Periods of Romanian Communism from the Perspective of Policy towards Minorities

Abstract

In correspondence with the international platform, communism in Romania has gone through a series of different stages of evolution. One could speak about different phases as far back as even the post 1944 development of Romanian communism. Some of the factors that influenced the development of communism in Romania could be said to be: the fight for power, the stages of Soviet-type political transformations, evolution of the USSR’s policies and attitude, the great global or regional political and economic crises, and/or the development of political life in the socialist countries. All these political changes have had great influence on the Romanian Party’s policies towards minorities in Romania itself. These policies started from an ideological base of Marxism and Leninism, though many times having their own interpretation. The development phases of the policy towards minorities were part of the general directions of the regime’s development but also show some specific characteristics. Despite the theory and interpretation of Marxist and Leninist ideas being the same for all minorities, some differences could be observed in the Party’s national policy, even within a given phase. Taking all this into consideration and within the Party’s policy towards ethnic minorities, five great stages have been identified: the transition period (1945-1948), integration through their own elites (the paradigm of mass organisations from the Hungarian Autonomous Region, 1948-1956), the period of the impact of the Hungarian Revolution (1956-1964), from apparent liberalisation to the effects of the cultural mini-revolution (1964-1975), and the period of unchaining of communist nationalism (1976-1989).