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This article aims to critically discuss the foreign policy of communist Romania, especially towards Western Europe and the socialist bloc. It does this firstly by reviewing Elena Dragomir's recent ample analyses of communist Romania's foreign policy. Its second section consists in a critical problematization of the allegedly "pragmatic" and "adaptative" nature of communist Romania's dealings with its Western and Eastern partners, as established both by Dragomir's recent contributions, as well as the traditional scholarship. The paper ends with some more general methodological and conceptual reflections on the role, weight, and meaning of "pragmatism," "realism," "context" and "ideology" in historiographical reconstructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Communist regime in Romania sought to subordinate various societal sectors, including the judicial system and religious denominations, to its ideological goals. This study delves into the relationship between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Communist authorities, highlighting the various legal and canonical strategies employed to exert control over religious entities. Specifically, the research focuses on the Romanian Orthodox Church's alignment with Communist regulations, leading to legitimacy and canonicity in state interventions. Through an examination of legal sources and archival materials, the study emphasizes the changing dynamics of religious freedom in Romania during the Communist era. An in-depth prosopographical investigation is conducted into the case of Father Arsenie Boca, shedding light on the canonical framework of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the early Communist years and its implications for a modern understanding of this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper takes a comparative approach to examine the situation of the Catholic Church in Romania and Hungary during the communist dictatorship, looking at the specific style of the local churches from the point of view of their differences. This history cannot be adequately described in terms of the usual model of oppression-resistance to communist rule, but requires an approach that also takes into account the interaction between the ruling classes and their "subjects". The possibility or impossibility of cooperating with secular power was shaped not only by religious beliefs but also by social, ethnic and denominational interconnections and traditions, and action against the churches was differentiated by the complexity of ethno-religious relations. This is why the dictatorships that emerged east of the Iron Curtain are different versions of the Soviet model and of each other. The adaptation of the pattern has been shaped by different internal conditions and external constraints in each country, with external influences being incorporated into local contexts through a dual process of reception and mutation. The ambition was essentially the same, the means used were, however, extremely varied and the result even more mosaic. This has resulted in substantial differences, and in any case point to the specific differences between the societies concerned. To understand all this, therefore, it is essential to take account of the conditions, the characteristics of local societies across political eras, and to be aware of continuous factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article seeks to provide a partial but genuine account of the translations from English and American literatures into Romanian iii the censorship-governed, communist period, It rests on the historical, political and ideological pre-requisites that set the scene for translational censorship in Romania and thcuses on issues like: tile number of published translations, editorial policies, revision methods, translators and their status. Finally, it oveniews the 21st century debates and further investigative initiatives on censorship and translations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to illustrate an often neglected, yet relevant aspect of the collective memory construction in communist Romania. In addition to other forms of collective remembrance, cinematic representations of the recent past have played a significant role for both the political regime and the Romanian society by providing political legitimacy as well as entertainment. The communist resistance was one of the most recurrent topos of collective memory, whereas underground party supporters -- the so called "illegalists" - often had to be presented as figures of identification. The cinema permitted, however, a negotiation of the recent past on different levels. Starting from these considerations and focusing on the film production „Duminică la ora 6” (Sunday at Six, Lucian Pintilie, 1966), the paper brings into discussion the communist resistance discourse during the liberalization period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper accompanies a dataset containing information regarding the stagings of Molière's plays during the 42 years of the communist regime in Romania, from 1948 to 1989. It offers a quantitative overlook of 120 productions, through statistics and visualizations, in an attempt to make sense of the data and find trends and directions otherwise difficult to detect. The data was collected from a public repertory database, supplemented by information from the theaters' archives and reviews from period magazines and newspapers. We have strived to let the data 'speak,' minimizing speculative commentary to where we felt it was needed to add colour or emphasize certain possible patterns. For network graphing and analysis, we used Gephi 0.9 software, and for the analysis and visualization of geospatial data, QGIS 3. Data processing and graph generation were carried out using Microsoft Excel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographers have studied memory for decades, but there is currently a renewed interest in places of postmemory: sites to which memories of a past are connected, that engage those who have no living memory of the past in question. By combining a process-tracing approach to several post-communist surveys with in-depth interviews with members of the younger generation about their postmemories of the communist past, this paper explores places associated with postmemories of communism amongst young people in contemporary Romania, focusing on two types of place: (1) mega-constructions, prisons and deportation sites; and (2) sites connected to everyday life (home, shops, hospitals). The findings suggest that "postmemories in places" are reproduced and co-produced by younger people in a nuanced and complex way. Spatial postmemories of communism are not simply formed by parental or grandparental experiences of communism itself, but are also shaped by experiences of the initial post-communist period. Younger people's complex range of "postmemories in places" toward the communist past are politically multivalent: postmemory of specific sites related to the cultural welfare of the communist past did not necessarily indicate a political commitment to its restoration amongst interviewees; and postmemories of political violence associated with particular sites did not preclude unilateral pride in national achievements prior to 1989. Furthermore, "postmemory in place" is not a passive process, but one that is shaped by both a critical attitude to the responses of older generations toward particular places, and the challenges of the capitalist present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main focus of this study develops around the symbolic potential of consumption as a social phenomenon and its multiple spheres of social manifestation. Given that the literature insists upon the implications of consumption upon individual and social identity construction, this analysis lays emphasis on the influences of a certain type of consumption, strictly determined by the political regime, in a given socio-political space and well-defined time-frame—communist Romania—on the citizens' political, cultural, and even on literary identity. I have come to identify a type of "subversive consumption" which is shaped as a declaration of adhesion to the free Western world and, implicitly, as a rejection of state ideology. This strategy of revendicating another political, social and cultural descendance through consumption also manifests itself in the literary works of the poets of the so-called '80ist Literary Movement. Given communist poverty and all sorts of interdictions, certain imported goods, as well as certain cultural products, gained a deeply subversive value that was later taken up and transformed into "intentional communication" (Hebdige) and manifesto by the young poets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study examined dossiers of informative pursual (DIPs), a particular type of secret police files, before and after the fall of Communism in Romania. These DIPs were often weaponized against citizens perceived to be anti-government. Design/methodology/approach: Based on Buckland's (2017) concept of a document as an object with physical, mental and social parts, the study used thematic analysis to examine volumes of DIPs from 1945 to 1989 Communist Romania as well as several recorded reactions to the DIPs by the victims who were targeted by the Communist secret police. Findings: Four themes were revealed by the study's findings and discussed within the manuscript: DIPs as unreliable epistemic tools, DIPs as tools to construct the identity of the "People's Enemy," DIPs as weapons to fight the "People's Enemy" and DIPs as tools that could be used in counterattacks during post-Communism, including in political-economic blackmailing. Research limitations/implications: There are two major limitations to research of DIPs. First, since many DIPs have been stolen, copied illicitly or even destroyed, it is difficult to articulate precisely their actual or potential social and political effects. Researchers may often detect these effects only indirectly, based on information leaks in the news. Second, many victims of surveillance practices during the Communist period have chosen not to leave records of their reactions to reading the DIPs that targeted them. Social implications: Current and future comprehensive studies of DIPs can reveal possible parallels between surveillance by the Communist regime and the massive data-collection that occurs in democratic societies, particularly given the increased technical capabilities for processing data in these democratic societies. Originality/value: Within documentation studies, secret police files and document weaponization have been particularly under-researched, therefore this study contributes to a small body of literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Codrul Cosminului is the property of Codrul Cosminului and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article explores the assessments of Romania's place and role in regional and international politics in the context of developing Sino-Albanian relations in 1969-1978 in the analysis of Party of Labor of Albania's (PLA) first secretary, Enver Hoxha (1908-1985). The author concludes that the main interest of the Albanian leader was to determine possibility of informal alliance between the PRC, Romania and Yugoslavia in the Balkans to resist against the USSR, as well as to change the close relations between Tirana and Beijing to similar between latter and Bucharest. Judging by the evolution of Hoxha's assessments, all of his analyses, in one way or another, actually questioned the establishment of such a tandem that was important to him when the Sino-Albanian relation were permanently coming down. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The constitution of Greater Romania required the reorganization of the entire national territory in order to achieve administrative-territorial unity. The Romanian Constitution of 1923 created tlie conditions for national consolidation. The first important law in this regard was passed in 1925. It was only at this time that die territorial-administrative unification of Romania was truly accomplished. Until then, four systems specific to each of the great historical regions--the Old Kingdom, Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina--had been in force in the country. On 14 June 1925, the Parliament in Bucharest passed the Law on the administrative-territorial unification of Romania which imposed the organizational formula of die Old Kingdom on all historical Romanian provinces. In the following two decades, until the establishment of the communist regime, there were several attempts at the administrative reorganization of the country. This study proposes a synthetic presentation of the repeated attempts made in this regard by several governments of interwar Romania and the first postwar governments, with a special focus on Bihor County, one of the largest in Romania and with the most complex problems, being also a territory on the border with revisionist Hungary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present volume, German Writers and Scholars from Romania in the eyes of the State Security [Securitate], paints a picture of Romanian society during the communist period by looking at the relationship of some German writers from Romania with the Secret Police. Stefan Sienerth’s volume consists of fifteen extensive studies that provide profiles of cynical and abject members of the State Security but also of some of the writers’ informants, who were blackmailed into collaborating under threat of being arrested. All studies are based on empirical research and on analysing documents from the CNSAS Security Archive, and describe an absurd world dominated by anxiety, fear, betrayal, blackmail, as well as the unscrupulous and cynical operating methods employed by the State Security. These are very rich in information and explicit, with clear statements and very precise terminology, revealing a very experienced researcher, as well as characterizing an era through the prism of a network of destinies, some of which are implacable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Philologia is the property of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

"Visual Rhetorics of Communist Romania: Life Under the Totalitarian Gaze" by Adriana Cordali is a book that explores the visual rhetoric of communist Romania. Cordali combines personal anecdotes with academic discourse to offer a unique perspective on the topic. The book discusses the use of visual rhetoric by the totalitarian regime, including the manipulation of images and symbols to perpetuate ideologies. It also examines the transition from communist to post-communist visual rhetoric and the role of women in the regime. Cordali concludes by discussing the function of communist visual rhetoric in present-day Romania. The book is accessible to both laypersons and academics. [Extracted from the article]

THIS PAPER EXAMINES THE GREAT ECONOMIC DIFFERENCE IN TERMS OF GDP EVOLUTION IN ROMANIA SINCE 1989, WHEN THE COMMUNIST REGIME COLLAPSED, WITH THE AIM TO ANSWER THE RESEARCH QUESTION RELATED TO THIS GREAT ECONOMIC DIFFERENCE. IN 1989 ROMANIA HAD A GDP OF $41.45 BLN. COMPARED WITH $301.26 BLN. IN 2022, WHILE THE AIM OF THIS PAPER IS TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF "WHY IS SUCH A DIFFERENCE?" BASED ON THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK PROVIDED BY THE NEW INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS, IN THE PERSPECTIVE DELIVERED BY DARON ACEMOGLU AND JAMES A. ROBINSON, MY ANSWER TO THE RESEARCH QUESTION, WHICH REPRESENTS THE PAPER HYPOTHESIS, IS THAT THE POST 1989 DEVELOPMENT OF ROMANIA WAS DRIVEN BY ADOPTING INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iuliu Maniu (1873–1953) was a prominent Romanian politician known for his unwavering integrity and honesty. Maniu's legacy as a champion of Romanian patriotism and his close ties to the Greek-Catholic Church are celebrated. The narrative delves into his pivotal role in the union of Transylvania with Romania, alongside figures like Cardinal Iuliu Hossu and Patriarch Miron Cristea. sheds light on the challenges Maniu faced under the communist regime, culminating in his unjust imprisonment and tragic passing. The paper also examines Maniu's early life, education, and political career, highlighting his instrumental role in the Great Union of 1918. His leadership in the National Peasants' Party (Partidul Naţional Ţărănesc) and his efforts to create a thriving middle class in Romania are explored. The test emphasizes the stark contrast between the pre-and post-World War II political landscapes in Romania, marked by the rise of the Romanian Communist Party and the subsequent suppression of traditional parties. The grim reality of political trials and the harsh treatment of dissenting voices, including Maniu, are vividly depicted. The article concludes with reflections on Maniu's enduring legacy, underscoring his continued admiration for his contributions to Romanian nationhood and democratic ideals. Despite the efforts to erase his memory during the communist era, Maniu's impact remains an indelible part of Romania's history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims at presenting the evolution of the communist elite in Romania, between two moments essential for the history of the communist movement: the year 1941, in which Romania joins Nazi Germany in the fight against the USSR, and the year 1958, in which the Soviet troops withdraw from Romania and the Romanian political regime gradually begins to emerge from the tutelage of Moscow, following its own active cadre policy, trying to lay the foundations for a national communism. We will see what the social and intellectual basis of the "communist elite" was, and the occurrence of the events, that was, a "class enemy" reached the top of the communist movement, stepping over the "class struggle". There are also cases of cooperation even with politicians considered to be from the "old regime". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the communist period, the participation of Romanian archaeologists in international congresses organized outside Romania was limited and conditioned by the submission of activity reports to the institutions in which they carried out their activity. The reports were accessible at that time only to a limited number of people in the management of the respective institutions and officers of the Department of State Security. The present study brings into discussion two scientific reports submitted to the R.P.R. Academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freedom of expression, a fundamental pillar of democratic society, is today a fundamental right, protected at the Constitutional level, but which, over time, has been the subject of fierce struggles to enjoy legal protection and recognition. In this paper, we will analyze how this right has evolved, especially in the Romanian Constitutions after 1923, but also how it has experienced an alteration, being subjected to significant tests in recent years due to the emerging phenomenon of cancel culture. We will deepen the understanding of this phenomenon, evaluating its evolution, characteristics and impact on public discourse, respectively on freedom of expression. We will also explore the notable similarities between cancel culture and the policies of creating the „new man" from the communist era in Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Octavian Roske was a genuine intellectual, interested in studying the phenomenon of totalitarianism, contributing to the development of theoretical concepts since the early 1990s. In his work, three directions of research are evident, all essential for understanding repression during the communist regime. He was involved in research on the problem of collectivization in Romania, materialized in several volumes of studies and documents published either alone or in collaboration with other authors. He coordinated the project "Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary" (from 2001 to 2011), then another project, „Romania 1945-1989. Encyclopaedia of the Communist Regime. The Repression" (2011, 2012, 2016). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The change of the name of Braşov to Stalin City in 1950 was a consequence of the Stalinisation of Romania. However, this was not a particular case among the communist countries of Eastern Europe. In all the states that had been communized after the Second World War at least one city was named after Stalin. Braşov was an important urban center, multiethnic with a well-developed industry and thousands of workers. Therefore, the Romanian Communist Leadership had chosen it to be named Stalin city. Through the propaganda action carried out, the Romanian communists arranged things in such manner that in the eyes of the people it looked like the inhabitants of Braşov had actually the initiative of rebaptizing the city. The communist publications „Scânteia“ and „Drum Nou“ had heavily emphasized the inhabitants' enthusiasm towards this measure. In reality, this had not been the case; however, the citizens had to accept the party leadership's decision. Therefore, it can easily be noticed that the granting of Stalin's name to the city of Braşov was a political decision taken by the Romanian communist leaders in the early 1950s in the context of the Stalinist period when Romania was completely obedient to the Soviet Union. In 1960 the Romanian communist leadership decided to return Stalin city to its initial name: Brasov as a consequence of Romania's departure from USSR and the transition to the national communism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the way in which religion bolstered Roma people's demands for civic emancipation and strengthened their ethnic and cultural identity in 1970s and 1980s Romania. Based on documents mainly from the former secret police, the Securitate, the paper is divided into two main parts. The "rst is a general overview of the state of the Roma people in communist Romania and the main initiatives for their civic emancipation. Next, the paper uses the perspective of "lived religion" to study three elements that informed the religious life of Roma during the 1970s and 1980s. These are the persistence of religious beliefs, the creation of Gypsy Neo-Protestant churches, and religious pilgrimage. Moreover, the paper will show that religious practice strengthened ethnic identity, favoured individual agency, and raised questions about equal rights and religious freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the fall of communist regime religion returned to play a significant role both in the public life and the research agenda in Romania. Admittedly disadvantaged by many factors, Romanian Roma intellectual elites addressed the topic as part of an effort to give voice to their ethnic group. Their writing back to the negative profiling of the ethnic group involved confrontation of the antigypsist narratives produced and shared by non-Roma academics, which reflected the power relations between the majority population and the Roma minority. Some of the narratives were articulated and culturally reproduced in religious terms. Like the other ethnic groups living in post-communist Romania, Romanian Roma intellectuals have not missed their chance to address religion as an element in the identity politics they take part in. In this paper, I examine the manners in which the first generation of post-communist Romanian Roma intellectuals addressed the religious profile and religious affiliation and/or affinities of their ethnic group. I will also try to highlight whether there are consonances or, on the contrary, dissonances between the Western Roma and Romanian Roma narratives in this matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On May 20th, 1990, the first post-communist presidential elections took place in Romania. One of the three candidates, Ion Rațiu, was portrayed as someone who had not suffered the communism due to his exile in the past. Our objective is to analyse his electoral campaign via the PNT-CD newspaper, Dreptatea. Through the analysis of this non-FSN daily we aim to study the development of the campaign, Rațiu’s message and any eventual incidents. Thus, we will be able to understand if Romania was taking the path towards democracy or if there were still remnants of the communist past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the Papers of the International Colloquium of Romance Civilizations, Literatures and Languages (Bucharest, 14--27 Sept. 1959)--held under the aegis of the Romanian National Commission for UNESCO and of the Academy of the Popular Republic of Romania--as well as on an unpublished document from the private archive of Alphonse Dupront, the present article describes the visit to communist Romania made by the Sorbonne historian, the former director of the French Institute in Bucharest (1932-1940/1941). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on historical sociology, the article sets out to sketch a research project for a so-called “sociology for the present and the futureˮ. This “sociology for the present and the futureˮ seeks to demonstrate the relevance of Henri H. Stahl for the contemporary debate in current Romania which continues to be marked by an institutional vulnerability that one could also run into in interwar Romania, namely, institutional weakness. The general hypothesis of this research project is that the potential postcolonial elements within Stahl’s historical sociology, and also the examination of the local state transformation in the transition process to feudalism, could be used to shed light on the current state of institutional development in Romania. The article puts forward an ideal type of postcolonial thinking against which I explore the potential elements of Stahl’s border thinking. The conclusion that that text comes up with is that elements of postcolonial thinking could be identified in both Stahl’s theoretical sociology and historical sociology. The article places a particular emphasis on Stahl’s epistemological clash with certain Marxist ideas and also the dominant historical narrative of the communist regime. These aspects, however, do not automatically turn Henri H. Stahl into a postcolonial thinker. The article argues that only by exploring both the interwar and postwar intellectual fields in Romania, one could identify if Stahl really belongs – or not – to the tradition of critical sociology in Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romania illustrates the theme of famous women with Elena Ceauşescu, the wife of the former communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu1. Despite graduating the primary school with difficulty, she managed to be praised as a politician and renowned scientist. She was also the woman with the highest position in the official hierarchy of a communist state. Moreover, she remains the only woman representative sentenced to death and executed in national history. How was that possible? The socio-political context and the prestige manufacturing techniques through which the representation of a worldwide personality was built for Elena Ceauşescu will be further analyzed in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In communist Romania, the official discourse of the state would stretch over all fields of activity irrespective of their contiguity to or remoteness from the leading committees. Women magazines enrol in this general orientation and become insidious voices of communist propaganda spreading with little concern for women, their supposedly main interest, but with much solicitude for the communist party's ideology. The present article demonstrates that the pretended communist concernment for women's rights and equality is a mere cover for the praise of the communist leaders of the country and of the communist party. The 'big story' narrative subversively turns from a construct meant to eulogize women's bravery and determination into a glorification of communism. Discourse is shrewdly used to disconnect readers from reality in what may be considered the creation of a communist utopia in discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion observed, in the last half-century, in the theorisation of intelligence activity has magnetically attracted the need for an ethical topography of intelligence services' behaviour and states. Drawing on the fundamental concepts and theories of this discipline, the article applies a complex evaluation grid to a recent case, subsumed within a less popularized operation in the history of the intelligence service of communist Romania. By accumulating evidence from open sources, books, studies and corroborating all available records in declassified archives, the paper presumes that the investigations and measures undertaken by the State Security Department (Securitate) in the sphere of the cinematographic environment are suitable for an analysis from an ethical angle. Attempting to answer some fundamental ethical questions, the article includes a brief presentation of the main theories in the field of intelligence ethics, followed by a historical illustration of the main milestones in the issues addressed, during Ceauşescu's rule (1965-1989). Then, the combination of the two results in the ethical judgement, which is the fundamental subject of the article. The ethical perspective is enriched by the author's proposal of a theoretical model for evaluating and deciphering the case under inspection. The model has an adjuvant role and does not imply its dissociation from the pre-existing theoretical foundation. Its purpose is to contextualise the ethical interpretation and create a scale applicable to the subjects and facts examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a short biography of the writer Dinu Pillat. Its first aim is to highlight the main biographical aspects that made Dinu Pillat a true "class enemy" and brought him to the spotlight of the Communist "Securitate" since 1954. The article also brings forward the deeds attributed by the judicial authorities of that time to Dinu Pillat, who was arrested on the 25th of March 1959 on charges of "treason against the homeland" and "conspiracy against the social order". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romanian-Hungarian relations were never cordial but after the Second World War they had to become "fraternal", in the name of the communist ideology adopted by both countries. However, towards the end of the 1980s, Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost contributed to the constant deterioration of the relations between the two countries that climaxed in the summer of 1988. Since the plan for rural systematization that the Ceaușescu regime wanted to implement was unfolding, and Hungary perceived it as an attack on the Hungarian minority, the two countries tried to solve the problem diplomatically without success: the Hungarian consulate in Cluj-Napoca was closed, as was the Hungarian cultural center in Bucharest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A representative figure for Italian studies in Romania in the second half of the XXth century, Alexandru Balaci is known not only for his contribution to literary criticism and to lexicography but also for his political representativity, which allowed him to successfully promote the Italian culture and literature. His career began under the sign of class struggle, and this article investigates the reflection of this fundamental concept for communist ideology in the personnel file of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, as well as in the first works of the Romanian academic, hoping to shed a new light on the affiliation to the communist ideology instrumental in promoting cultural aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to provide a view on the Romanian's communist regime activity on the international stage, in the context of the geostrategic rivalry between the U.S.S.R. and the United States. The author emphasizes the way the rivals perceive each other military, political, economic power, the grounds of confrontation and especially the two superpowers' attitude towards their allies. Also, the research focuses on those events in which Romanian communist leaders took domestic and international policy decisions, in direct relation to the perception or error of perception of geopolitical developments arising from the geostrategic rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper addresses the image of women in the first decade of the communist oppression in Romania, a subject not well developed in the sociological literature. The text is a fragment of a wider study, designed in two main and opposing parts. The first one is an analysis of the official state approved version of reality, done by researching the Scânteia newspaper, the official trumpet of the communist power, documenting all the published references related to women between September 1944 and February 1954. After browsing almost 30,000 pages, each mention of a woman in the text (in general or in particular, regardless of nationality, sociocultural, economic or political background) was selected and entered into a database that grew to over 18,600 references. In other words, the official history of women in the Romanian media, narrated by the Communist Party’s newspapers and political speeches, pre-approved and censored to suit the new power’s ambitions was the main focus. The study appeared in 2022 in London (Bulumac, 2022). The second part, the present text, is still under development. However, it represents a reality check. Because behind all the official image promoted and propaganda regarding women, there was another history. Or shall we say a real herstory, that was not published in the written press, that was not told either at school or even in the close circles of friends because of the communist induced state of terror. One must note that the timeframe in question was considered to be the harshest repressive regime that the country endured until the Revolution of December 1989. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the reception of Frankfurt School critical theory in Communist Romania. After some opening remarks concerning the relevance of this topic, Section 2 sketches the evolving political and historical contexts that circumscribed this philosophical reception. The content and configuration of the Romanian reception of critical theory is then discussed in a double sequence: first (Section 3), by surveying and analysing the main clusters of arguments developed in these texts, which are filtered and classified into four categories: a) general considerations and strategic approach to critical theory; b) positive assessments; c) philosophical critiques; d) politico-practical critiques. Then, Section 4 attempts to delineate the divergent paths adumbrated in this field of critical reception, which it illustrates through the specific authorial trajectories of the main Romanian interpreters (Tertulian, Marga and Tismăneanu). Finally, the concluding remarks are devoted to some brief comparative and historical considerations on the meaning, value and amplitude of this critical reception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article (published in 2 parts) analyzes the expression and development of Marxist philosophy in communist Romania, as seen in the evolution of the official handbooks and courses of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. Its first part looked at the original Marxian foundations (Marx and Engels’ views on metaphilosophy and their actual philosophical practice), the Soviet mediations (the institutional and conceptual reconfigurations of Soviet Marxist philosophy until the death of Stalin) and the initial local Romanian configuration, as seen in the first two editions of the handbooks, published in the early 1950s and early 1960s respectively. The second part of the article follows this evolution further, up to 1989, and concludes by formulating a series of observations on the uses and abuses of Marxist philosophy in communist Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Historia is the property of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Historia is the property of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Zimra Harsányi’s personal life was connected to several countries: born in Romania as a Hungarian Jew, escaped from Communist Romania through Hungary and Germany to France where she died. During her writing career she used the names Ana Novac, Novák Anna, Harsányi Zimra, writing in three languages and three genres (drama, a holocaust diary and fiction). She became a successful author and then was immediately banned during the late 1950s. The paper discusses the author’s works connected to many languages, geographical spaces and genres, examining her fluid identity construction, playing with names and dates of birth, and also finally playing hide and seek with the Romanian secret police. Zimra Harsányi was a woman of amazing wit, playfulness and extraordinary capacity to survive very different systems, her smile being a trademark image on most of her visual representations. The paper places Harsányi’s works in a context of cross-cultural transgression, signalling also the consequences of this transgression within the reception of Harsányi/Novák/Novac’s works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a subjective account, the author discusses the works of György Gálfalvi, a major critic and editor of Transylvanian Hungarian literature during the Communist regime in Romania. The visits of the author, a Hungarian citizen, to the city of Marosvásárhely/Târgu Mureș were carefully documented by the Romanian secret police of the time, although the visits were simply about friendship, intellectual discussion, cultural exchange that were interpreted as having a political significance in the context of a totalitarian regime. The article, written for the 80th birthday of Gálfalvi, reconstructs the intellectual networks of the age through archival documents and personal memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socialism created materially and discursively an ideological context (and then tradition) to control social space and implicitly people’s experiences in society and space. The aim of my research is to identify representations of the women’s roles in communist Romania, as these were constructed by propaganda in comics for communist pioneers and published in Cutezătorii [The Daring Ones] magazine (1967-1989). My research material is made of comics where Romanian communist pioneers appear as characters. I discuss gender representations using discourse analysis and critical visual analysis. I interpret these gender representations in relation with the socialist nation and place meanings, as constructed by the official discourse. My research explores the meanings of place and the attachments created, which rest on the respective meanings. I consider the role of this official discourse about place meanings in constructing students’ place attachments (i.e., readers of the respective magazine). I concluded that the egalitarian ideology of the communist regime did not affect the patriarchal and the engendered inequalities in the Romanian society because the paternalist communist state supported the patriarchal regime. Comics show a patriarchal society despite the communist propaganda about an egalitarian society. In addition, I showed how, in the analysed comics, which were part of the popular culture, nature- and cultureinduced place attachment was influenced by a gendered socialisation with space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the manifesting of Romania’s independence from Moscow in 1968, based on diplomatic documents from the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium. Romania’s dialogue with Moscow, Prague, Belgrade and Paris are presented in this article. The article proves that beyond the political regime, the national interest of Romania was permanent and it has manifested itself when it had this chance. It was an act of courage, openness and prestige. It was a risky move, but Romania managed to avoid a Soviet invasion. Internally, however, the Bucharest regime did not embark on the path of reforms, but of neo-Stalinism, the cult of personality and communist ideological correctness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In both public and private life, aggressive exposure to communist ideology through acts of culture, false or misleading information generates an alternative reality. Therefore, one of the first purposes of the political agitation was to shape the public’s perception regarding global and domestic issues. Presenting events and facts one-sidedly, overwhelming people with visions of a possible paradisiac socialist society, and appealing to frustration created a confusing but conveniently manipulated context. By creating such a situation, citizens were encouraged to become informers who were rewarded for revealing enemies of progress and setting an example of civic morality. As a result of public and private spaces degradation, a passive and resigned citizens emerged. By providing a comprehensive overview of the communist agitator’s work, this study is intended to bring it to the attention of the public. Additionally, it will discuss agitator’s ideological education, the techniques and the strategies he was recommended to, and how he approached the agitation duties. To carry out this study, “The Agitator’s booklet” will be used as a primary source, which reflects the agitator’s work regading political-patriotic education, propaganda and many more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper is an interdisciplinary approach to one side of a poet's career who has been of late de object of critical revaluation. The book published by Ruxandra Gavra last year, "Alexandru Andritoiu şi revista Familia," is trying to improve the public image of a poet who made his debut in the „obsessive decade" of the post-war period in Romania and whose literary career came into prominence especially during Nicolae Ceausescu's regime - 1965-1989 - when he became Managing Editor of the Familia Journal, the oldest periodical in the country. In his favour are pleading his connections with the Sibiu Circle and the space granted to the Echinox group who contributed substantially to the emancipation of the literary scene through studies in literary theory and in comparative literature. Nevertheless, we consider that a sociological perspective will reveal Andritoiu's role in the consolidation of Ceausescu's cult of personality, as well as his contribution to the shaping of a mode of discourse which was not personal (a phenotext) but a genotext - an institutionalized and patterned language of ideological cliches, if we are to use Julia Kristeva's binary in Semeiotike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the important leaders ruling the destiny of the diplomatic ties of communist Romania in Moscow, Mihai Dalea was a member of nomenklatura during the Romanian socialist regime. Even if his professional trajectory wasn't always as steady as it should be for a close member of the high-ranked leaders as Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Mihai Dalea is a long lasting leaders from Romanian Communist Party. The article discuss his professional trajectory based on his Cadre file from the archive of the RCP, mostly unknown until now and memoirs of other communist leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]