A POLITICAL ACCOUNT OF ROMANIAN POLITICAL POLICE (1968)

Abstract

Abstract: The article represents a brief presentation of the political tensions of 1968, when the political police of the communist regime in Romania, named Securitate, celebrate 20 years since its establishment.The main thesis of the article is that the Securitate tried to counter the criticisms of its activity over the fifth and sixth decades. The criticism was expressed public at the plenary session of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) on April 22-25 1968, when it was exposed, also, so-called “victories against the internal enemies of the communist regime”.This action was directed from the highest command levels of Securitate. In anticipation of the 20th anniversary of its establishment, the president of the State Security Council, Ion Stănescu, ordered the central directorates and the county inspectorates to identify in the archives, in order to popularize them, the officers and non-commissioned officers who distinguished themselves in the battles on the defense of so-called “revolutionary conquests of the people”. The result of Ion Stănescu's initiative was a belated and rather approximate assessment of the confrontations with the partisans. Also, several photo albums reflecting the activity of the Ministry of the Interior were made.Like 1956, the 1968 was a year of crisis for the communist system in Europe. Paradoxically, perhaps, although the moment marked the end of illusions for many Communists, the danger of the system's dissolution was now less significant than it had been twelve years earlier.The political upheavals of 1968 is a topic often approached in the last years historiography, but still insufficiently known and explained.