Social Change in Communist Romania

Abstract

It has been claimed by scholars, both within Romania and elsewhere, that Communist rule Romania from the economic crisis that existed in the 1930s. A close analysis reveals, however, that the economic achievements of the regime are comparable to those which have occurred elsewhere in Europe under different political systems. It is argued that Romania's relative position among the industrial nations has remained about the same as it was in the pre-socialist period. Moreover, there is much evidence that the socialist period represents less of a break with the ancien regime than the Romanian leaders claim. It is suggested in this article that Romania is closer to the structure of the corporatist society outlined by social theorists in the 1930s than is generally recognized. The Communist government of Romania lays its main claim to legitimacy on the rapid economic growth and social modernization which have occurred in the last 30 years, and also on the supposed fact that before 1944 Romania was imprisoned in a set of hopeless problems from which there seemed to be no escape. Many distinguished foreign observers, both before and since the advent of Communism, agree. Many Romanian intellectuals, particularly social scientists in the 1930s, also felt that there existed a major crisis which could only be resolved with difficulty, if at all. Among those intellectuals who have survived the war, the purges and jailings of the first decade of Communist rule, and simple old age, many agree today that the government's claim to have saved Romania has considerable merit, even if the rescue operation might have been carried out more rationally and humanely. In retrospect, and when it is compared to the situation in a number of Third World countries in the 1970s, Romania's situation in the 1930s was not, however, all that catastrophic. When Romania in the 1930s was compared to Western Europe, of course, and even to substantial portions of Eastern Europe, its situation was, indeed, poor. This remains as true today as it was in the 1930s, except that all of Europe has experienced rapid economic growth. Within any one country, Romania included, comparisons with the levels of the 1930s show impressive progress. Not only has this progress transformed Western Europe, but all of the poor semicircle of