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1968 Romania: Intellectuals and the Failure of Reform
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crisTian Vasile 1968 Romania intellectuals and the failure of reform my paper examines the relationship between romanian intellectuals and Ceauşescu’s regime, with a particular emphasis on the late 1960s. it explores some of the reasons for the absence of a solid reform movement oriented towards a dissident marxism, and capable of defying the neo-stalinist tendencies of the romanian Communist Party (rCP) power-holders. With this purpose in mind, i will also analyze the 1968 political and ideological actions of some important figures of the romanian intelligentsia. Unlike Czech and slovak philosophers, their romanian peers did not draw up and did not pursue the path of an anti-stalinist critique with elements of alternative political conceptualization. The belated appearance of an anti-soviet strand in the nation-building process under communism, the radical anti-intellectual repression wave at the end of the 1950s and beginning of 1960s, and the internal disputes within creative unions, universities, and the academy, all these were crucial factors that favored Ceauşescu’s concentration of power, the growing personality cult, and the instrumentalization of national feelings . With few exceptions tainted by opportunism and timidity, romanian philosophers neglected the cooperation and dialogue with the writers’ guild. By and large, the latter hoped, especially between 1965 and 1971, to get the best out of their strange bed-fellowship with Nicolae Ceauşescu. subsequently, many of them joined the rCP and supported the communist leadership in the context of the 1968 soviet military invasion in Czechoslovakia. When the intellectuals’ confidence in Ceauşescu was shattered mainly by his neo-stalinist drive from 1971, it was already too late for any reform or revisionist attempts. i4 Promises.indb 241 2010.10.18. 14:31 242 Promises of 1968 in the autumn of 2006, professor Vladimir Tismaneanu reopened the file concerning the 1965 unmasking (demascare) of some rebellious Philosophy Department students.1 The July 1965 Ninth Congress of the romanian Communist Party was celebrated as usual by Nicolae Ceauşescu and his ideological servants, as an anti-dogmatic moment which indicated a sort of Communist renewal, ideological relaxation, and liberalization. But a few months later a violent episode in the history of the Bucharest University’s Philosophy Department thwarted this myth of Ceauşescu’s post-1965 propaganda. it is true that there were some discouraging signs in the spring of 1965. even during the period of cultural relaxation, any form of student initiative which avoided youth party organization was repudiated by the Agitprop Department.2 such things happened in the case of a memorandum signed by 300 students demanding more opportunities for intellectual and artistic advance and promotion in the field of scientific and literary creation. moreover, in the fall of 1965 a group of five students became the victim of a shameful frame-up staged by the Securitate in cooperation with the party apparatus, and the Communist Youth organization.3 This sort of show trial was organized at the main lecture hall (aula) of the university, and some of their contemporaries compared it with the 1950s exposure of “class enemies” set up by chief ideologist Leonte răutu and his team in the Agitprop Department. Those students who were the leaders of their generation used to intensely discuss theoretical issues, and frequently asked inconvenient questions during teaching seminars. moreover, they expressed reticence towards Ceauşescu’s policy and pleaded for the abandoning of stalinist theories and practices. The ideological prosecutors both from the Agitprop Department and the ministry of the interior (Se1 Vladimir Tismaneanu, “Un puzzle cu securitate, partid şi UTC” [A Puzzle with securitate, Party, and Youth Communist Union], in Refuzul de a uita. Articole şi comentarii politice (2006–2007) [refusal to forget: Political Articles and Commentaries (2006–2007)] (Bucharest: Curtea Veche Publishing, 2007), 154. 2 “information concerning Certain Aspects of the Political educational Work among students in 1965,” Arhivele Naţionale istorice Centrale (Central Historical National Archives, Bucharest), fund Central Committee of the romanian Communist Party—Propaganda and Agitation section (hereafter: ANiC, fCCrCP—PAs), file no. 20/1965, 10. 3 Vladimir Tismaneanu, “Un puzzle cu securitate, partid şi UTC,” 154–156. i4 Promises.indb 242 2010.10.18. 14:31 [3.91.79.134] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 09:44 GMT) 243 1968 Romania curitate) accused them of “launching revisionist theories, which have nothing in common with marxist-Leninist doctrine,”4 such as the passage from socialism into communism in a violent way, through a resort to the masses. The alleged leader of...