What removed the "Romanian Stalin"
The Secretary General of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP) and the President of the Socialist Republic of Romania (CPP) were shot along with his wife Elena, who held important posts. The creators of the "color revolution" were quick to punish and did not bother with any legal proceedings. The world "progressive" public, from the Soviet "perestroika" to the Western liberals, sighed with relief - Ceausescu was ready to defend socialism to the end, and not only in Romania. Moreover, the “socialism with a Romanian face” itself was distinguished by pronounced specificity. And Ceausescu was a headache for the Soviet leadership even before the “perestroika”.1. Problem management
With the Romanian leadership, the Kremlin has always had very big problems. What did the old comintern Anna Pauker alone, a member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee, cost? It was she who ensured that the 500 of thousands of new members were immediately accepted into the Communist Party, which, of course, blurred it greatly. In the ranks of the Communists recorded all - without analysis and verification. Even many members of the fascist "Iron Guard" got there. Pauker stubbornly resisted co-operation, defiantly emphasizing the rejection of the Soviet experience. She strongly opposed the construction of the Danube-Black Sea Canal. In the West, Pauker also breathed unevenly: in 1948, Time magazine placed her portrait on the cover with the caption: "The most influential of the living women."
This “most influential” lady in the world was able to remove from her high posts only in 1952, after which the power was concentrated in the hands of the former underground fighter and runner Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. To I.V. He was quite loyal to Stalin, but with N.S. Khrushchev relationship somehow went wrong. The famous expositions of the 20th Congress were perceived by him, to put it mildly, without enthusiasm, and the events in Hungary caused reasonable doubts.
Therefore, in the 1957 year, Gheorghiu-Dej gently but firmly asked the Soviet comrades to withdraw troops from Romania. In the future, this will be the “corporate identity” of the Romanian leadership - to behave as independently as possible, but without open confrontation and scandals.
Meanwhile, Khrushchev himself threw the seeds of confrontation right and left. He quarreled with China and Albania, seriously alarmed the leadership of the DPRK, where Kim Il Sung’s personality cult was almost “exposed”. At the same time, Khrushchev was hatching plans to further strengthen the unity of the socialist camp. But what was allowed to “Jupiter”, the leaders of some socialist countries were not going to allow the “bull” to the reformer. In 1964, the Soviet magazine, Economic Life, published an article outlining an ambitious plan to create an "interstate economic complex in the lower Danube zone." The Romanian leadership was not considered here, and the answer was the adoption of the Declaration of Independence Party at the April plenum of the Central Committee, which emphasized the independence of Romania. At the same time, Bucharest occupies a separate position in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) and the Warsaw Pact Organization (ATS).
2. Socialist reforms in the nation state
In 1965, Gheorghiu-Dejes died, and the question arose who would lead the party and the country. In the leadership then there were several groupings, none of which had a decisive advantage. Then, as is often the case, it was decided to make the formal head of the seemingly non-ambitious Nicolae Ceausescu, who began his political career with the fact that in prison he was something like an adjutant of Gheorghiu-Deja. Already after the communists came to power, Ceausescu rose to the level of the secretary of the Central Committee, but was, as it were, in the shadow of his patron. And, as always, the heads of political clans miscalculated. People who penetrate such tops are never simpletons, although they can sometimes wear appropriate masks on themselves. Very soon, Ceausescu rubs off all the claimants to power from any government and becomes the sole ruler of Romania.
And here he begins to carry out large-scale reforms, which for some reason is hushed up by all his critics who so much love to make fun of the Ceausescu personality cult and extinguish the activities of the bloody Securitate (national security service).
Most likely, this comes from elementary ignorance, but it is possible that some of the “experts” consciously ignore reforms. The fact is that they were not conducted in the format of liberalization at all, with the prospect of the restoration of capitalism (as was the case, for example, in Czechoslovakia under the “reformer” Alexander Dubcek). Ceausescu transformed the country's political system towards socialist democracy.
Thus, Ceausescu attempted to increase the role of labor collectives in the management of enterprises, without which real socialism is impossible. Earlier, Tito made such an attempt (largely inspired by a quarrel with Stalin), but his reforms led to considerable disorganization. In Romania, they went their own way; management committees were established at each enterprise, which included: 1) state-appointed employees, 2) representatives of labor collectives and leaders of trade-union organizations. Thus, a more orderly co-management system emerged.
The country established the High Council for Socio-Economic Development (WSSER), which included party and government leaders, eminent scientists, representatives of working groups. His powers were solid: it was VSSER, making plans for the five-year period and each year, presented its forecasts and conclusions to the management. The Central Council of Workers' Control (CSRC) acted, whose chairman was automatically elected secretary of the Central Committee and deputy chairman of the State Committee. The council relied on local worker control authorities. Competitiveness in elections was also introduced - several candidates fought for one seat in the Grand National Assembly and local Councils. In addition, to eliminate concurrency in management, the positions of the first secretary of the local organization of the PSC and the chairman of the local council were combined.
Simultaneously with the political transformations, economic transformations were also carried out. The industry has introduced a flexible management system consisting of three units: an enterprise, an industrial association, and a branch ministry. The enterprises worked on the basis of cost accounting, and their associations developed their own economic plan, taking into account the requirements of the general state economic plan.
Of course, no idealization is out of place here - Ceausescu did not save socialism from bureaucratic distortions. But a lot has been done in this direction.
3. Everything for industrialization
It is impossible to deny the presence, often quite ridiculous, of the Ceausescu cult - with all these flattering epithets of the “Genius of the Carpathians” type. But, as Mikhail Sholokhov said (regarding another outstanding figure), “there was a cult, but there was also a personality.” And just like this very person, Ceausescu considered the main task to turn Romania into a powerful, sovereign industrial state (for which he was often called the “Romanian Stalin”).
Thanks to the efforts made in the 1971-1975 years, gross industrial output growth was 84% (agricultural - 37%). Grand projects for the construction of metallurgical, oil refining and chemical giants began to be implemented. “The Romanians did not miss their chance: Renault built a huge modern factory Dacia in Pitesti, now Logan cars are produced there (yes, this model, well known to Russians, has Romanian roots),” Nils Johansen, then described the industrial spurt. - Oil refineries, hotels, tourist infrastructure, enterprises of chemical, light and food industries were built, Romania produced small weapon, they even made their own ARO SUV - quite good, by the way. Oil production doubled compared with the period before World War II, and industrial output increased by a factor of a hundred. ” (“Color Revolution” for Ceausescu ”// Portal-Credo.Ru).
The most powerful breakthrough was made in the field of foreign trade. Under Ceausescu, Romania traded with 150 countries, ranking 12 in the world in terms of annual trade. And that is typical, products with a high degree of processing prevailed in exports, they occupied 62% of total exports.
At the same time, Ceausescu actively used the differences between the USSR and the West, receiving help from the latter. This, incidentally, again showed his similarity with Stalin, who also liked to play on contradictions, extracting the most diverse (including economic benefits). But what was the difference between the “genius of the Carpathians” and the leader of all nations was in agreement with a powerful credit intervention. Stalin did not take loans, but sought funds to buy equipment and pay for foreign specialists. (To be fair, in the USSR, with its vast territory and resources, it was easier to do.) But Ceausescu took too much - 22 billion dollars. He did this, of course, with an eye on, the powerful export of petroleum products (12-14 million tons per year) made it possible to cover the payment of all debts. He was strongly rescued by the Iranian Shah, who agreed to conclude a barter contract for oil at fixed prices. In the conditions of constantly growing oil prices, this was, of course, a real magic wand. However, in 1979, the shah overthrew and began great difficulties. Ceausescu's large-scale projects demanded huge energy costs, and there is also a huge external debt hanging over the country ...
Under these conditions, Ceausescu decided to introduce austerity mode in order to pay off his creditors. The population suffered - suffice it to say that the Romanians were allowed to use only one 15 watt bulb during the daytime, almost no hot water was supplied, and the TV worked two or three hours a day. They also demanded that the elitarians moderate their appetites. So, Ceausescu transplanted all officials from their favorite Soviet "Volga" and foreign cars to the much more modest Romanian Dacia. Transplanted, and moved himself.
But even in such difficult conditions, Ceausescu continued to make new breakthroughs. So, the program of construction of nuclear power plants was adopted, and the first one (Chernavod) was laid in the 1982 year. Moreover. “It turns out that in the second half of 1970, Romania began to develop its own atomic weapon,” Aleksey Chichkin reports. - And in the summer of 1989 — 20 years ago — Bucharest almost created its atomic weapon: in July of that year, they began to produce weapons-grade plutonium! .. According to some sources, Ceausescu asked Honecker and China with Israel to speed up the work of 1980’s on the Romanian atomic weapon, in order to reliably protect both the GDR and Romania and the socialist countries of Europe (Albania with Yugoslavia) that “joined” them from “restructuring” ... Inspections of the Romanian nuclear facilities carried out by the IAEA years, Romania conducted regular experiments on chemical production of weapons-grade plutonium, we emphasize, using the American nuclear reactor model TRIGA and uranium supplied in the unenriched form, also from the United States. The successful results of these works allowed N. Ceausescu to officially declare in May 1990 of the year that “from a technical point of view, Romania is capable of producing national nuclear weapons”. And in the town of Pitesti in July 1992, 1985 years ago, a facility with a capacity of up to 1989 kg of weapons-grade plutonium per year was commissioned. And with the prospect of using it as a warhead on SCAD missiles. ” ("Bomb in the Carpathians" // "Rossiyskaya Gazeta").
4. Nobody pleases
Officially, the USSR and the SRR were allies, but sometimes it is easier to find a common language with opponents. Ceausescu had his position on the PRC and refused to quarrel with Beijing in favor of Moscow. He was against the rapprochement of a number of socialist countries with the FRG - in his opinion, in the treaties concluded with her there was no clear and unambiguous rejection of claims to Austria, as well as to former German territories located in other countries. Ceausescu was not inclined to quarrel with Israel, and in general, he was thinking about how to become a mediator between him and the Palestinians.
But, of course, the strongest challenge was the position of the SRR on the "Prague Spring" and the introduction of ATS troops into Czechoslovakia. In response to the “occupation”, Ceausescu said: “This is a colossal mistake, a serious threat to peace in Europe and the fate of socialism, a shameful stain on stories the revolutionary movement ... There is no and there can be no justification for military intervention in the internal affairs of a fraternal socialist state; no one from the outside has the right to indicate what the path of socialist construction in each individual country should be. ” Later, Ceausescu will speak out against the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan.
Romania was nominally registered at the Department of Internal Affairs, its troops practically did not participate in the maneuvers of the participating countries. But Bucharest was very warm about the idea of Beijing to create something like the “Counter-Warsaw Pact”, consisting of the PRC, Albania, Yugoslavia and Romania.
Moscow did not make any open critical statements, but it was not idle. She could suddenly reduce trade deliveries to Romania, delay payment there the export. At the same time, the Kremlin pressed on other countries, demanding from them to reduce trade and economic ties with the SRR. Political pressure was also applied: Hungary launched a campaign to “return” Transylvania, while Bulgaria took and demanded the establishment of the Bulgarian-Romanian border on the Danube.
During the years of perestroika, relations between the USSR and the SRR finally deteriorated. Ceausescu saw in it the dismantling of socialism, and, as it turned out, was absolutely right.
He made an attempt to create a certain coalition of the socialist countries, with the involvement of the DPRK, Albania, Cuba, Vietnam (even Iran was supposed to be involved). He was preparing a meeting of the Communist Parties, where he planned to smash Gorbachev's perestroika. Why, he was too delayed with her ...
Meanwhile, all debts were paid, which was announced to Ceausescu in April 1989. Thus, he committed the greatest crime against the world banking oligarchy - she perceives debts as some kind of eternal burden, which is possible to somehow somehow weaken, but not to be thrown off ... Therefore, he was sentenced and overthrew him with special cynicism, disdaining any fraud. Today, this is no secret to anyone, and this is what one of Russia's largest newspapers writes: “To this day, the exact number of victims of the clashes in Timisoara is unknown. More or less objective data indicates several dozens of people, but rumors spread throughout the country that were immediately picked up by foreign media that several hundred or even several thousand people were killed in the city. Gradually, the number of dead, appearing in the rumors, reached 60 thousands of people. Much later it became known that the total number of victims of the Romanian revolution, not only in Timisoara, but throughout the whole country during the crisis on both sides amounted to about 1100 killed and 1400 injured, so the story about “60 thousand killed” appeared solely to whip up passions and creating more outrage in society ". (Andrei Sidorchik." Romanian stubborn man. How Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown and killed "//" AiF ").
With the overthrow of Ceausescu, Romanian socialism created by him for almost 25 years was eliminated. Then, in December, 1989 of the year, together with the dirty water, the child was splashed out.
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