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The Evolving Power in Romanias History By Dan Gocan English 101 Rebecca McCarthy 12/02/2012

There are many historical events that occurred in human history, including great political revolutions. Many of these events had a great impact on countries that determined the future of the countrys political system. The impacts of communism require sacrifice from the people that resulted in dreadful living conditions, but in the end the fight was worth it. Revolutions redefine countries; a revolution gives new hope to citizens and reconstructs the government. Many revolutions resulted from a communist dictatorship and control over people, but in the end they all resulted in a government for the people. The Romanian people couldnt resist the lies of Ceausescu anymore, so they started a mass protest in front of the parliament building that resulted in a revolution. When the revolution in Romania began in December 21, 1989, the Romanian people were shocked and amazed of what was happening; people were rejoicing that freedom is near. The world watched as the Big brother power fell and was defeated by little brother, the people. The betrayal of the Romanian people through communism resulted in a quickly formed, unbalanced democratic government that didnt understand how to properly regulate a free market economic system. The book is outlined based on two parts. Part one will be based on different time frames that will describe the overthrow of the government. First time frame is based in the time before the revolution. Understanding the relationship between Big brother (Ceausescu) and little brother (the people of Romania) before the revolution and analyzing the way of life. Second time will examine the revolution. Understanding the how Big brother (Ceausescu) expose his weakness, how communism fell, and how little brother (the people of Romania) gained control when announcing on television that both Nicolae and his wife have been executed.

The third time frame will explain how the new government was formed and what actions it needed to take for a new successful government. It also examines the new relationship after the revolution between Big brother and little brother. Part two will be based on solutions in which little brother and big brother have to obtain in order to put the country back on track. The paper will also examine where Romania is failing now, and how that failure affects the people.

PART 1 During his Presidency, Nicolae Ceausescu was a young communist leader that dictated the country in any direction he wanted. In the early years of his ruling, communism began to show its benefits to the people, as this form of rule added services, jobs, and gained the quality of life. Ceausescu began to apply strategies to promote the communist party of the country. The strategies that he would use are very similar to an article by Paul Gingrich, stating Max Weber's concepts on power, domination, legitimating, and authority. Gingrich talks about how dominance is involve in power relations stating a power relation which is one of dominance involves

voluntary compliance or obedience. Individuals are not forced to obey, but do so voluntarily (Gingrich). He also states that when dominance continues for a considerable period of time, it becomes a structured phenomenon, and the forms of dominance become the social (Gingrich). Ceausescu would organize events in front of his parliament and give out speeches that people would cheer in agreement of how great a socialist country was. One speech that he gave, described that if even an inch of Romania was occupied, we would open fire. The entry of troops from the five Socialist countries into Czechoslovakia constitutes a big mistake. It is a grave danger for peace in Europe and threatens the future of socialism all over the world ( Lewis, 3:45 ). Ceausescu made a clear and bold statement that promoted him onto the international stage. Ceausescu was invited all over the world, he began to get involved in the international community including trips to Cuba, United States of America, Great Britain, and Israel to help arrange peace settlements. That moment in time was one of a kind, people all over the world cheered him for standing up to the soviet union for his country, and he made the relationship with his people great, and people all over the world. He started a new level of pride; people were happy to be Romanians: Ceausescu made us feel we were no longer the slaves of Moscow. He made us believe we meant something in the world. We weren't nobodies (Lewis, 5:50 ).

Ceausescu then created a new kind of political theater which involved a massive population to perform in front of Ceausescu and his wife. The people that were performing had to practice 8 hours a day for two months to be ready for the event. This new theater was a strategy of political propaganda that made the viewers at home think that he is a good leader. There was programs on TV only two hours at a time, in which one hour would be for watching the dances and the next hour would be propaganda media and then a little bit of music(Popescu). To promote communism there would be propaganda on the streets of Romania's biggest cities. The propaganda would be praising the leader with a picture and saying how many years the communist party was ruling. At that time the country was doing well, it had many resources that were used in the production of and sold in other countries to get revenue, but the only thing stopping that is pricing the products cheap. Ceausescu also had the security force on his side which looked over the population and catching anyone who opposes the leader. The secret security force was looking for opposition groups and anyone attempts to cross the border. The secret security force as unknown, it can be anyone you know. This method of dictatorship

caused a force of approval in everything that Ceausescu did. This is similar to the book called Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle by Kenneth Burke. When he describes that the presence of a special Nazi guard, in Nazi uniforms, was of great importance to building up, among the followers, a tendency to place the center of authority in the Nazi party (Burke p.217). Ceausescu knew that having a security force will help him be protected from any developing opposition. As great as communism sounded, it was harsh on the people as well. The downgrade of the economy started a few years before the revolution draining all the goods with it. The relationship between Big brother and little brother was falling apart. Big brother made a clear order of crisis when he decided to conserve energy, food and other needs in order to pay off national debt. In doing so Ceausescu cut off electricity by setting a limit that if it goes over, the power grid will shut off automatically. Another resource that got short was food. Restricting food created chaos in the streets, because the people had to wait in line for hours. The people were feeling betrayed by their leader with a harsh cut back. It didn't take long for the relationship to end. In result of the betrayal from Ceausescu, the people had enough of the propaganda, slogans, shows that promoted Ceausescu, and false news reports, and promises from Big brother that he will allow more food. They were nothing but lies and fake publications from the communist party. This situation is similar to the one that Orwell wrote in the book 1984, when he describes propaganda, shows and parades were all fake processions, meetings, military parades, lectures, waxworks, displays, film shows, telescreen programmers all had to be organized; stands had to be erected, effigies built, slogans coined, songs written, rumors circulated, photographs faked (Orwell p.186).

After a couple of years, little brother couldnt hold its silence any longer, a man started to protest against Ceausescu and it became a big battle. Other people began to protect the man from the orders of Ceausescu, which were to kill the man that was apposing Ceausescu. The forces opened fire and started killing innocent people of Romania. After that happened, the word spread all around the country that people were killed by the security forces. A few days later while Ceausescu was trying to give a speech the people intercepted and began to demonstrate with signs that say down with Ceausescu. Next Ceausescu ran back into the parliament and grabbed his wife to run up on the roof to get in the helicopter. As they took off, the people quickly stormed the parliament and the news station to declare that freedom is coming. Some of the forces were still battling the people, because of Ceausescu commands. After a few hours Ceausescu and his wife were captured and justified with execution by the peoples court. After Ceausescu was killed the demonstrator group organized with government leaders and started declaring that Romania now belonged to the people. During this process of democracy the group went live every half hour to alert people of the security forces and ordered the army forces to

protect communications as the army forces were with the people of Romania. It took the group a couple of days to restore order and to choose a new president for the Romanian country. Noemi Marin describes the end of the regime well when she says At a time when most Eastern and Central European countries entered the realm of political transition, Ceausescus rhetorical appeals clashed with the growing hopes of Romanians to hear the bells of freedom. Thus, aside from historical, political, socio-cultural and economic changes, Romanian political discourse of 1989 marked the end of a rhetorical era, of forty-five years of totalitarian rhetoric and a political discourse that had left no space for democratic or civic deliberation in the public sphere (Marin) Once the revolution was over, a few days later the National Salvation Front of Romania formed and declared the new leadership of Romania. The party consisted of 40 top politicians, dissidents, and intellectuals. The task of developing a new open market government is a difficult one, in which it requires critical attention when establishing new policies such as: property rights, banking systems, policies on inflation, and negotiations on old traditions and ideologies to make a path towards the new capitalist system. In the first few years after the revolution there was a period of purification in Romania, people were rejoicing and happy, they would make committees in companies to fire the communist boss, people would also start to invest and make their own company. The relationship was great, for the first time in history the Romanian people can feel freedom and know that the new government was better.

PART 2 The reason why the Romanians are in such a bad situation right now is because when the NSF (National Salvation Front) stepped in control of the country, they released rights to investors to invest and buy. Romania was not ready for this kind of market, and so the politicians didnt understand exactly how the capitalist open market system really works. Once the Romanian people started to sense that the government couldnt be trusted anymore by expensive goods and high unemployment, the people started to look for different work or a new lifestyle. The solution for stopping the corruption is to get U.N. leaders to assess Romanias situation and make open market policies according to Romania available resources. Ceausescu didnt know what he had coming for him; the betrayal of a whole country will come back and hunt the dictator with over throwing of government. The betrayal of the Romanian people through communism resulted in a quickly formed, unbalanced democratic

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government that didnt understand how to properly regulate a free market economic system. The Romanian people show the world that communism is a controlling scheme. The revolution proves that the people of Romania were ready for a big change, even thaw the recovery of a new system didnt go well as planned.

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APPENDIX A
Interview with Costel Popescu. Dan- How was the lifestyle before the revolution? Costel- it was empty, we couldnt leave the country, we felt traped. Dan- How was the economy before the revolution? Costel- It was good but the pricing to the other side was to cheap to produce any revenue. Dan- How was the work environment and the attitude? Costel- everyone was fine, you couldnt express your full opinion, forced to stay silent if you didnt like something. Dan- How was the health care treatment if you got hurt? Costel- well it was all free compare to now, it requires a little tip to get more care. Dan- How was the religion before revolution? Costel- it was ok, if the Baptist wanted to make a church, they would build it and then if the army would find out, they would demolish it. Dan-What was the secret security? Costel- they were a group of unknown people that would report anyone who opposed the regime.

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Dan- Was there any false advertising that you have seen? Costel- Yes, everyone new that these were false; most of Ceausescus word, posters and videos were false. Dan-How was the revolution? Costel- It was a lot of bloodshed and a lot of fighting in the capital. Dan- Is there democracy in Romania right now/ Costel- Yes, it is free but the government is becoming corrupt because of the leaders that we have.

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Works Cited

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty Four. South Australia: U of Adelaide Library, 2012. Ebook. The King of Communism (Nicolae Ceausescu). Ben Lewis. YouTube. 2007. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. Gingrich, Paul. Max Weber's Idea Of: Power, Domination, Legitimation, and Authority. Sociology 250 - Notes on Max Weber. U of Regina, Last edited 10 October 7 1999. Web. Popescu, Costel, Personal interview. 14 Nov. 2012. Romanias Bloody Revolution. BBC NEWS. 1999. Web. 22 Dec. 1999. Burke, Kenneth. The Philosophy of Literary Form Studies in Symbolic Action. 2nd edition. Louisiana State University Press. 1967. 191-220 Print.

Reuters, Romania: Death of Dictator: Profiles of National Salvation Front Leaders LATIMES, Web, 26 Dec. 1989.
Rittenberg, Libby, and Timothy Tregarthen. "Economies in Transition: China and Russia." in Principles of Macroeconomics (Web-book). ND. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://www.webbooks.com/eLibrary/NC/B0/B62/101MB62.html> Marin, Noemi. Totalitarian Discourse and Ceausescus Loss of Words: Memorializing Rhetoric in 1989 Romania, Central European University Press. Budapest-New York. Print.