Area Handbook for Romania Part 22

Publication

Government and party control of all printing and publishing activities is centered in the Council on Socialist Culture and Education. This party-state organization formulates policy guidelines for the publishing industry and utilizes other government-controlled or government-owned agencies, such as the General Directorate for the Press and Printing, the various publishing houses, and book distribution centers to supervise and coordinate day-to-day operations. Within this control machinery all short- and long-range publication plans are approved, and the distribution of all printed material is specified. This central authority also allocates paper quotas, determines the number of books to be printed, and sets the prices at which all publications are to be sold.

In 1972 about twenty-five publishing houses were in operation; of these, twenty-three were located in Bucharest, and one each was in Cluj and Iasi. Each of these enterprises produced books, pamphlets, periodicals, and other printed material within its own specialized field and was responsible, through its director, for the political acceptability and quality of its work. In 1969 some decentralization in publishing took place with the opening of branch offices of the larger houses in a few of the more heavily populated districts. Although this program was ostensibly initiated for the purpose of securing "a broader scope of reader preference" in the number and type of books to be published, press reports published in late 1971 indicated very little popular support for this experiment.

Of the 9,399 t.i.tles published in 1969, the greatest numbers were in the fields of technology, industry, agriculture, and medicine. Also included in this group were books, treatises, studies, and reports in the general economic field as well as translations from foreign sources. This category of t.i.tles, although representing about 33 percent of those published, had an average circulation of only about 3,500 copies per t.i.tle--well below the overall average of approximately 9,000.

The second largest group of published t.i.tles was in the field of social sciences and represented approximately 22 percent of the total. This cla.s.sification included all books dealing with political science and socioeconomic theory as well as all textbooks and materials used in the educational system. A particularly large segment of books in this area were doc.u.ments and manuals used for party training, Marxist-Leninist cla.s.sics, and party-directed studies and monographs dealing with the historical, philosophical, or sociological development of the communist movement.

The material published in the fields of art, games, sports, and music dominated the third largest group and ranged from children's entertainment to musical scores. The fourth largest group, representing about 15 percent of the national publishing effort, related to general literature. This field covered novels, essays, short stories, and poetry written by recognized authors as well as by less well established modern writers, both domestic and foreign. The books selected from foreign sources were carefully scrutinized, and very few were published that dealt with contemporary Western subjects. Also banned, as a matter of general principle, was all material that (in the judgment of chief editors) "did not contribute actively to the socialist education of the new man" within the communist society.

Distribution and Foreign Exchange

The distribution and sale of books, both domestic and foreign, are vested in the Book Central, a state-owned organization that is also responsible for the coordination of all book production. The Book Central, with headquarters in Bucharest, operates directly under the Council on Socialist Culture and Education and maintains a network of bookshops throughout the country in district centers and other major towns. In addition to supplying major outlets such as libraries and schools with publications, the local bookshops also set up and operate bookstalls and book departments in rural areas, usually at industrial enterprises and farm collectives. Traveling bookmobiles are also used to serve factories, mines, or other isolated activities in outlying areas.

Discount book clubs were reportedly established as early as 1952, but recent information was lacking as to their continued existence, size, and method of operation.

After receiving approval of their individual publishing plans, the publishing houses distribute catalogs, bulletins, and other informational material to the Book Central for distribution to major purchasing outlets. In addition, the local bookshops issue periodic lists of all books in stock as well as those scheduled to be printed during specific periods. Official statistics concerning the wholesale and retail sale of books are not habitually published, but recurrent articles in the press criticize the lack of enthusiasm and general ineptness of booksellers as major factors in lagging book sales to individual buyers.

The Book Central in Bucharest conducts all transactions involving the foreign exchange of publications. This agency issues annual lists of available Romanian publications, together with short bibliographic annotations or summaries as well as subscription details. Also, the sale of books is fostered at the various international book fairs in which Romania partic.i.p.ates.

LIBRARIES

The Romanian library network consists of two broad categories--general libraries, administered by the central government and its territorial organs, and the various libraries administered by ma.s.s organizations, inst.i.tutes, and enterprises. Those in the latter category are generally referred to as doc.u.mentary libraries since most of them specialize in scientific and technical holdings. The number of general libraries declined appreciably from a total of almost 35,000 in 1960 to slightly more than 18,000 in 1971, due princ.i.p.ally to the consolidation of facilities. Over the same period the number of doc.u.mentary libraries remained fairly constant, averaging slightly more than 4,000, the total number existing in 1971.

The greatest proportion of general libraries, by far, are those a.s.sociated with primary and secondary schools and those that serve the general public. In addition, the state operates two national libraries, and forty-three others function as part of university and other higher level inst.i.tutions. The total holdings of all these facilities exceeded 95 million volumes, and the number of registered readers in the public libraries was reported to have reached almost 5 million in 1971. No information was available as to the total annual circulation of books on personal and interlibrary loan in the general library system, but the two national libraries were reported to have circulated 55,000 volumes in 1968, and the combined circulation of the forty-three university-level libraries approximated 178,000 volumes in the same year.

The two national libraries, the Library of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania and the Central State Library, together maintain stocks in excess of 10 million volumes, and both function as central book depositories. The Library of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, a precommunist inst.i.tution founded in 1867, holds special collections of Romanian, Greek, Slavonic, Oriental, and Latin ma.n.u.scripts, maps, and engravings as well as rare collections of doc.u.ments, medals, and coins. The Central State Library, founded in 1955, also has important collections of books, periodicals, musical works, maps, and photographs and, in addition, acts as the Central Stationery Office and the National Exchange for books. It also issues the National Bibliography and annual catalogs, which list all books printed in Romania and the holdings of all foreign books in the state library system.

The largest libraries among the universities, each of which holds more than 1.5 million volumes, are those at Bucharest, Iasi, and Cluj. These holdings include the book stocks maintained in the libraries of the various faculties, hostels, and inst.i.tutes a.s.sociated with the universities as well as the central university library itself. The largest doc.u.mentary library, the Library of the Medical-Pharmaceutical Inst.i.tute, operates ninety-nine branch facilities, and its annual book inventory has been in excess of 1.2 million volumes.

FILMS

As in the case of other elements of the ma.s.s media, the small motion picture industry has also been affected by the intensified ideological campaign of mid-1971. In general, the regime has attempted to further limit the importation of foreign films, particularly those from the West, which are considered violent and decadent. There has also been a move to stimulate the production of more native films with a truly "profound ideological content which will express our Marxist-Leninist world outlook, convey the message of our own society in highly artistic terms, and reflect the life of the new man." Until more Romanian films of the appropriate type can be offered, the industry has been advised to utilize additional films from the National Film Library and to emphasize foreign presentations that are based on socialist concepts.

Production

Film production, distribution, and exhibition were controlled by the National Center of Cinematography, a state agency that operates under the supervision of the Council on Socialist Culture and Education. The national center operates two production studios: the Alexandru Sahia Film Studio in Bucharest, which produces doc.u.mentaries, newsreels, cartoons, and puppet films, and the Bucharest Film Studio, which produces feature films at Buftea, a suburb about fifteen miles northwest of the capital.

In 1970 cinema production consisted of thirty-nine feature and short pictures, about 1960 doc.u.mentary films (including animated cartoons), and seventy-six newsreels. This output reflected a two-fold increase since 1960 in both feature and doc.u.mentary films but a decrease of about 15 percent in the number of newsreels. The largest growth in the motion picture industry occurred between 1923 and 1930, when production rose from about seven motion pictures per year to about twenty-five. This increased output was a combination of native films and features coproduced with France, Germany, and Hungary. After the communist takeover of the government in 1948, film production fell drastically and did not again reach its pre-World War II level until 1955.

Romanian films, until 1968, continued to reflect much of the earlier French influence. Both the native and coproduced pictures of this period were of high quality, and several won awards at film festivals in Cannes, Trieste, and Chicago. Subjects treated were well diversified and included historical adventure, strong dramas, and both satirical and cla.s.sical comedies. Beginning in 1968, the regime launched widespread criticism of the industry, and the quality of production decreased appreciably. The 1971 ideological campaign forced film making into a further regression. Western observers characterized post-1968 films as being totally lacking in originality.

Because of the relatively low number of Romanian films produced, the industry has generally depended on the importation of sizable numbers of foreign films to meet its needs. The government no longer publishes official statistics dealing with film imports, but in 1960 the regime reported that 188 feature films and 150 doc.u.mentaries from foreign countries were shown. Approximately 40 percent of these films came from the Soviet Union; the remainder came from France, East Germany, England, Italy, Czechoslovakia, and the United States.

Distribution

Despite the emphasis placed by the government on motion pictures as both a propaganda and an entertainment medium, the number of theaters and attendance at film showings has decreased steadily since 1965. This trend was due princ.i.p.ally to the compet.i.tion offered by the expanding television industry, but the falling off in the quality of films was also a contributing factor.

Film theaters are of two types, those which show pictures regularly in designated movie houses or, periodically, in multipurpose recreation centers, and mobile film units, which exhibit doc.u.mentary and educational films in schools or other local facilities in outlying areas. Motion picture houses of both types decreased in number from 6,499 in 1965 to 6,275 in 1970, and in the same period annual attendance dropped more than 6 million from the 1965 high of almost 205 million.

INFORMAL INFORMATION MEDIA

Lectures, public and organizational meetings, exhibits, and demonstrations also serve as means of communication between the government and the population at large. Although less significant than the formal ma.s.s media, these events are fostered by officials of the regime as highly effective elements in the indoctrination process because they offer direct personal confrontations at the lower levels.

Word-of-mouth communication is also an important and effective medium, particularly as a means of spreading news heard from Western radio transmissions, which were no longer subject to government jamming as a matter of policy.

SECTION III. NATIONAL SECURITY

CHAPTER 12

PUBLIC ORDER AND INTERNAL SECURITY

By 1972 the internal security situation in Romania had changed a great deal from that of the post-World War II period and the first few years of the communist regime. In those days the regime had feared for its existence and for that of the system it was attempting to establish. It had feared interference from outside the country and active opposition from a large segment of the local population and had also doubted the reliability of a considerable number of those within its own ranks.

In the police state atmosphere of that time a good portion of the people had also, and frequently with good reason, feared the regime. People whose greatest crime might have been lack of enthusiasm feared that they might be suspected of deviant political beliefs. Because of the brief time then being spent on investigation of a crime and seeking out an individual's possible innocence, such persons could easily emerge from hasty trials as political prisoners.

By 1972 the security troops--successors to the secret police that had held the population in dread and terror twenty years before--still existed in considerable force. They had receded into the background, however, and only infrequently had any contact with the average citizen as he went about his daily routine.

The population was undoubtedly not altogether content in 1972 and often chafed at bureaucratic red tape, at lackl.u.s.ter performance on the part of minor officials, and at other irritations. The youth, in particular, was showing reluctance to be molded into the uncompromising pattern of socialist society, and some of its resistance took on characteristics considered intolerable by the regime. On the other hand, there was little, if any, sign of organized opposition to the system or the leadership. The dominant att.i.tude throughout the country was cooperative to the degree that, if the system was seen to be in need of change, it was preferable to attempt reform from within the system itself and along accepted guidelines.

Reflecting the easing of internal tensions, the formal framework of the judicial system--the penal code, the code of criminal procedure, and the courts--was extensively changed in 1968. Although the new code emphasized protection of the state and society more than individual rights, the code it replaced had been one of the most severe and inflexible in Europe. The new codes clearly specified that there was no crime unless it was so defined in law and that there was to be no punishment unless it had been authorized by law.

Procedures for criminal prosecution were set down in readily understandable language that, if adhered to, guaranteed equitable treatment during investigation, trial, and sentencing to a degree hitherto unknown in the court system. There were also provisions for appeal of lower and intermediate court sentences.

Petty cases were disposed of by judicial commissions that did not have court status. Such commissions were set up in villages, inst.i.tutions, collectives, or enterprises comprising as few as 200 people. Although authorized to administer only small fines or penalties, they were established in a fashion designed to involve large numbers of people in the judicial process and to exert local pressures on those appearing before them.

INTERNAL SECURITY

During the mid-1950s the militia (civil police force) and security troops were busily engaged in apprehending alleged spies, traitors, saboteurs, and those who persisted in voicing beliefs considered dangerous to the regime and the socialist system. In the early 1970s directives for security agencies still identified the 1950 threats to the regime and exhorted the agencies to continue to combat the same old enemies of the people. The emphasis has been altered, however, and national authorities appeared generally satisfied with the improved internal security situation in 1972.

The regime had by then become seriously concerned much less over ma.s.s violence or organized subversion than over levels of unrest or pa.s.sive resistance that are evidenced by widespread laxity, carelessness, indolence, or an obvious lack of popular support. The militia blamed a rash of railroad accidents in 1970 on laxity when investigation determined that the equipment had, in nearly all cases, operated properly and the people had received sufficient training to make the system work safely. It also blamed an excessive number of fires on carelessness and negligence. Cla.s.sified political and economic data were found on several occasions during routine checks of unoccupied and unsecured automobiles. New laws were published in 1970 to deal with vagrancy, begging, prost.i.tution, and persons not seeking employment or living what the authorities termed "useless lives."

Although they have been relaxed, controls over the population remain strict by Western standards. A 1971 decree on the establishment of private residence placed rigid limitations on movement to the cities, allowing only those who get employment and are allocated housing to move. For example, military personnel must have had previous residence in a city in order to establish residence there after retiring from the service.

All persons over fourteen years of age must carry identification cards.

The cards are issued by the militia and are usually valid for ten-year periods to age forty-four, after which they have no expiration date.

They are reissued, however, if the photograph no longer matches the appearance of the bearer or when a name change--such as that following marriage--affects the ident.i.ty. In addition to the photograph and other data for identification, the card contains blood type and residence information. Identification cards of prisoners or persons held in preventive detention are withheld from them.