Religious Diplomacy and Socialism, 1956–9

Abstract

On 24 February 1956, at the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU, Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s crimes in a ‘secret speech’ criticising the rise of ‘the cult of personality’ and deviation from the doctrine of ‘collective leadership’.1 Khrushchev’s words came as a shock to Gheorghiu-Dej who felt that he was under attack for his authoritarian style. Gheorghiu-Dej was perceived as a Romanian Stalin and, returning from Moscow, took almost a month until he presented the directives of the Soviet Congress to the RWP. In his report to the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RWP, held from 20 to 23 March 1956, Gheorghiu-Dej omitted Khrushchev’s ‘secret speech’ but criticised some of Stalin’s political measures without fundamentally condemning his legacy. He suggested that Romanian communists had managed to remove those associated with the Stalinist cult of personality in 1952, referring indirectly to the elimination of Ana Pauker. According to his opinion, Romania witnessed a de-Stalinisation process even in 1952, before the death of Stalin, and there was no need for further political transformations. Gheorghiu-Dej’s report faced public criticism from Miron Constantinescu and Iosif Chis¸inevschi, who had attended the Moscow Congress with him. However, their comments did not have any impact on Gheorghiu-Dej’s position in the party.