It was not long after the Romanian People’s Republic was established that a man – a former shoemaker – named Nicolae Ceauşescu rose to prominence. A man from humble beginnings went on to lead a nation through good times and through bad, all with the intension of building a strong and prosperous state based on the ideals of socialist thought. His popularity – both at home and abroad – saw high and low moments over his 24 years in power, though his policies shaped his nation into one whose people killed their ruler – him – in 1989. A person who began with the intension of growing his nation soon became consumed by his own personality cult (and a dream to build himself a massive palace); his legacy is not one that many strive to replicate or want to remember to this day.
Despite still being a kingdom under King Michael I, Romania after the Second World War was placed into the Soviet ‘sphere of influence’, meaning communist troops were stationed there temporarily, as they claimed. The elections of November 1946 led to the beginning of Soviet domination in the country: the Communist-led Bloc of Democratic Parties (BPD) declared victory, after claiming over 84% of the vote. Despite the suspicious irregularities and obvious voter fraud, the elections were certified, and the BPD took up their parliamentary seats to form a government. Immediately, they successfully eliminated most of the opposition, forcing them to either merge with the communists or dissolving them through the courts on false charges of espionage. The next step was to force King Michael to abdicate, completely eliminating all forms of potential opposition to the new regime. Just hours after the abdication, the communist-led parliament declared the creation of the Romanian People’s Republic. After the constitution of April 1948 was approved, the communist regime was now formalised. With powers vested in them to dispose of any opposition they had left, all who remained fled the country. All that were left were the new people: Petru Groza, the Prime Minister, and Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, his successor, and their followers.
During this time, Ceauşescu was rising up the ranks of the communist party. He won a seat in the Great National Assembly after the 1947 election and was appointed Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, overlooking the collectivisation programmes which were about to commence. In 1948, he was made a Deputy Minister of the armed forces and appointed the rank of Major General, despite not having any military experience. Continuing to rise up, Ceauşescu was made a member of the Central Committee of the communist party in 1952, and a politburo member in 1954. After the death of Gheorghiu-Dej in March 1965, Ceauşescu was elected his successor and immediately renamed the country to the Socialist Republic of Romania. Ceauşescu was heavily popular at home, with the peak of his popularity being during the Prague Spring. What made him different from the other Warsaw Pact states, however, was his independent foreign policy. Ceauşescu worked hard to paint his country as an independent state free from the pressures of the USSR, hence he openly condemned the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and pursued an open policy towards the west. In Romania itself, he relaxed censorship laws and became a member of both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Romania became very involved in diplomacy efforts including assisting in the opening of US-China relations in 1969 and became the only country in the world to hold diplomatic relations with both Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation. All of this was meant to achieve his ultimate goal: to make Romania a great world power.
All of this progress was to end in the 1970’s. After visiting China and North Korea in 1971, Ceauşescu became inspired by Mao’s and Kim’s management of their respective countries, especially with the idea of a ‘Total National Transformation’ of the state. Proceeding to copy his newfound mentors, Ceauşescu created a personality cult around himself and his wife, as well as delivering a speech known as the July Thesis, containing proposals such as the intensification of political and ideological education in schools, as well as promoting a more nationalistic and revolutionary theme in artistic productions. Most importantly, he pledged to reverse his liberalisation schemes from 1965, introducing new censorship rules and book bans. In 1974, Ceauşescu appointed himself the President of Romania, a new position he thought would further increase his standing and prestige in the country: now, Ceauşescu was able to rule by decree.
The late 1970’s and early 1980’s saw Romania’s national debt increase due to the loans it took to invest in an oil refinery sector that never boomed. Ceauşescu became obsessed with paying back his country’s debts and often did so before the debts were due in. The country’s record of repaying its debts back in full has never been matched by any other nation since and led to an economic crisis that stretched for the rest of the decade. Having little money left to maintain Romania’s industrialised economy, machinery soon became inefficient, and the amount of energy required to run them spiralled out of control. This all led to a deterioration of the living standard in Romania and restrictions were imposed on household energy use to protect industrial needs. By 1989, Romania had successfully repaid all its foreign debt, which Ceauşescu now made illegal in the constitution.
Discontent with the government grew due to the worsening of living conditions, leading to an attempted coup attempt in 1984 and a workers’ rebellion in 1987. In 1989, the infamous Romanian revolution occurred, toppling the Communist Party (PCR) from power, and leading to the execution of Ceauşescu by firing squad. To this day, Ceauşescu remains the last person in Romania to face the death penalty and continues to be despised by the majority of the public.