Socialist Republic of Romania (1947–1989)

Romanian People's Republic (1947–1965) Republica Populară Romînă Socialist Republic of Romania (1965–1989) Republica Socialistă România
1947–1989
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Proletari din toate țările, uniți-vă! ("Proletarians of all countries, unite!")
Anthem: Zdrobite Cătușe (1948–1953) Te slăvim, Românie (1953–1977) Trei Culori (1977–1989)
Capital	Bucharest
Official languages	Romanian
Dominant mode of production	Socialism
Government	Unitary Marxist-Leninist socialist republic
General Secretary
• 1944-1954	Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
• 1954-1955	Gheorghe Apostol
• 1955-1965	Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
• 1965-1989	Nicolae Ceaușescu
Head of State
• 1947-1952 (first)	Constantin Ion Parhon
• 1967-1989 (last)	Nicolae Ceaușescu
President of the Council of Ministers
• 1947-1952 (first)	Petru Groza
• 1982-1989 (last)	Constantin Dăscălescu
Legislature	Grand National Assembly (Marea Adunare Națională)
History
• Proclamation of the Republic	30 December 1947
• First Constitution	13 April 1948
• Second Constitution	24 September 1952
• Third Constitution	21 August 1965
• De facto disestablished	27 December 1989
• De jure disestablished	8 December 1991
Area
• Total	238,397 km²
Population
• 1989 estimate	23,151,564
• Density	97.11 per km²
Labour
• Labour force	10.69 million (1987)
• Occupation	34% industry, 28% agriculture, 38% other
GDP (nominal)	1988 estimate
• Total	$151.3 billion (1989 US Dollars)
• Per capita	$6,570 (1989 US Dollars)
Exports	1988 estimate
• Value	$11.5 billion
• Commodities	Machinery and equipment (34.7%), fuels, minerals and metals (24.7%), manufactured consumer goods (16.9%), agricultural materials and forestry products (11.9%), other (11.6%) (1986)
• Partners	USSR (27%), Eastern Europe (23%), EC (15%), US (5%), China (4%) (1987)
Imports	1988 estimate
• Value	$8.75 billion
• Commodities	Fuels, minerals, and metals (51.0%), machinery and equipment (26.7%), agricultural and forestry products (11.0%), manufactured consumer goods (4.2%) (1986)
• Partners	Socialist states (60%), non-socialist states (40%) (1987)
External debt	None (1989)
HDI (1990 report)	0.863
Currency	Romanian Leu
Calling code	+40
Today part of	Romania

The Socialist Republic of Romania (Romanian: Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a socialist state that existed from December 1947 to December 1989. The Marxist-Leninist government ruled until 1989, when the Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu was overthrown and the government replaced with one aligned with Western capitalist interests.

Names

• Romanian People's Republic (Republica Populară Română, RPR) (1947–1953; 1964–1965)
• Romanian People's Republic (Republica Populară Romînă, RPR) (1953–1964)
• Socialist Republic of Romania (Republica Socialistă România, RSR) (1965–1989)

History

August 1944 coup d'état

On the night of the 13–14 June 1944, representatives of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) presented their plan for the removal of fascist leader Ion Antonescu from power to the representatives of the King.

The proposed plan would have King Michael order Antonescu to sign an armistice with the Allies and, if he refused, have him arrested on the spot.

The coup was carried out on 23 August 1944, following the plan proposed by the PCR. After an hour-long discussion with the King, Antonescu refused to sign the armistice, and was arrested by a colonel and four soldiers. Antonescu was executed two years later, on 1 June 1946.

On the day of Antonescu's arrest, the Romanian army switched sides and began fighting against the Nazis along with the Soviet Union. Following this, a government formed by the National Democratic Front (FND; consisting of the Communist Party, as well as the National Liberal Party (PNL), the National Peasants' Party (PNȚ) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD)) would take power.

Antonescu's execution at Jilava

"Everything for the front, everything for victory - The Patriotic Defence" An illustration issued by the PCR, calling the population to arms.

Socialist rule

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

In 1946, Romania held its largest election ever, with 4.77 million people voting for the Communist-led Bloc of Democratic Parties (BPD), formerly the National Democratic Front. The new government forced King Michael to abdicate. In 1948, the PCR and PSD merged to form the Romanian Workers' Party (PMR), led by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. The country began an electrification plan and confiscated farmland, mansions, and castles from the nobility. Under socialism, industrial output increased by more than seven times and the life expectancy rose by 30 years. By 1980, the socialist government had built 4.6 million houses.

Romania joined the Warsaw Pact in 1955. With Chinese support, it negotiated the removal of Soviet soldiers from Romania and was neutral during the Sino-Soviet Split.

Nicolae Ceaușescu

Gheorghiu-Dej died in 1965 and Nicolae Ceaușescu succeeded him as General Secretary. Ceaușescu ran the country on a platform of Romanian nationalism, wanting to make Romania a world power, and sought out Western financial aid from institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. In the 1980s, Romania had to ration electricity and food due to IMF austerity measures.

Coup d'état

In April 1989, Romania finished paying its debt to the IMF and banned taking any further loans from the West. On 21 December 1989, Ceaușescu announced he would raise wages and pensions.

In December 1989, protestors attacked police and began a brief civil war that overthrew the socialist government of Romania. Hundreds of police and soldiers were killed as well as 142 protestors. The CIA-backed Western media claimed that Romania killed over 60,000 peaceful protestors.

Economy

Industry

The average annual increase in gross output during the years 1951–1974 was 13%. The group of industries producing means of production is developing at a faster pace. During the years of people's power in the field of heavy industry, such industries as machine tool building, tractor and automobile construction, large-tonnage shipbuilding, production of electric diesel locomotives, oil, energy, mining, chemical and other production and technological equipment, electronics industry, as well as petrochemicals, etc. were created.

The construction materials industry developed across the board. The production of consumer goods also increased significantly, satisfying the ever-increasing demand of the population. Industrial development increased year after year. Modern technology was introduced into all sectors of the economy. An important trend in industrial development was the increasing degree of development and use of the country's natural resources. As a result, serious structural changes occurred in industry:

Industries by sector (1974)

Industry	Gross production (%)	Workforce (%)
Electricity generation	2.7	1.5
Fuel production	3.9	3.8
Oil production	2.3	1.4
Ferrous metallurgy	7.7	3.3
Non-ferrous metallurgy	2.7	2.7
Mechanical engineering	30.5	31.0
Chemicals	11.2	6.7
Construction materials	3.1	4.5
Forestry and woodworking	5.0	11.7
Pulp and paper	1.2	1.3
Textiles	7.3	12.0
Sewing	5.2	6.4
Leather and footwear	1.9	4.0
Foodstuffs	14.2	8.0
Other	1.1	1.7
Source: Great Soviet Encyclopedia - Romania

Production of main industrial products (1938­–1974)

Industrial Product	1938	1950	1960	1974
Electricity (billions of kWh)	1.1	2.1	7.7	49.1
Coal (millions of tons)	2.8	3.9	8.2	29.2
Lignite (millions of tons)	0.3	0.8	3.1	20.0
Oil (millions of tons)	6.6	5.0	11.5	14.5
Natural Gas (billions of m3)	2.0	3.4	10.3	30.1
Steel (millions of tons)	0.3	0.6	1.8	8.8
Aluminium (thousands of tons)	–	–	–	187
Sulfuric Acid (thousands of tons)	44	52	226	1358
Fertilizers (thousands of tons)	–	0.6	71	1410
Plastics and resins (thousands of tons)	–	0.4	12.4	283
Chemical fibers (thousands of tons)	0.9	2.3	4.1	159 (including yarn)
Synthetic fibers (thousands of tons)	–	–	0.9	96
Trucks (thousands of units)	–	–	8.4	31.5
Passenger cars (thousands of units)	–	–	1.2	67.5
Tractors (thousands of units)	–	3.5	17.1	44.6
Metalworking machines (thousands of units)	–	–	4.4	24.8
Lumber (millions of m3)	2.2	3.6	3.9	4.8
Cement (millions of tons)	0.5	1.0	3.1	11.2
Cotton fabrics (millions of m2)	104	148	248	612
Sugar (thousands of tons)	95	87	391	516
Vegetable oils (thousands of tons)	18	36	118	332
Canned fruits and vegetables (thousands of tons)	2.4	33	75	504
Source: Great Soviet Encyclopedia - Romania

Agriculture

Land use and crops

In 1974, the entire socialist sector accounted for 95.3% of arable land, 92.8% of pastures, 57% of hayfields, 96.7% of vineyards, 78.9% of orchards. In the socialist sector of state agriculture, enterprises owned 4.5 million hectares of agricultural land, including 2.1 million hectares for 370 state farms (with 245,000 employees); There were 4420 agricultural production cooperatives (encompassing 3.4 million families) which accounted for 9 million hectares, consisting of over 8 million hectares of socialized land and about 1 million hectares of personal plots of agricultural members.

There were specialized livestock farms. Agriculture is served by 743 stations for agricultural mechanization (with 119,000 employees); 116,800 tractors are working; 28,000 grain harvesters, 3,500 corn harvesters, 12,200 self-propelled combine harvesters (1974). The use of mineral fertilizers increased from 74,500 tons in 1960 to 814,000 tons in 1974.

Land allocated for agriculture covered 14.9 million hectares, or 62.9% of the country's territory. Cultivated lands: 9.7 million hectares of arable land and 770,000 hectares of perennial plantings - vineyards and orchards. There were 1.4 million hectares of natural meadows, 3 million hectares of pastures.

The gross agricultural output was dominated by crop production, the share of which gradually decreased (59% in 1973 versus 65% in 1960), and the role of livestock farming increased. In the structure of crops (in 1973) grains and legumes accounted for 62.1%, fodder - 18.4%, technical - 12.7%, potatoes - 3.0%, open ground vegetables - 2.5%. The main grain crops were corn and wheat, industrial crops were sunflower and sugar beets. Oats were also sown, as well as rice. On the Transylvanian Plateau, fibrous plants were common - hemp, fiber flax; to the South and North-East: tobacco, curly flax, essential oils. Between 1938 and 1974, the composition of fruit trees changed: the share of plums in the harvest increased sharply (from 20% to 50%), the share of apples (from 41% to 23%) and other fruits decreased. Over three-fifths of fruit-yielding farms, and one third of vineyards were owned by homestead and individual farms.

Cultivated area and harvests (1938–1974)

Crop	Area (thousands of hectares)				Harvest (thousands of tons)
	1938	1960	1965	1974	1938	1960	1965	1974
Wheat and rye	3024	2935	3086	2429	3961	3553	6062	5049
Corn	3878	3572	3306	2944	4092	5531	5877	7440
Barley	692	266	233	403	502	405	485	917
Sugar beets (factory)	33	200	190	219	485	3127	3013	4947
Sunflower	67	480	462	509	58	522	564	681
Potato	135	292	298	295	1331	3009	2195	4119
Vegetables (open ground)	78	191	181	230	451	1831	1655	2955
Tobacco	11	22	38	53	9	16	35	39
Flax	14	23.5	23	51	13	42	53	101
Source: Great Soviet Encyclopedia - Romania

Animal husbandry

For traditional industries - sheep breeding and beef cattle breeding - the summer mountain pastures of the Carpathian Mountains serve as the food supply. Livestock productivity (1974): average milk yield per 1 forage cow - 1606 litres, wool clipped from 1 sheep - 2.2 kg.

Livestock and poultry (in millions)

Animal	1938	1960	1975
Cattle	3.7	4.5	6.0
Buffalo	1.8	2.2	3.0
Pigs	2.8	4.3	8.6
Horses	1.6	1.0	0.6
Sheep and goats	10.5	11.9	14.4
Poultry	27.3	38.0	67.7
Source: Great Soviet Encyclopedia - Romania

Livestock and poultry products (thousands of tons)

Animal	1938	1960	1975
Meat	760	943	1977
Milk	2158	3242	4348
Wool	15.1	21.9	31.0
Oil	–	12.6	30.3
Eggs (in millions)	1354	2355	4871
Source: Great Soviet Encyclopedia - Romania