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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.

WITHIN GLASNOST AND PERESTROIKA LIE THE POTENTIAL RENAISSANCE OF A POWERFUL NATION-STATE AND THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY. THE UNFOLDING OF PERESTROIKA MAY AFFECT THE WHOLE EASTERN BLOC. BUT, IF THE REFORMS IMPLICIT IN THESE TERMS ARE NOT REALIZED, THEN THEY COULD BE HARBINGERS OF POLITICAL ENTROPY, WITH EGREGIOUS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE SOVIET PEOPLE.

SUCCESSFUL REVOLUTIONARIES BECOME RULERS AND BUREAUCRATS. LENINIST PARTIES, BEGINNING WITH THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION, TURN AWAY FORM THEIR REVOLUTIONARY HERITAGE TO PRESERVE POLITICAL INEQUALITIES. MARXISM, MORE THAN ANY OTHER POLITICAL NOTION, EMPHASIZES EQUALITY IN A PRESUMED ITIMACY BETWEEN PARTY AND PROLETARIAT. THE NONREVOLUTIONARY POLITICS OF COMMUNIST PARTY RULE HAVE SYSTEMIC CONSEQUENCES.

THIS PAPER COMPARES NATIONAL DEFENSE EFFORTS WITHIN THE TWO SUPERPOWER ALLIANCES ACROSS TWO DISTINCT SETS OF MEASURES BETWEEN 1972 AND 1982. THE PAPER ALSO EXPLICATES AND OPERATIONALIZES THE CONCEPT OF THE PERFORMANCE BURDEN OR SECURITYRELATED ACTIVITIES OF THE TWO SIDES, THUS EXPLORING THIS DIMENSION OF MILITARY OUTPUT AS A COMPONENT OF INTRAALLIANCE DEFENSE BURDENS FOR THE FIRST TIME.