41 COPY HO 1 FOR THE PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES BUMANIA SR-IZ Published 5 October 1949 CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY ESL-H- Na W 'f 7r I SUMMARY After the collapse of Axis resistance in 1944 Romania was overrun by the armed forces of the USSR and subjected to a military dominae tion which soon governed all phases of its political and economic life Under the Armi- stice Agreement Romanian forces still in the eld were diverted to join the Soviet advance into Hungary Romania became a rear area of the Soviet Army Once military domina- tion was assured the USSR openly favored the organized efforts of the few Communists in the country aided by opportunists and politically compromised elements to under- mine the King and the established order Moscow-trained Communists were available to take over key positions in in uential public organizations and the government itself Every cabinet formed by King Mihai was un- satisfactory to the Soviet Union Communist maneuvers to install a left-wing government under their control culminated in the forma tion of the Grace Government on 6 March 1945 under direct Soviet pressure It was then believed that the USSR was motivated only by the desire to guarantee a friendly gov- ernment on its borders and to ensure Ru mania's fulfillment of its Armistice obiiga tions with no thought of imposing Commu- nism on the Rumanian people At the end of hostilities in Europe and after the conclu- sion of the Romanian Peace Treaty in 1947 the USSR continued to maintain garrisons in the country on the pretext that it must pro- tect lines of communication with its troops in Hungary and Austria Despite the Molotov statement of 2 April 1944 on the eve of the Red Army s crossing of the Prut River that the Soviet Government declares it does not pursue the aim of acquiring any part of Ru- manlan territory or of changing the social system existing in Rumania the net result of Soviet occupation has been a far-reaching modification of the political economic and social structure of the Romanian state Kremlin-sponsored Communists now hold a dominating position in Romanian affairs and are shaping the country s future to their own ends Internally Rumania has been proclaimed a People's Democracy and is being reorganized into a Communist state modeled after the Soviet Union A Romanian People s Republic was declared on 39 December 1947 and a new constitution was adopted on 13 April 1948 These provide the legal facade behind which the Communist Party extends its control over all political life Although the constitution includes broad safeguards for basic civil lib- erties these provisions are ignored in prac- tice The administrative structure at the top has undergone thorough and effective reor- ganization particularly since the end of 1948 Local government is being progressively re- framed on the pattern of soviets or Peo- ple's Councils These People s Councils called into being by the Law of 12 January 1949 were initially set up as provisional committees consisting of Communist appointees Al- though theoretically established as organs for mass participation in government they will in practice function merely as conveyor belts of Party policy in conformity with the Communist principle of Democratic Cen- tralism In foreign relations Romania has under taken mutual assistance pacts and other agreements with the USSR and its Satellites which have created a solid Soviet-controlled bloc in international affairs The agreement signed in Moscow on 18 January 1949 setting up a Council of Economic Mutual Assistance CEMA between the Satellite countries and the USSR reportedly for a period of twenty years will integrate Romania increasingly into the political and economic Soviet master- plan for Eastern Europe All of these agree- ments commit Rumania to undeviating sup port of Kremlin aims and automatically align it against the Western Powers The campaign of vicious propaganda directed against the Note The intelligence organizations of the Departments of State Army Navy and the Air Force have concurred in this report This report is based on information available to CIA as of dates indicated at the beginning of each Chapter 1 r r 1 West and particularly the United States con- tinued and deliberate violation of Peace Treaty provisions and open defiance of formal pro- tests indicate Romania's pursuit of this course The principal economic problem in Ru- mania is one of rehabilitating the basic ele- ments of the economy agriculture and petro- leum which were exploited to the maximum by the Axis and during the occupation by the USSR Drafting of industrial Plans was begun in October 1948 A one-year experi- mental plan for recovery and development was announced at the end of December and went into operation on 1 January 1949 The major difficulty lies in the fact that critical items of equipment and machinery must be obtained from sources outside Ru- mania Since many of these items are also needed in the USSR as well as in other Satel- lites it is doubtful that Romania will receive more than a token amount The relatively slow progress achieved in meeting the produc- tion goals already established is largely the result of the failure to obtain these critical materials The military importance of Romania to the Soviet Union arises from its strategic location which makes Romania signi cant in the Soviet defense in depth Additional factors of military importance are the security of supply lines passing through Romania the construction of airfields for Soviet offensive or defensive use the maximum use of oil fields and other petroleum installations Development of Romanian Armed Forces will be governed by the decision of the Kremlin as to what share in Soviet strategy can be entrusted wholly or in part to Romanian troops This decision will be based in part on the most ef cient use of Romanian man- power as well as on the political reliability of Romanian units The appointment in December 1947 of Emil Bodnaras as Minister of National Defense marked the beginning of a program of rehabil- itation and revitalization of the armed forces Under this program de nite steps are being taken to improve morale and to equip the various units with standardized weapons Emphasis is being placed on political relia- 1 mfg bility particularly in the selection and train- ing of a new officer corps Some concrete re- sults of the reorganization are already evident Future progress will depend upon the political and economic development of the country as well as strategic considerations governing the employment of the army Romania s importance in the East-West struggle is closely related to the degree of its subservience to the USSR Rather than seek-r ing the establishment of a government friendly to the Soviet Union Soviet moves have been designed to eliminate or minimize all factors which detract from the full use of Romania's potential by the USSR and to ex- ploit those elements which increase Ru- mania s value as a Soviet Satellite In subju- gating the Romanian people in establishing a Communist dictatorship and in erecting the framework of a planned economy the Krem- lin has moved methodically without devia- tion Such vital questions from a national point of view as the rehabilitation of the country the establishment of a modern demo- cratic order and the organization of a de- fensive army have been wholly subordinated to the seizure and consolidation of Commu- nist political control As this control became secure the timing of specific measures to transform Romania into a replica as well as appendage of the Soviet Union was based on a policy of gradualism and expediency The implications of the new order being estab- lished in Romania were revealed to the peo- ple step by step The theory of class war- fare was rst publicized in June 1948 the dictatorship of the proletariat was publicly proclaimed in January 1949 and it was not until March 1949 that the Party formally an- nounced its program for collectivization of agriculture In the face of constant Soviet pressures the Romanian people have remained hostile res- tive and withal essentially impotent Sur- face cooperation with the regime is the price of survival Although estimates place the opposition as high as 90 percent of the total population it has been thoroughly muzzled and suppressed Resistance to the regime is not likely to become signi cant until the threat of overwhelming retaliation is removedH o- the ab- ico- the Licly not not i the res- 8111 - price the total uzzled ime is 8 the moved CHAPTER I POLITICAL SITUATION 1 Genesis of the Present Political System Romania today is a police state controlled by fanatical Communists who follow the Mos- cow line in its entirety While the key posi tions in the government are in the hands of trusted Communist party members the cab inet still contains a small number of fellow- trevelers who are being replaced as they cut- live their usefulness a Historical Background of the Present Political System Soviet subjugation of Romania is but the latest of a long series of foreign conquests oi its lands from the time in 101 AD when Emperor Trajan's Roman legions conquered and colonized Dacia north of the Danube Roman colonization was thorough and its ef- iects can still be seen in the language and cul- ture of Romania Although little authentic historical evidence is available on the period from the departure of the Romans in the lat- ter part of the third century until the end of the 13th century it is generally believed that the area was successively invaded by Ger manic Asiatic and Slavic tribes In the latter part of the tenth century the Magyars in- vaded the Banat and Crisana province nally penetrating and colonizing Magyar Oppression in resulted in the migration of Romanian nobility east- ward to found the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries These two principalities were the scene of frequent conflicts with Hungary Poland and Turkey In the fteenth cen- tury they became the tributaries of Turkey Frequent wars and the economic decline fold lowing them weakened the country and with the Turkish defeat of Hungary in 1526 the Romanians could no longer avoid complete Turkish domination The three centuries of Turkish rule that followed were characterized by corruption and general economic deteriora- tion Although corruption which is common- place in Romania today undoubtedly had its foundation in this period when Greek agents ruled for the Turks the Greek satraps did expose Romania to French culture and West- ern ideas From the end of the Russo- Turkish war in 1774 until the treaty of Paris in 1856 Russia exercised protection over the provinces although the Romanians still acknowledged the suzerainty of Turkey In 1812 Russia annexed Bessarabia laying the groundwork for strong Romanian irredentism Romania was established as a unified state in 1859 when the two provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia elected the same prince Alex- ander Cuza Under Cuaa s administration several reforms including compulsory educa- tion and land reform were inaugurated Op- position by the wealthy landowners to the land reforms caused Cuza s downfall and in 1866 Carol Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen took the oath as Prince Carol 1 During Carol s rule the constitution of 1866 was adopted setting up a bicameral legislature and guaran- teeing certain civil liberties but providing for absolute royal veto The Kingdom of Romania was proclaimed in 1881 In spite of some reforms adopted during Carol's rule his failure to improve the welfare of the peasants led to the peasant re- volt of 1987 which was followed by a minor agrarian reform Although Romania was neutral in the rst Balkan war 1912 at its conclusion it re- ceived the Danube port of Silistra and follow- ing the second Balkan war 1913 in which Romania participated it was awarded south ern Dobrudja In the years preceding World War I Romania was an ally of the Central Powers through the triple alliance of 1883 However in 1916 Romania entered the war on the side of the Allies because of promises of territorial rewards and the pro-French atti- Note This Chapter is based on information available 4 we tude of the ruling class Although it was early overrun by the Germans and did not contribute notably to Allied victory Romania was doubled in territory and population on the basis of subsequent peace treaties Romanian irredentism was satis ed by the annexation of Bessarabia from Russia from Hungary and Bucovina from Austria With this increased territory however Romania in- herited the social problems connected with the administration or large national minorities The war left Romania with the need for social and administrative reforms and the desire to maintain the international status quo Con- sequently Romania undertook to guarantee its national security against the demands of Hungarian revisionlsm by joining the French- sponsored Little Entente in 1920 and in 1934 the Balkan Entente At the end of December 1925 Crown Prince Carol left Romania and renounced his rights to the throne Because of the precarious con- dition of King Ferdinand's health and the extreme youth of Carol's son Mihai a provi- sional council of regency was appointed which took over after the King's death on 29 July 1927 Crown Prince Carol returned on 6 one 1930 and became King with the consent of the government and all major parties except the National Liberals For the next eight years Carol laid the groundwork of a personal dic- tatorship He encouraged the pro-German Fascist Iron Guard founded in 192' by the Polish-German Cornelia Codreanu and used it to terrorize the Romanian democrats and weaken the two historical parties the Na- tional Peasants and National Liberals How- ever when the Guard's strength became a threat to Carol's power it was outlawed and its leader Codreanu assassinated Cami proclaimed a personal dictatorship on 10 February 1938 A new constitution was announced on 20 February 1938 all political parties were dissolved and constitutional free- doms suspended On 15 December 1939 the King founded the National Renaissance Front as an all Romanian political party to support his government On 24 March 1939 a ve- year economic treaty was signed with Ger- many To counteract growing German in uence on 12 May 1939 a treaty was signed with Great Britain which guaranteed Romania s territorial integrity and independence in the event or German aggression The year 1940 saw Romania forced to relinquish Bessara oia to the USSR Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria and to Hungary Britain with the Wehrmacht on the English Channel could do nothing to help Romania so Carol sought to align his regime with the seemingly invinci- ble Axis Under German pressure Carol liqui- dated National Renaissance Front and established the Party of the Nation admitting into it many recently released Iron Guardists The Germans remained dissatis ed with and distrustfol of Carol and On 6 September 1949 he was forced to abdicate in favor of his son Mihai General Ion Antonescu the prime minister who enjoyed the con dence of the Germans became the undisputed dictator In 1941 under German pressure and with the expectation of regaining Bessarabia and additional territory Romania entered the war and crossed the Prut River to attack the Soviet Union When Romanian troops were sent be- yond the Dnlester losses at Stalingrad and other factors caused mounting opposition within Romania against continued participa- tion in the war On 23 August 1944 King Mihai and the opposition staged a successful coup d e tot against the Antonescu regime and Romania capitulated to the Allies Soviet troops occupied the country and an Allied Con- trol Conunission under Soviet chairmanship was established to implement the armistice and advise on the administration of the nation until the peace treaty became effective The rst postwar cabinet headed by Gen eral Constantin sanatescu was a coalition of the Communists and Socialists and the his- torical Peasant and Liberal parties The second Sanatescu cabinet installed on 4 No- vember did not include representatives of the historical parties The hostility between the pro-Communists and those of opposite views led to a prolonged crisis which was temporarily resolved by the appointment of General Nicholas Radescu as Premier on 6 1 December 1944 The truce however was shortlived with the New Year the Commu- i nists made plain their intention to undermine the coalition and obtain sole power A cam paign to oust Radescu culminated in a de mand by the USSR that Dr Petru Groza be appointed On 6 March 1945 Groza formed a new left-wing cabinet which was dominated by the pro-Soviet National Democratic Front established in 1944 The US and UK maintaining that the Grosa Government did not ful ll the require ments of the Yalta agreement because there was no opposition representation in the cab- inet became deadlocked with the USSR The Moscow agreement of December 1945 at- tempted to resolve this difficulty by calling for an election which was held on 19 Novem- ber 1946 and a broadening of the govern- ment to include opposition elements In the election campaign the Communist dominated Bloc of Democratic Parties sup ported a single electoral slate The National Democratic Front credited itself with a sweep- ing victory in an election characterized by in- timidation and falsification of results The opposition which is estimated to have received approximately '75 percent of the votes was allotted only 35 of the 414 seats in the Cham- ber of Deputies During the succeeding year the government steadily undermined the King's prerogatives and on 30 December 1947 demanded his abdi- cation On the same day the Rumanian Pop- ular Republic was created by proclamation of Premier Gross and his ministers and unani- mously agreed to by the Chamber a Consolidation o Communist Power The proclamation of the republic marked the successful culmination of the Conununist drive for complete control and enabled them to concentrate in the months that followed on altering the form of the state to permit a perpetuation of their power and to purge their own ranks of elements considered not entirely obedient to the Kremlin's orders With the King removed and Communists solidly en- trenched in the government the new regime was able to turn to the task of revising the organic structure of the Romanian State and the consolidation of political power in the hands of one party 2 Political Parties Workers Party A congress of Communist and Social Demo- cratic parties was held at the end of February 1948 which organized a single Marxist party called the Rumanian Workers Party Its Sec- retary General Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej laid down the basic political creed of the new party and served notice that it would be purged of all dissident elements While Gheorghiu-Dej said other political parties would be permitted he made it ciear that they would exist in name only and that the only real political force in Rumania would be the Workers Party which would be the guide and master of the peasants as well as the workers The congress also announced that a new political grouping known as the People's Dem- ocratic Front would be formed to offer a com- mon list of candidates for election to a con- stituent assembly scheduled for 23 March The Front included the Rumanian Workers Party the Piowmen's Front of Prime Minister Groza the National Popular Party and the Hungarian Popular Union This grouping included all Communist elements and oppor- tunists faithfully following Communist direc tives The National Popular Party was dis- banded on 0 February 1949 and its newspaper suppressed on the grounds that the present political structure in Rumania left no place for a middle-class party While the membership of the Plowmen s Front is fairly large it is actually a rural branch of the Communist organisation tolerated solely to attract peasants who distrust anything overt- ly labeled Communist In the Resolution of the Romanian Workers Party of 3-5 March 1949 the Plowmen s Front was for the first time openly referred to as a mass organiza- tion subsidiary to the Workers Party Since the March 1948 election the whole concept of a Democratic Front has been completely moribund In effect Romania is a one-party state Rumania has thus reached a point where an organization known as the Party claim- ing a membership of approximately 1 500 000 has become the most important factor in the everyday life of the country's 16 000 000 in- habitants Although the official appellation of this organization is the Rumanian Workers Party behind this facade is a solid wall of Communists reported at the end of 1047 to number 500 000 who follow classic Marxist Leninist dogma Total membership of the Communist Party did not exceed 1 000 when it emerged from the underground in 1944 The Party has not yet become the rigidly exclusive organization that its foster parent the Com munist Party of the Soviet Union contin- ues to he New members are being carefully screened however and since November 1948 a large-scale investigation of all Party members has been undertaken with the reported aim of reducing this membership to a hard core of 170 000 loyal pro Moscow Communists In all probability Party membership will not fall below 500 000 with the completely faithful not exceeding 50 000 It has been disclosed that the Secretariat of the Party consists of seven members Gireor- ghe Gheorghiu-Dej the First Vice Premier of the Cabinet Iosef Chi inevschi Ana Packer Foreign Minister promoted to VicesPremier in April 1949 Vosile Luca Minister of Finance promoted to Vice-Premier in April 1949 1 30 hart Georgesca Minister of Interior Alexander Moghioros Deputy to the National Assembly and the Socialist Lotar Roddceanu Minister of Labor Gheorghiu DeJ was reported in eclipse late in June 1948 although subsequently his position in the party hierarchy seems to have been considerably regained Iosef Chisinev- schi however is believed to have emerged as number one man in Romania although he has been relatively unknown in Romania and only recently was formally appointed to the Secretariat While the Secretariat is very powerful the Executive Committee of the Party or Political Bureau is the real power in Rumania today The following are the members of the Ru- manian Politburo Iose Chi iaeoschi Ana Pauker Vasile Luca Emil Bodndras Miran Teohari Gem-gases Alexander Moghioros Gheorghiu Dej Gheorghe Apostol Gheorghe Vasilichi Lotar Stefan Voitec and Teodor Iordachesca b other Parties The three legal opposition parties which offered candidatea in the parliamentary elec- - -- 2 a tions of 19 November 1946 the National Peasant Party of Juliu Maniu the National Liberal Party of Constantin Bratianu and the Independent Social Democrat Party of Con- stantin Titel Petrescu have been broken by arrests and fear of arrests and do not exist as political entities although the last two have never been of cially suppressed by the government The government has not been content with merely destroying the three opposition parties but has also taken steps to eliminate potential focal points for political opposition such as the rich capitalist elements centered around Ghecrghe Tatarescu 3 Basic Structure ond Operoiion of the Pres- eni Government a Constitution The People's Democratic Front issued a draft constitution which with a few minor changes became the constitution of the Ru- manian Popular Republic on 13 April 1948 It promised nationalization of industry and commerce freedom of speech worship and as- sembly the suppression oi parochial schools and guaranteed to Romania's minority groups the right to use their own languages in schools and courts and to preserve their ethnic in- tegrity within the framework of the Romanian state Nationalization of Rumania s industry was enacted on 11 June 1943 Educational and Church reforms have been instituted which render all schools and churches completely subservient to the State and the Communist Party All public and private organizations religious cultural or welfare have either been subverted or openly taken over by the Party Since the end of 1940 the entire administra- tive system of the government has been purged and revamped with Communist control be- coming more apparent at every step The courts have been taken out of the hands of pro- fessional jurists and made instruments of the Party class policy The State has continued to enter those spheres of small business over- looked in the Nationalization Law of 11 June Collectivization of agriculture has now been placed on the agenda as the next most urgent task by the Resolution of the Run-ianian Work ups 301s in- iian was and rhlc n etely unist tions -been Party ristra- merged 01 be- The of pro- oi the itinued 55 over- _1 June we been urgent n Work- ers Party which was published on 15 March 1949 b Presidium With the enactment of the constitution the nominal Chief of State the High Presidium was enlarged from five to nineteen members presided over by the senile and addled C I Parhon The powers of this presidium tech- nically include the authority 1 to convoke the Chamber of Deputies at the Cabinet s re- quest to sign all laws enacted by parlia- ment 3 to grant pardons 4 to nominate and dismiss Ministers at the request of the Cabinet and to accredit and recall Ru- manian diplomatic representatives and to re- ccive letters of credence and of recall of foreign diplomats c Council of Ministers All executive powers not specifically granted to the Presidium are invested in the Cabinet or Council of Ministers The Cabinet is com- posed of the President of the Council Pre- mier three Vice-Premiers the President of the State Planning Commission and eighteen Ministers Dr Petru Groza leader of the ag- rarian Plowmen's Front Party has nominally served as Premier of Romania since 6 March 1945 but is totally without in uence The chief spokesman of the Romanian Workers Party has long been First Vice-Premier Gheor- ghe Gheorghiu-Dej Secretary General of the Party and President of the Supreme Economic Council Since mid-April 1949 other key Communist gures in the Romanian Workers Party have been promoted to Vice-Premier replacing non-Communist fellow travelers Consequently the Party high command has become even more closely identi ed with the top posts in the government Groza s tenure at of ce is therefore more problematical than heretofore since it is now apparent that the Workers Party has progressively dropped all pretense of a coalition government and will at the propitious moment assume open charge oi the Presidency of the Council as well as all government departments The few non-Com- munist Ministers who remain in the govern- ment are all dependable fellow travelers if not secretly members of the Communist Party Grand National Assembly Legislative The Grand National Assembly consisting of 414 members is completely subordinated to the directives of the Communist Party Theoretically the Prime Minister and the Cabinet are responsible to the Assembly In practice however the Assembly is merely a rubber stamp approving all legislation origi- nating in the Council of Ministers and elect- ing to the Presidium persons selected by the Communist Party a adiciary Legal reforms preceded the Constitution by a few months Their most noteworthy fea- ture was the creation of a corps known as popular assessors whose task was to assist the regular magistrates in the dispensation of justice These assessors were chosen from the trade unions and approved by the General Confederation of Labor A new law on court organization was applied beginning in 1949 which greatly enlarged the powers of the people s assessors who now sit in all penal and civil courts except the Supreme Court and actively participate in the functions of prosecutor as well as those of judge Control of the court s decision is assured by the pre- dominance oi assessors over regular judges The elections of people s assessors under the 1949 law were to begin on 16 May 1949 All present or former employers of labor were dis enfranchised in the elections The underly- ing purpose of this system adapted from the People s Courts of the Soviet Union is to in- sure that cases are decided by political ex- pediency on a class basis and in conformity with the objectives of the Communist Party rather than by legal precedent or judicial dis- cretion A 1949 revision of the penal code embodies many concepts taken from Soviet legal theory The most agrant example of Communist control of the judiciary and their flouting of the elementary principles of jus- tice is found in the trumped-up trial and con- viction of Juliu Mania the National Peasant leader as early as 1947 Under the Decree for the reorganization of the Rumanian courts which came into effect on '1 April 1949 the ordinary court system is divided into People s Courts which may be classed as urban rural or nun-zed Tribunals3 23 4 I - I gnu 41'- a Courts and the Supreme Court In addition palities under the watchful of responsible there are numerous special courts set up to Party organs handle scal agrarian labor church and army and navy matters Party In uence The conduct of Rumanian of ces is dictated g E ects of the Cominjorm Resolution From the internal Rumanian point of view the publication of the Cominform resolution against the Yugoslav Communists was the sig- by the Central Committee 0 the Workers n31 to complete purge of bourgeois and Party without attempts to conceal the origin compromising elements from the Party's 0f directives alth ugh the Rumanlan Polit- ranks It to show Rumanians who buro probably initially decides all major policy had previously engaged in wishful thinking questions in line Wit-h dif ctives The about the intentiom and life expectancy of most striking example was seen on 11 June the regime exactly what the Kremlin intended 1943 when the government obtained the eP' for their country The determination to per- proval Of a special session 0f the Chamber Of mit no deviation from Moscow directives no Deputies to nationalize almost all of Ru matter how slight was revealed at the same mania's industrial and commercial entera time prises The communique informing the Ru- manian public of this drastic undertaking an- 4 Pressure Groups nounced that the request for its enactment was made the day before its passage by the Central Committee of the Party The Cabi- net meeting which acted on the Party's re- quest lasted a bare half hour Similarly the Party Resolution of 12 December 1943 estab- lished government policy toward national mi- norities the Resolution of 23-24 December 1943 introduced the concept of the dictator- ship of the proletariat in Rumania and out- lined the duties oi the trade unions while the Resolution of 3 5 March 1949 described the steps to be taken under Party direction to- ward collectivization of agriculture a Public Opinion The Rumanians are generally considered to be an admixture of the Latin and the Orien- tal This may be offered as an explanation of their many-sided national character Vola- tile and emotional in moments of stress they are nevertheless adept at exercising patient guile and wily strategem to serve their long- range ends Their high degree of sinuous adaptability and political opportunisrn par- tially explains their survival as an ethnic en- tity and as a nation and these factors prob- ably play a strong role in the Romanian re- action to their current domination by the In effect the Party has become a super- Soviet Union government under which the Grand National Assembly and its High Presidium the Council of Ministers the Militia and Armed Forces as well as all public and private organisations function as mere agents of the Party and its Politburo Since the elevation of Ana Pau- ker Vasile Luca and Miron Constantinescu the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in April 1949 the trend has been to identify the Party high command with the top functions Hence the Rumanians are delighted over or State The Pen no longer operates in the every new incident marking a further deterio- background under the facade of a coalition ration in USSR relations with the West government but represents both the State and a power apart responsible only to the Kremlin Regional and local government hope for deliverance the rm entrenchment whose function it is to implement Party de of the present government and its vigorous crees will administer rural areas and munici unremitting endeavors to suppress and erase Most of the Rumanians live in anticipation of the day when the Russians are gone and the present leaders in Rumania are liquidated They are not capable however of making any oves to upset the regime and at present their attitude toward it is one of hostile in- ertia They see no possible hope for deliver- ance except through a war in which the West- ern nations would defeat the Soviet Union Although the great majority of the Human- ian people hate their present masters and W- a v l_ I I all Western ideas and traditions can be ex- pected with the passing of the years to wear down to negiigible proportions the will to re- sist Hatred may give way to helpless toler- ance and the Rumanians may resignedly ac- cept the new order as their blood brothers in Soviet Moldavia have had to do for three dec- ades Only if some bright hope of deliver ance is held out to them will the Romanian people be inspired to contrive effective ob slacles and resistance to the Communist sub- jugation of their nation Their history dem- onstrates that they have a rare talent for con- founding their oppressors when independence or deliverance from tyranny is an attainable goal 1 Resistance Groups There is no information available to indicate that an effective and organized opposition in the form of resistance groups is in being or is contemplated in Rumania The absolute police powers of the government are sufficient to discourage individuals or groups of indi- viduals capable of organizing and carrying out such a program Introduction of the death penalty in mid-January 1949 for viola- tion of national security even in peacetime economic sabotage and group or individual acts of terrorism have provided the govern- ment with ample power to stamp out any in- cipient gesture of revolt There has been however a number of re- long as its ability to control the focal points of such opposition remains intact c Religion Until the beginning of 1948 limited free- dom of religion existed in Rumania although it was steadily weakened by the gradual in- stallation of pro-Communist priests in the higher echelons of the Romanian Orthodox Church Since that time there has been a rapid and ruthless drive to make religious bodies t into and advance the program of Communists It has not been dif cult for the government to remold the Rumanian Orthodox Church into a docile instrument because it was a na- tional church with no support from outside the country The government resorted to strong measures to bring the Roman Catholic population into line an end not yet attained In this connection the Uniate Church Greek Catholic which acknowledged the authority of the Vatican has been brought back under Orthodoxy severing a 250-year af liation with Rome Lesser sects such as the Lutherans and Bap- tists have all felt the pressure and for the most part have conformed The Jewish Com- munity numbering some 350 000 has been subjected to terrific pressure and its recog- nized organizations have had to toe the gov ernment line in political and religious mat- ters This pressure has been exerted despite ports which are suf cient to confirm a pattern 1r the fact that the Jews anticipated preferential of small-scale and more or less spontaneous resistance These e orts are more in the na ture of reactions against the low wages and long hours of the workers particularly in the railroads The resulting acts of sabotage in the form of fires and disruption of railroad traf c are sporadic and disconnected While they undoubtedly irritate the government their value is more as a nuisance than a threat It is expected that such incidents will continue and perhaps increase in scale when the government begins its program of collectivization of agriculture Coordination of the various small groups and their develop- ment into an organized resistance cannot be effected under present conditions however and this factor will remain a potential rather treatment Consequently the desire of the Jews has been to get out and with the assist- ance of various international Jewish chari- table agencies thousands were able aiter be- ing screened by the Communist-dominated Jewish Democratic Committee to emigrate to Israel However following their attack against Zionist nationalism in the Workers Party Resolution of 12 December 1948 the Communists began early in 1940 to restrict the number of Jews permitted to leave the country This has amounted to virtual ces- sation of all emigration to Israel Strenuous e orts have been made to integrate the Jewish population in the framework of a so- vietized Romania On 4 March 1949 Ru- manian Jewry s most valuable tie with the than an actual threat to the government as West was severed through the forced liquida 91 I II et nw_ a - 1- - I A ii tion of the American Joint Distribution Com- mittee s assets in Romania The Jewish Democratic Committee thoroughly purged and reorganized under the direction of the notorious Bercu Feldman and the Federation of Jewish Communities are now the twin in- struments of Communist control of the Ru- manian Jewish population Cultural Institutions To break the hold of non-Communist cul- ture the Rumanian Government has taken strong measures especially aimed at the youth The working youth followed by school children and students were among the rst to be organized A resolution adopted at the Unity Congress held in Bucharest on 19-22 March 1949 fused all youth organisations into a single revolutionary Union of Working Youth patterned after the Soviet Komsomol and directly subordinate to the Romanian Workers Party Likewise the organisation of children between the ages of 9 and 14 into Pioneer groups also imitating the Soviet model was undertaken shortly thereafter This regimentatlon of the Rumanian youth is designed to make certain that leisure hours are used for Communist indoctrination rather than recreation Pressure is exerted to 'in- duce them to join voluntary labor brigades engaged in reconstruction work throughout the country Despite the hostility of the ma- jority of young Romanians to this type of coercion the Communist program will un doubtedly succeed in winning over to Marxist ideology an appreciable proportion of the youth if they continue to have no access to other views The Communists certainly place great hopes on the future of their thought-control program as it will affect large numbers of the younger generation The Rumanian Government has in effect given every indication that all influences ex- cept that of the Soviet Union and its Satel- lites are to be extirpated and prevented in the future from reaching the Rumanian people All institutions representing the West whether cultural religious or welfare have been progressively liquidated or taken over by the Rumanian State Denunciation of the 1929 Concordat between Rumania and the Vatican in June 1948 abrogation of the Franco-Rumanian Cultural Agreement and the closing of the Institut Francais in Ru- mania were severe blows dealt at two of the most potent Western influences in Rumania Likewise on 2 August 1948 all foreign-oper- ated schools were closed and their property con scated by the State The school reform carried out at the same time made the study of Russian obligatory in all Rumanian schools On a broader front bitter campaigns have been waged against Western literature mo- tion pictures drama and to a lesser extent art and music all of which were formerly considered a staple of life by educated Ru- manians The printing and publishing enter- prises are now a State monopoly with tons of printed propaganda being disseminated through the mass organizations under Com- munist control The book stores have been purged of capitalist literature which has been supplanted by newspapers and books eulogizing the Soviet way of life Soviet achievements and Soviet culture Daily in- doctrination in Communist ideology is man datory for every worker in Romania Zealous Communist censors scrutinize every literary work every production of the theatre concert hall or cinema for tendencies that could be associated with the decadent and reaction- ary West Even the Rumanian Academy has been nationalized on the Soviet pattern Whereas Romania is now linked by a whole series of Cultural Agreements with its neigh- boring Satellites and the Soviet Union direct and unof cial contact with Westerners is a charge serious enough for imprisonment and under the law of 13 January 1949 may even incur the death penalty By the use of terror propaganda legal re- forms and widespread purges in every wall of Rumanian life the present government is midway in the course of successfully eliminat ing Rumania's tradition of Western culture Through the security police Sigurantza the government has virtually suppressed all free dom of thought and expression not merel to insure the security of the regime but i revolutionize and reorient the ideological con cepts of the people will 11 5 Goals and Stability of the Present Regime Since the installation of the rst Groza Government on 6 March 1945 it has become steadily more apparent that the Romanian Communists are motivated by two basic de- sires to prove their delity to the USSR and to transform Rumania as rapidly as is feas- ible into a facsimile of the Soviet Union There is still fear perhaps on the part of the Communist leaders that their loyalty and in- dispensability to the USSR have not yet been fully proved In return the Kremlin is prob- ably well aWare that its Rumanian minions can look for support only to the Soviet Union that imposition of the Soviet way of life on the alien and profoundly hostile Rumanian people is possible only so long as the Commu- nist hierarchy is able to maintain its unity and absolutism Although the revolution in Romania is by now virtually complete much of the Communist program still remains to be implemented particularly in the rural areas which comprise the overwhelming majority of the Romanian population Consequently under the continued direction and control of the USSR Rumania will proceed in its domes- tic affairs toward the Communist goal of a coilectivist state supporting no ideas or poli- cies which conflict with the wishes of the Kremlin Control of the organs of govern- ment the police and judiciary all public or- ganizations and the armed forces themselves constitutes a lever of such power in the hands of the ruthless Communist minority that any remaining opposition can be suppressed and assures that the present masters of the coun- try will be able to maintain by force whenever necessary the stability of their regime