF A MORE MODERATE PATH, ALTHOUGH NAMES SUCH AS THAT OF STEFAN ANDREI (FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER) AND EMIL BOBU ARE PLAUSIBLE CANDIDATES FOR SUCH A ROLE.