Area Handbook for Romania Part 17

The result of the membership drive, announced at the 1967 party conference, was the addition of 230,000 new PCR members, bringing the total to 1,730,000. At the 1969 party congress it was announced that the PCR had 1,924,500 members, representing about one-seventh of the total adult population. In February 1971 the Central Committee reported that the membership had grown to 2.1 million, making the PCR one of the largest communist parties in Eastern Europe.

Statistics reported by the party press indicated the nationality composition of the PCR as consisting of 88.8 percent Romanians, 8.4 percent Hungarians, and slightly over 1 percent Germans, with the remainder encompa.s.sing other nationalities. As the 1966 census had shown that Hungarians represented 8.4 percent of the total population, the Germans 2 percent, and other nationalities about 2 percent, the nationality composition of the party compares favorably with that of the country as a whole.

Workers reportedly made up 44 percent of the party membership; peasants, 26 percent; and intellectuals and white-collar workers, 23 percent.

Seven percent were uncla.s.sified as to status. Statistics indicating the age composition of the party were also published, revealing that 24 percent of the membership was under thirty years of age; persons between the ages of thirty and forty made up 36 percent of the membership, and 40 percent of the members were over forty years old.

The PCR membership campaign had been given particular emphasis in the major industries, such as the metal, machine-building, coal, petroleum, and chemical industries, where 27 to 36 percent of the workers were reported to belong to the party. Female membership was reported as 23 percent, up from 17 percent in 1960 and 21 percent in 1965. The report contained a recommendation that a larger number of women be a.s.signed to responsible positions. Statistics for the army revealed that 90 percent of the officers and 55 percent of the noncommissioned officers were party members. The fact that over 926,000 members lived in rural areas was a.s.serted by the PCR leaders to be proof of peasant support and a demonstration of the effectiveness of the party in organizing at the village level.

In 1970 the party press reported that an a.n.a.lysis of the leading national and local PCR bodies revealed that the greater proportion of their memberships consists of those drawn from the ranks of the working cla.s.s. Of the 285 members and alternate members of the Central Committee, 197, or nearly 70 percent, were workers or persons who had come from the workers' ranks. Of the 4,698 members of county party committees, 2,144 or 45.6 percent were said to be workers or from the working cla.s.s. Together, workers and peasants were reported to make up over 64 percent of the membership of county committees. As many as 81 percent of the activists of the county, munic.i.p.al, and communal party committees were--according to their basic professions--workers, foremen, or technicians.

Party Training

In early 1970 the PCR carried out a major reorganization of its primary inst.i.tution for the training of leading party workers, the Stefan Gheorghiu Party Academy. With the reorganization, the full name of the inst.i.tution became the Stefan Gheorghiu Academy for Social-Political Education and the Training of Leading Cadres. Its tasks were defined as the training of party activists and the development of party leaders capable of resolving problems and "applying the science of political leadership to the party and society."

Ceausescu explained that the reorganization was necessary for upgrading the training of activists for the party as well as for various sectors of economic and state life. He also stated that the combination of party training with state and economic activity is based on the principle that the PCR is the leading force of the society and, as such, must ensure the proper training of the personnel needed to guide all sectors of activity.

As reorganized, the academy is divided into two departments, one for the training of cadres in the party and in ma.s.s organizations and a second for the training of personnel who work in the economy and state administration. Each department is subdivided into a number of inst.i.tutes, sections, and training centers. Within the first department is the Inst.i.tute for Training Cadres in Social-Political Management, which in turn is subdivided into sections for political-organizational activity, political-ideological activity, and political-economic activity. Also within the same department are the Journalism Faculty, the Center for the Education and Training of Party and Ma.s.s Organization Cadres, the Center for Improving the Political-Ideological Training of Teachers of Social-Political Sciences in State Schools, and the Center for Activist Training Courses. The Center for Activist Training Courses provided programs of study for activists in the party, the youth organization, labor unions, and workers in offices of foreign affairs.

The last two centers are divided into several sections that specialize in the training of particular cla.s.ses of activists.

The second department, that which provided training for state employees and for those working in economic activities, consists of the Central Inst.i.tute for the Education of Leading Cadres in the Economy and State Administration, a section for short-term courses, and a section for training in specialized management and organizational problems. The inst.i.tute includes sections on the organization and management of industrial activity, of construction, of transport and telecommunications, of agriculture, of circulation of goods and services, of planning, and of state administration. In addition, the department organizes courses for chairmen of agricultural production cooperatives.

Admission to the academy programs is carefully controlled by the party.

Courses in the first department last for four years, and candidates are selected from among the activists in the county and city party committees and the central PCR bodies and from loyal party workers in the ma.s.s organizations. Political activists in the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the State Security Council are also eligible for training in the first department.

PCR regulations stipulate that candidates for training in the first department must have worked for at least three years in production and have had at least three years' experience in ma.s.s organizations. In addition, the candidate must have completed at least a five-month course in one of the lower level party schools, have a high school diploma or its equivalent, and be thirty-five years of age or younger.

Courses in the second department last for two years. Requirements for admission into this department include extensive experience in organization and management related to industry and labor, at least eight years of service, membership in the PCR, graduation from a higher education inst.i.tute, and an age of forty years or younger.

In addition to the broad program of the academy, the PCR also maintains other ideological training inst.i.tutions. These include the Inst.i.tute of Historical and Social-Political Studies in Bucharest, which functions under the direct supervision of the Central Committee, and lower level training programs that operate under the county party committees.

During 1971 the PCR placed increased emphasis on both the political and general education of all party workers, and the Central Committee decreed that only those who can keep up to date in their fields of activity would be promoted. As a followup to the decree, the Central Committee initiated a series of twenty- to thirty-day training programs and required some 15,000 persons from party, state, and ma.s.s organizations to attend the sessions. The order included a warning that those who did not successfully complete the courses would lose their jobs.

Observers of Romanian politics stated that the decision to require this additional training of state and party workers stemmed from the fact that the majority of personnel on both the central and local levels had been named to their positions on the basis of faithful party activity rather than their professional qualifications. The stipulation that those who do not successfully complete the courses would lose their jobs enables the party to replace those who are not qualified to fill their positions.

The study programs, designed to include practical work, discussion of specific problems, and field trips, cover a number of subjects including "the basic Marxist-Leninist sciences of management and organization,"

automatic data processing, the utilization of electronic calculators, methods of socioeconomic a.n.a.lysis, and the projection of plans, as well as a number of special subjects related to the various fields of activity of the partic.i.p.ants. To facilitate the training of larger numbers, branches of the Stefan Gheorghiu Party Academy's Center for the Education and Training of Party and Ma.s.s Organization Cadres were set up in Bucharest and in seven counties.

Ma.s.s Organizations

The PCR has fostered the development of a large number of ma.s.s organizations that function as its auxiliaries. Comprised of members of an interest group or a profession whose welfare they purport to serve, the ma.s.s organizations provide channels for the transmission of policy and doctrine from the party to the general population. PCR leaders have described the duties of ma.s.s organizations as the mobilization of the working people for the fulfillment of party policies and the provision for their partic.i.p.ation in the economic, political, and cultural life of the country. Leaders of the ma.s.s organizations are always reliable PCR members.

Citizens are const.i.tutionally guaranteed the right to join together in organizations. At the same time, the Const.i.tution defines the leading role of the party in relation to the ma.s.s organizations, a.s.serting that through such organizations the PCR "achieves an organized link with the working cla.s.s, the peasantry, the intelligentsia, and the other categories of working people" and mobilizes them in "the struggle for the completion of the building of socialism."

Two broad cla.s.ses of organizations are included under the rubric of ma.s.s organizations: those based on common interests or common categories or persons, such as youth and women's a.s.sociations, and those based on professions, such as the General Union of Trade Unions. Several of the organizations belong to international organizations and a.s.sociations, such as the World Federation of Trade Unions and the World Federation of Democratic Youth.

Among the more important of the ma.s.s organizations are the Union of Communist Youth, the General Union of Trade Unions, and the National Council of Women. The chairmen of the Union of Communist Youth and the General Union of Trade Unions sit on the Council of Ministers and have ministerial rank; the chairman of the youth union serves simultaneously as head of the Ministry of Youth Problems.

The Union of Communist Youth

At the time of its founding in early 1949 the Union of Communist Youth (Uniunea Tineretului Comunist--UTC) was looked upon as the youth branch of the PCR. It was set up with much the same organizational structure as the party and, in practice, functioned both as a youth political party and ma.s.s organization. Resulting from the party-decreed merger of all existing youth organizations, the UTC was given the task of educating the young in the spirit of Marxism-Leninism and mobilizing them, under the guidance of the party, for the building of socialism.

In early 1972 the UTC continued to be one of the most powerful of the ma.s.s organizations in the country, with an estimated membership of 2.5 million. Membership was open to young people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-six; those who have reached the age of eighteen could also become members of the PCR. The Tenth Party Congress, meeting in 1969, introduced the requirement that young people up to the age of twenty-six would be accepted into the party only if they were UTC members.

Decisions on persons to fill the most important leadership positions in the UTC were made by the PCR Central Committee.

The structure of the UTC has undergone a number of changes since it was originally established. In early 1972 the organization functioned on the national level with an eight-member Secretariat, including the first secretary who is also the UTC chairman, and a bureau of twenty-one full and seven alternate members. In each of the thirty-nine countries and the city of Bucharest there exist UTC committees that are similarly organized with secretariats and bureaus. The UTC has its own publishing facilities and publishes its own propaganda organ, _The Spark of Youth_ (Scinteia Tineretului).

Statistics on the composition of the youth organization, reported at the Ninth UTC Congress held in February 1971, indicated that the membership consisted of 30 percent workers, 39 percent students, and 17 percent peasants. The remainder consisted of those who were cla.s.sified as intellectuals, clerks, and office workers.

Periodically throughout the 1960s PCR leaders demonstrated growing concern for what they termed as shortcomings in the political education of the nation's youth. In 1968 this concern led to the establishment of the Research Center for Youth Problems and an increased effort to instill in the young people a sense of "socialist patriotism." Ceausescu a.s.serted the need for all levels of education to be permeated with Marxist-Leninist ideology and placed particular emphasis on ideological training in the universities.

Political education of young people, both members and non-members, and their mobilization in support of PCR policies is considered the primary duty of the UTC. It is charged with the organization of political and patriotic courses in schools, among peasant groups, and among workers and members of the armed forces. The UTC also guides and supervises the activities of the Union of Student a.s.sociations.

A second youth movement, the Pioneers Organization, was created for young people between the ages of nine and fourteen. In late 1971 the Pioneers Organization reported a total membership of 1.6 million. The organization's responsibilities toward those of its age group parallel those of the UTC and involve political and patriotic training. Until 1966 the Pioneers Organization functioned as an integral part of the UTC, but since that time it has been under the direct control of the party Central Committee.

The General Union of Trade Unions

As the official organization incorporating all blue-collar and white-collar workers, the General Union of Trade Unions (Uniunea Generala a Sindicatelr din Romania--UGSR) is the largest of the country's ma.s.s organizations, with a reported membership in early 1972 of 4.6 million. Headed by a general council, the UGSR consists of twelve component labor union federations and forty area councils, one for each county and the city of Bucharest. The Central Council is structured with a chairman, appointed by the PCR Central Committee, seven secretaries, and an executive committee of twenty-seven full and nine alternate members. There are an estimated 12,000 local union units.

The primary function of the labor unions is the transmission of party policies to the rank and file. The UGSR statutes specify that the organization will carry out all of its activities under the political leadership of the PCR, and a similar provision is also included in the statutes of the county UGSR committees. In addition, the statutes of the central body require the organization to work to mobilize labor union members to ensure the implementation of party policy. A 1969 resolution of the Central Council of the UGSR declared that all labor union activities would focus on the mobilization of the working people to fulfill the state economic plan.

In early 1971, after a period of increased labor discipline problems and following a time of severe labor unrest in Poland, the PCR took steps to reform the labor union organization. Announcing what he termed as the democratization of the UGSR and its component unions, Ceausescu promised the workers genuine protection of their interests and a voice in the appointment of industrial management. The goal of the PCR program was to improve the unions without losing party control, and Ceausescu defined democratization as meaning that the labor unions would serve the party as a framework for the organization of consultations with the ma.s.ses and as a forum where workers can debate the country's economic and social development.

New UGSR statutes were introduced in mid-1971. Observers of Romanian political affairs a.s.serted, however, that there were no major changes in the system and pointed out that the new statutes still did not give labor unions the right to take the initiative in matters concerning wages or the living standard. In this regard the unions could fill only a watchdog role to a.s.sure that the regulations approved by the appropriate party and management bodies were being correctly carried out.

PARTY POLICIES AND PROGRAMS

The major domestic programs that the party sought to promote centered on the country's economic development, the integration of national minorities, the extension of so-called socialist democracy, and the PCR's cultural-ideological campaign. As a means of strengthening its leading role, the party leaders acted to improve communication between the central PCR organs and the county, city, and commune organizations and, at the same time, took additional steps to win ma.s.s support.

The Economy

In the area of economics the PCR continued its primary emphasis on industrial development and was only secondarily concerned with agriculture and consumer goods. This emphasis was evidenced in the economic plan adopted for the 1971-75 period, approved by the 1969 party congress, which concentrates on heavy industry at the expense of consumer goods. Although Romania was primarily an agricultural country, the PCR leadership in the early 1960s, rejected the plan of the Council for Mutual Economic a.s.sistance (COMECON) for a division of labor between the partic.i.p.ating communist states that would have had Romania place the greatest emphasis on the development of agriculture. Instead, the PCR launched a drive to modernize the country through industrialization (see ch. 14; ch. 10).

The policies pursued by the PCR are designed to maintain firm party control of the economy. In the formulation of Romania's economic development plans, the will of the party is predominant, and the degree of party control was augmented by the territorial and administrative reorganization of 1968 when economic commissions were established in each of the new counties to function under the direct supervision of the county PCR committees. These commissions made it possible for the party to have a direct hand in the local economic programs.

During 1970 and 1971 party leaders noted that, whereas the annual production increase envisaged by the Five-Year Plan (1971-75) had been fulfilled for industry, that for agriculture fell far short. Ceausescu called for a renewal of intensive efforts in both industry and agriculture to meet the requirements of the people and to enable the country to achieve the true socialist state of development.

National Minorities

The integration of the major non-Romanian national groups into the life of the country has posed periodic problems for the PCR throughout the post-World War II era. Each of the communist const.i.tutions guaranteed equal rights to the national minorities, rights that included the opportunity to use their own language and to have representation on local bodies of government. The Hungarian Autonomous Region had been created by the 1952 Const.i.tution but was not continued under the 1968 territorial reorganization (see ch. 8; ch. 4).

Party leaders explained the decision to abandon the concept of an autonomous region for the Hungarian population in terms of the need to integrate all of the minority groups fully into the Romanian political community. Spokesmen a.s.serted that it is the policy of the PCR to respect the heritage of the various nationality groups and extend to them full political rights but at the same time to work to create conditions that will serve to unite all of the country under the leadership of the party.