Radio România Internațional

Tag: communism

  • Romania’s communists before communism

    Romania’s communists before communism

    Before the installation of the communist regime under Soviet occupation, the supporters of the communist ideology were seen as idealists. Although they made up a marginal group, their message was vocal because of the radical nature of the model they proposed. In Romania, communist ideas only appealed to a small public, and when communism became the official state ideology in Russia, they became even more marginal. Bolshevik Russia became Romanias main enemy, due both to the historical relations between the two countries and the aggressive policy of the Communist International, known as “Comintern. The supporters of communism in Romania before the installation of the communist regime were believed to be on the USSRs payroll and suspected of harbouring anti-Romanian sentiments.



    Historian Adrian Cioroianu was the coordinator of a book containing the biographies of some of the Romanian communist leaders before 1945, when communism came to power in this country. Names like Vasile Luca, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Petre Constantinescu Iasi, Ana Pauker, Nicolae Ceausescu and Petre Gheorghe were representative figures of the ruling power in Romania between 1945 and 1989. Adrian Cioroianu:



    “In the countries neighbouring the Soviet Union, the number of communists was relatively low, perhaps also because of the fears concerning Russian expansionism. However, there were also different nuances to consider. In Romania, for example, the Communist Party had been banned as early as 1924, while Czechoslovakia had a bigger proletariat and a social foundation for the development of left and far-left politics. When looking at this period, I believe it is essential to make the distinction, when it comes to public discourse, between truth based on historical documents and preconceived ideas. In Romania before the installation of the communist regime, there were about several thousand people who, for one reason or another, believed in the future of the type of left-wing politics that was being experimented in the Soviet Union. We should not make the mistake of judging the 1930s from what we know today. We must accept the idea that just like in the case of the far right and the local legionnaire movement, which attracted many young people, a number of people, from lawyers to workers, had left-wing sympathies. They believed that the model adopted by the Soviet Union could usher in a better future.



    Intellectuals, members of the middle classes, workers, all those who embraced the communist ideology did so for different reasons. For example, the Romanian intellectuals who applauded the Soviet Union were influenced by the West. Adrian Cioroianu explains:



    “Paradoxically, these were people who followed the developments in the West very closely. The number of communists in the West was growing at the time, and people like Lucretiu Patrascanu and Petre Constantinescu-Iasi joined the communist movement by becoming members of a French trade union, as was also the case with Petre Constantinescu-Iasi. Lucretiu Patrascanu became acquainted with the works of various Russian authors through French translations. It must have been a sensitive issue for a Romanian with leftist ideas in the 1930s to see the communist movement thrive in the West, especially in France, which was a focus of interest for many Romanians. Of course it was easy to make the mistake of thinking that the progressist groups in the West were open to what was going on in Moscow. In the USSR, the Soviet propaganda machine worked flawlessly. We now know that well-established intellectuals from France and Britain, as well as pre-Hitler Germany and Italy, who were taken in by it. The same happened in Romania, albeit on a smaller scale. Of course, were not talking about hundreds of thousands of people, not even tens of thousands. We should be aware, however, that we wont find any records with the members of the Romanian Communist Party, because this party had been banned in 1924. So we will never know their exact number. The intelligence service of the then regime wanted to make it look like there were few communists in Romania, keeping a close eye on them but playing down their importance. During the communist period, many claimed they had been members of the Communist Party during the ban, much more than there had actually been.



    Does the idealism of those who embraced the communist ideology make them exempt from any responsibility for what followed? Adrian Cioroianu:



    “What we have written about in this book is the story of people who became very famous. These are well-documented cases, and today we know that each of these people, with the exception of Petre Gheorghe, also played a part in the events that followed after August 23, 1944. We look at their activity in the 1930s, but we cannot avoid talking about what happened afterwards, we cannot deny that they benefited from the events of the 1930s. Its part of their official biographies, and genuine myths were created around their lives. One such example is Nicolae Ceausescu, perhaps the most spectacular case of them all. Historians are walking on thin ice trying to establish the truth, as their number was not very large indeed but it was by no means as small as we would like it to be. Were not talking here about only 800 people, as has been commonly believed, and neither about 1,000 people. Our research points to several thousands. Its difficult to say how many of them were socialists and how many communists. During their trials many of them denied any connection with the communist movement, only to state exactly the opposite when the communists came to power in the 1940s.



    The Romanians who had been communists before communism was officially instated in the country were compared to a messianic sect, a subversive organisation with mystical beliefs in spite of their atheism. History has proven that they knew how to be pragmatic as well when the time came.

  • Architect Ernest Doneaud

    Architect Ernest Doneaud


    Born in Romania into a French family who were the owners of a building company, architect Ernest Doneaud continued the building tradition of his forerunners and constructed in Bucharest several buildings that are now real landmarks of the city. Lido Hotel is one of them alongside the National Military Centre whose interior was designed by Doneaud. Ernest Doneaud became a Romanian citizen upon his return from studies abroad. His professional trajectory is similar to that of many other architects. Born in Bucharest on May 22nd 1879, Ernest Doneaud went to primary school in Bucharest. Later he went to Paris where he trained in the workshop of professor Edmond Paulin. What followed was predictable for a young, talented man interested in architecture who was in Paris, as art historian Oana Marinache tells us next:



    “He entered the Belle Arte School, the Architecture Department, and in 1907 he became an architect-diplomat of the French government. We can identify at least two stages in his career. The first starts with his being employed by the City Hall where he developed activities for the public service. In this stage, preceding WWI, he adopted an eclectic style. The influence of the French school can be identified also in the buildings he designed in Bucharest. Of course, his style was also influenced by the taste of those who order him the construction of various buildings. In that period his style was close to that of architect Ion D. Berindey. Then, during the war, he worked within the War Ministry. Doneaud was hired to make barracks and warehouses for the Romanian soldiers in Barlad. Then, in the interwar period, his style changed, being influenced by the international style or the cubist-modernist one. Also the new buildings were embellished with Art-Deco elements. For instance, the building of the Lido Hotel is a landmark for Doneauds style, being also representative for the Art-Deco style. The buildings fame is also given by its location on one of Bucharests main boulevards: Magheru. The hotel has suffered various transformations. Initially it was designed by Doneaud, then the beneficiary made some changes that were not provided for in the architects blueprints such as the swimming pool and the extensions on the adjacent street. Eventually the fame of the compound was due to the wave pool and the fashionable life led by those frequenting the place.



    Ernest Doneaud didnt activate in Bucharest alone. Some of the majestic hotels in the spas of Govora and Calimanesti have also been designed by him. Doneauds name is not linked only to lofty buildings, be they public or private, but also to the planning of the first neighbourhoods of social dwellings in Bucharest. Apart from town planning, the architect also designed and made the blueprints for the houses destined for the proletariat and petty civil servants in Bucharest. Ernest Doneaud carried out those activities when he was an employee of the City Hall, as Oana Marinache tells us.



    “Besides his activity as an architect, I would like to mention his efforts within the Town Planning Service of Romanias capital city. He was one of the architects who had a significant contribution to the city planning of Bucharest. First of all, he was a member of the town planning committee, then he joined the Technical Service Committee with the Public Works Ministry. Therefore, his works, both public and private, earned him a well deserved place in the history of Romanian architecture.



    Ernest Doneaud withdrew from public life as an architect in the mid 1940s and died in 1959, without being a direct victim of the communist regime. In exchange, his son, Andre, who was very young when communism was instated in Romania, was arrested and sentenced to prison two times. Eventually, Andre Doneaud emigrated to the US, where he became a renowned physicist and meteorologist.

  • Radio Free Europe

    Radio Free Europe

    Radio Free Europe has been a landmark of democratic and civic spirit and defense of human rights. It was listened to widely, its popularity owing to its professionalism and critical spirit. In the 1970s and 1980s, Radio Free Europe was one of the few credible sources to act as a link to the free world, a way for free spirits to escape once in a while the terrible prison in which the regime kept millions of Romanians. Radio Free Europe was, for the generation that enacted the 1989 revolution, a school in every sense of the word: for freedom, for politics, for society, for culture. Proof of its popularity was the fact that the names of its anchors were better known than those of Romanian journalists. Some of the programs achieved better popularity than anything broadcast on official channels, such as The Political Show by Mircea Carp, received nightly at 18:10, as well as Romanian Current Affairs and From the Communist World, broadcast between 19:10 and 20:00.



    Mircea Carp is one of the journalists whose name is synonymous with Radio Free Europe. He started working there in 1951, after fleeing communist Romania, then went on to work at Voice of America. In 1978 he came back to Free Europe, where he produced the Political Show, one of the most widely known shows aired at the time. He was interviewed in 1997 by Radio Romanias Center for Oral History, and spoke about his contribution to raising the audience and popularity of Radio Free Europe:



    “Before I got to Radio Free Europe, shows were flatter, less dynamic. Forgive my lack of modesty, but I brought an American dynamic to these shows, shorter reports, with important voices from around the world, including Romanian personalities, at that time only exiles to the free world. But apart from what I brought to those shows, which is less important, was the fact that Radio Free Europe itself, perhaps feeling that the collapse of the Iron Curtain was looming nearer, renewed its attack, so to say, on communist regimes. Of course, the Romanian department, increasing its number of shows that stirred the pot on the situation in Romania, exposed that intolerable situation. I am referring to everything that could not be seen on the surface, the truth that eluded most people. The fact that a foreign radio station brought these details of real political, economic, cultural and military life in Romania, excited many of our listeners, who could not speak openly about these things, but found their feelings reflected in the information from Free Europe. I could say that from the early 80s, the dynamic of shows on Free Europe, in our case the Romanian language shows, stepped up their pace, they were becoming more and more aggressive. Not violent, but aggressive in the best sense of the word. The political show took on a different dimension. It no longer spoke only of what was happening abroad, but touched on Romanian topics as often as it could.”



    The popularity of Radio Free Europe was owed to the freedom that the American management of the station granted everyone there, and to the accuracy of sources. The documentary sources for the situation in Romania were the western press, namely those Romanians who had managed to make it to the West, as well as Romanians from within the country who managed to convey information through letters sent illegally, as well as the stations own reference and research center. Mircea Carp spoke about the aims of the shows called Romanian Current Affairs and From the Communist World, which brought the station much popularity.



    “Then we created Romanian Current Affairs, one of the key elements of our broadcasts. Then Doina Alexandru was given the show called From the Communist World, which also presented the situation in eastern European countries under communist regime, maybe even in the USSR or Cuba, but not Romania. The aim of this program was to inform our listeners on the situation in other communist regime countries, so that listeners could see that what was going on in Romania was not an isolated thing, it was part of a complex of situations, of persecutions, a complex of attitudes of regimes in power, attitudes that resembled each other closely. What was happening in Warsaw was also happening in Sofia or Budapest. Listeners in the country had the opportunity to follow things in other countries with communist regimes. The whole dynamic of Radio Free Europe broadcasts in the 80s was leading to a certain point, which came in December 1989. Prior to that there was a small outburst, so to say, namely the revolt in Brasov, on November 15, 1987. That was the first signal clearly indicating that Romanians were no longer willing to put with a situation that had become absolutely unbearable, from all points of view.”



    Free Europe was living proof that the truth can never be silenced. And the truth conquers all, and is always validated by popularity.


  • Acum 50 de ani, Ceauşescu

    Acum 50 de ani, Ceauşescu

    În martie 1965, murea Gheorghe Gheroghiu-Dej, liderul comuniltilor români în perioada preluării puterii, la sfârşitul celui de al doilea război mondial, cu sprijinul sovieticilor. Avea 64 de ani şi se crede că boala accelerată care i-a adus sfârşitul a fost şi ea provocată de sovietici, supăraţi de orientarea independentă a lui Gheorghiu-Dej. Succesiunea nu fusese perfect reglată astfel că alegerea unui tânăr de 47 de ani, câţi avea atunci Ceauşescu, a fost o surpriză pentru unii dintre vechii lideri comunişti de la Bucureşti. Despre ceilalţi se spune că l-au ales în mod special pe Nicolae Ceauşescu, fiecare sperând să îl manipuleze cu uşurinţă. Împlinirea a 50 de ani de la alegerea lui Nicolae Ceauşescu în fruntea Partidului comunist şi a României a trecut total neobservată, multe alte probleme, interne, europene sau chiar internaţionale având prioritate în interesul românilor. La scurt timp după ce a fost ales, în martie 1965, în fruntea Partidului Comunist Român, unic şi deţinător al puterii absolute în România, Nicolae Ceauşescu s-a arătat tot mai hotărât să instaureze un regim personal tot mai dictatorial. Deşi tânăr, Ceauşescu făcuse politică în timpul regimului capitalist şi nu era legat de Moscova.



    În anii 60 s-a arătat pus pe deschidere pro-occidentală şi a câştigat enorm când, la numai 3 ani de la instalare, în 1968, s-a opus invadării Cehoslovaciei de către armatele statelor comuniste partenere, din Tratatul de la Varşovia. Ceauşescu a organizat o mare adunare la Bucureşti, unde s-au spus lucruri dure la adresa sovieticilor, în lumina acţiunii armate împotriva unui stat partener cum era Cehoslovacia. Se poate considera că se temea să nu păţească acelaşi lucru şi căuta sprijinul internaţional. Poziţia lui de atunci a avut un uriaş succes, punându-i la picioare opinia publică românească, dispusă să vadă în tânărul lider, un reformator pe care şi-l dorea dar nu-l zărise decât în Ungaria şi Cehoslovacia. Iar pe plan extern, se pare că ţările occidentale erau dispuse ca, în caz de invazie sovietică, să nu mai admită să se întâmple ce se petrecuse în trecut, la Berlin, Budapesta sau Praga, să nu mai lase primăverile” estice să fie înăbuşite. Urmează o deschidere fără precedent, Ceauşescu este prietenul liderilor occidentali dar şi al despoţilor orientali, face împrumuturi de la marile organisme internaţionale capitaliste şi nu de la sovietici, caută petrol în alte părţi, de unde alimentează de asemenea, vesticii, face dizidenţă în cadrul taberei comuniste şi îşi consolidează imaginea. Minunea a durat cam 7 ani, până a descoperit savoarea cultului fără limite al personalităţii maxime în viaţă, promovat la Beijing şi la Phenian şi a vrut şi el. Situaţia din România se degradează accelerat, din toate punctele de vedere. Adâncirea în paranoia comunistă se îmbină cu criza mondială astfel că România se închide tot mai mult, cheltuielile de orice fel, inclusiv cele necesare populaţiei, se reduc drastic, valuta se duce prioritar la efortul de plată a împrumuturilor anterioare. Cultul personalităţii se transformă într-o dictatură bicefală, soţia lui Nicolae Ceauşescu devenind numărul 2 peste tot.



    Anii 80 înseamnă pentru români o situaţie disperată, cu nivelul de viaţă prăbuşit la toate capitolele, cu un cult înnebunitor al personalităţii soţilor Ceauşescu, cu o poziţie internaţională dezastruoasă. Pe scurt, românii nu au ce mânca, tremură de frig în propriile case, sănătatea este lipsită de medicamente străine, plecarea din ţară, defintiv sau doar cu scop turistic, este imposibilă, şi în tot acest timp sunt obligaţi să asculte sau de-a dreptul să cânte condiţiile minunate de viaţă pe care Elena şi Nicolae Ceauşescu le-au oferit cu generozitate poporului român. În decembrie 1989, omenirea asista la prăbuşirea, ca într-un domino, a regimurilor comuniste din Europa. Ceauşescu era ultimul care, la 22 decembrie 1989, cădea sub presiunea demonstranţilor, dintre care mulţi au plătit cu viaţa. Şi cuplul dictatorial Elena şi Nicolae Ceauşescu avea să fie executat sumar, în decembrie 1989, la 3 zile de la înlăturarea şi arestarea lor. România şi-a revenit greu din dictatura lui Ceauşescu iar după 25 de ani, pentru mulţi, din fericire, Epoca lor de aur nu mai înseamnă nimic.