Explanatory Blog Post 1: “Let Them Hate”, Victor Sebestyen.

This short chapter by Sebestyen canvasses the early life and Orwellian regime of the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, narcissist, paranoiac, and brutalist. The chapter starts with January 26^th 1986, Ceausescu’s 68^th Birthday. Christmas was a banned celebration and Liberation Day (Which marked the end of WWII) was a downplayed affair, this left the May Day Parades and Ceausescu’s birthday as the two biggest days of the year. Sebestyen documents the gushing stream of compliments and fawnings from sycophantic newspapers, writers, and party members. Famed poet, Adrian Paunescu wrote: 

“This is no flattery as we portray him. We love him for his struggle and his humanity. We love him, because this country is free under the Sun [Ceausescu]. One’s soul has the urge to shower him with eulogies.”
This is not the height of this bizarre cult of personality. Other sources referred to him as “The Source of our Light”, “The Treasure of Wisdom and Charisma”, and my personal favourite “The Giant of Carpathia”, much like the villain in Ghostbusters II. If the people knew of Ceausescu’s recent decrease in food rations they did not show it, most probably for fear of execution. Only a few weeks earlier he had announced more cuts to the national Romanian diet, administered by the Rational Nourishment Commission.

Over the course of his regime until the early 1980’s, to help bankroll many of his nation building follies, Ceausescu borrowed heavily from both the Soviet Bloc and Western Countries an estimated US$13 billion. Among his many projects was the construction of the Palace of the Romanian Parliament, which to this day is the largest, heaviest, and most expensive administrative building ever constructed. From 1982 Ceausescu began the daunting task of repaying all foreign debt by 1990. In order to fund this he exported three quarters of the nations food production, and gas, petrol, and electricity were rationed so heavily that heating was restricted to 2 hours per day, and petrol was rationed so heavily that much of the agricultural equipment the country relied upon, such as tractors and harvesters, were replaced by horses and scythes. 

Industrial disputes were often handled by Ceausescu himself, and he never neglected the iron fist in his rulings. In 1977, when the miners of the Jiu valley went on strike, Ceausescu initially agreed to the strike leaders demands for higher wages and the strikers went back to work. A few weeks later Ceausescu had the leaders rounded up and shot, while a few others escaped with a prison sentence. He used much the same methods at a strike at the Red Star tractor factory in 1987. 

Ceausescu admired the East German Stasi police force and devised his own Romanian answer, the "Securitate" was a secret police force that specialised in spreading fear and subjugation. Ceausescu used them to execute his policies regarding political crimes, of which there were several and Ceausescu was prone to enacting new ones at will. Sebestyen recounts a story in which Ceausescu suddenly and inexplicably declared the practice of Yoga to be a criminal offence and one young medical student was severely beaten by Securitate officers as she returned from a yoga class. She soon obeyed after the incident when she noticed that a shift of four Securitate officers were tracking her movements twenty-four hours a day. Sebestyen also notes that all typewriters in Romania had to be registered with the police, and all typefaces were recorded and catalogued so that any anti-regime literature could be traced to an exact typewriter. Here is an extract from the law concerning the process for applying for a permit to own a typewriter:

"If the application is granted, the applicant will receive an authorisation for the typewriter within 60 days. On a specified date, the owner of the typewriter must report with the machine to the militia office in order to provide an example of his typing. A similar example has to be provided every year, specifically within the first two months of the year, as well as after every repair to the typewriter."

Ceausescu was the king of micro-managing dictators. Every aspect of Romanian life, no matter how mundane or unimportant would have been scrutinised thoroughly by Ceausescu to see if he could make any gain from it. Even the weather could not escape censorship. Legally, in Romania, if the temperature dropped below 10°C then the heating had to be put on. To avoid expending extra fuel the temperature was never recorded as being below 10°C, even when snow and ice covered the ground. In television appearances the Securitate oversaw the editing process of any speeches he gave. Any stutters, hesitations, or too much blinking had to be cut, the cut footage was then seized and destroyed by the Securitate. One film producer, Nick Melinescu ran afoul of the regime when a few seconds of unedited footage made it into the final cut. "All Hell broke loose" he recalled "I was blamed and as a result I was banned. My salary was cut for three months, it was bad, one of the worst things that could happen". Whenever he had to appear alongside other state leaders the media was always sure to portray him as being the same height, or taller than them, as was the case with French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing. Similar rules applied to the first lady and deputy Prime Minister, Elena Ceausescu, the "Mother of the Nation". 

Of all the leaders of Communist states, Ceausescu was the most beloved by Western Europe and the US. He'd always forged his own path, often to the dismay of the Soviet Union, and often clashed with them over their interference with the politics of members of the Warsaw Pact. He had Soviet troops removed from Romanian soil and refused to back the Soviet Union in its invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1978 the Ceausescu's stayed at Buckingham Palace on invitation of Queen Elizabeth II. The queen was not put off by the stories of his antics while at Blair House, as guests of the US, Ceausescu became so paranoid the CIA might try to poison him he had his own staff launder his bedsheets, turn off the air-conditioning, and stuff the air vents. She had also not listened to the advice of French President d'Estaing who told her that everything that could not be bolted down ought to be removed from his room. Ceausescu had all his meetings and briefings in the gardens as he believed all the rooms would be bugged, much to the amusement of Queen Elizabeth who said of him "We in Great Britain are impressed with the resolute stand you have taken for independence. Consequently, Romania holds a distinct position and plays a significant part in world affairs. Your personality, Mr President, as a statesman of world wide repute, experience and influence is widely acknowledged." Later, as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher had similar compliments to lavish upon him and Romania. US President Jimmy Carter said "...the whole world appreciates him and regards him with admiration.", while George H. W. Bush, as Vice President to Ronald Reagan, contented himself to say "He was one of the good Communists". 

Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu being received at Buckingham Palace by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

But for all his international acclaim Ceausescu grew more and more unpopular at home. One of Ceausescu's more famous projects was to try to increase the population of Romania from twenty three million to thirty million, starting in 1966 with a decree that pregnancy was now a state policy. He bolstered this in the mid 1980's by stating that "The foetus is the property of the entire society. Anyone who avoids pregnancy is a deserter who abandons the laws of natural continuity". Women became subject to frequent medical inspections where they were questioned about things like their menstrual cycle and could face police questioning if they did not give birth on their due dates. Heavy taxes were imposed on couples who did not have children, and mothers who gave birth to many children could be awarded medals, the highest ranking being that of "Heroine Mother" for those with ten children or more. The repercussions of these fertility policies are still felt today. Romania continues to have one of the highest rates of child abandonment, and although the numbers have been steadily dropping since he early 2000's just over sixty thousand children live in care of the state with another 20,000 in orphanages across the country.

On the 17th of December 1989, at an anti-government demonstration in Timisoara, Ceausescu ordered troops to open fire on demonstrators resulting in a massive backlash against him and the regime. On December 21st Ceausescu was forced to take shelter inside the palace after attempting to give a speech announcing new benefits. The crowd became restless and began chanting "Timisoara!". The next day the Ceausescu's fled the palace in a helicopter headed south where they were forced to land by the military. The Ceausescu's were given a hastily arranged trial which lasted ninety minutes. Less than five minutes after the trial ended they were escorted outside and shot. Television cameras were present at the trial and arrived at the scene of the execution just as the smoke was clearing. Warning: The footage is quite graphic in parts.

The Ceausescu's flee Bucharest by helicopter, December 22nd 1989.

Sebestyens account of Romania prior to the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu is extremely well written and gives a often forgotten account of the relationship Ceausescu enjoyed with influential world leaders. Never has a dictator been so highly regarded amongst presidents, prime ministers, and royalty. Ceausescu's 24 year reign was one of such cruelty and fear that it would make Stalin envious, something Ceausescu would take extreme pride in. On the scale of regimes Ceausescu's is both frightening and farcical, so far removed were his policies from reality that we can scarcely comprehend notions such as banning yoga, or menstrual inspections, but help paint a picture of a terrifying Neo-Stalinist regime where everything you own, down to your womb, was property of the state.

Sebestyen, Victor. 2010. Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire: Knopf Doubleday. Chapter 16