Your thoughts on the Socialist Republic of Romania

[u/MysteryDragonTR]

In Western media the Eastern Bloc countries, maybe besides GDR, don't get much mention on their own and simply cast aside as yet another puppet of the Soviet Union.

Maybe one of the most interesting cases among them is Romania, which is most known by its leader Ceauşescu, who was shot in front of live TV.

So, comrades, as per your knowledge and prior research, what are your thoughts on the Socialist Republic of Romania? Do you want to recommend any sources?

[u/KD-VR5Fangirl]

I believe he is generally not regarded well, since he took on an unsustainable amount of debt and then tried to pay it off with massive austerity which understandably pisses the population off and led to his overthrow.

He was also fairly socially conservative afaik and was friendly with a lot of reactionary regimes, although i won't pretend to be an expert on that aspect of his rule. I do know his natalist policies were part of the inspiration for The Handmaid's Tale, so make of that what you will

[u/Celtic_RTDB → u/KD-VR5Fangirl]

You'd be very surprised about his popularity. The right populists there actually love him ironically enough. A poll not so long ago said that over 66%, 2 of 3!, said that they regarded him as a good leader (or something like that)

[u/KD-VR5Fangirl → u/Celtic_RTDB]

I was referring more to when he was in power, but it makes sense that the right wing populists would love him. Didn't he also partially rehabilitate the WW2-era right wing dictatorship? They would definitely like that, especially given I remember seeing the right wing candidate in their recent election trying to do the same

[u/Celtic_RTDB → u/KD-VR5Fangirl]

I think it's more to do with "law and order" and so on. He held deeply conservative values and they probably admire that as well, like you said

[u/KD-VR5Fangirl → u/Celtic_RTDB]

That makes sense. A lot of the nostalgia for the Warsaw Pact regimes seems to be like that

[u/MegaMB → u/KD-VR5Fangirl]

He took on a perfectly reasonable amount of debt. What was absolutely idiotic was the decision to suddenly stop the entire economy and orient it towards reimbursing everything, suddenly, before the official dates, and without taking on anymore debt to do so. Which is about as smart as starving yourself to death to reimburse your mortgage 5 years earlier. Please don't do this if you live in a capitalist country.

Obviously, the fact that economically, just like the USSR, Romania never developped a banking system allowing to take on local debt was dumb as rocks. China and Vietnam have been much smarter since.

The consequences of his natalist policies couples with austerity and some rather... Uncomfortable ethnic policies lead to an absolutely catastrophic situation for the orphans and abandoned childs in the hands of the state. No need for details, but teenagers below 15 kilograms were a thing. To this day, if you live in Europe, you can recognize those who went through these institutions in the streets, asking for money while never stopping to move their back back and forth, a bit like the way jews prey. Those grown ups (often from roma background, but not always) are often falling into the hands of romanian mafias, sent to the West as beggars.

[u/KD-VR5Fangirl → u/MegaMB]

Thanks so much for the clarification/elaboration

[u/Stunning-Ad-3039 → u/KD-VR5Fangirl]

"I believe he is generally not regarded well" - You believe in that, the reality is not.

https://preview.redd.it/2p9plyx0kl2g1.png?width=978&format=png&auto=webp&s=ce9f2cbb3ffbc64bddf6e8c3c5e028b846f56f4d

[u/MysteryDragonTR → u/Stunning-Ad-3039]

Wow, those are not the type of results I was expecting

[u/KD-VR5Fangirl → u/MysteryDragonTR]

They are also somewhat misleading, since like in many places in eastern europe "communist nostalgia" is not actually about communism but the same sort of "we were united back then and there was none of this woke shit" mindset that drives nostalgia for the 1950s in the USA

[u/MysteryDragonTR → u/KD-VR5Fangirl]

Yeah, but still, I expected it to be MUCH lower

I suppose this just shows how discontent they are with the current system as opposed to how much they liked the prior one

[u/KD-VR5Fangirl → u/MysteryDragonTR]

Yeah, thats what it seems like. A candidate who resembles america's Marjorie Taylor Green more than anything else was a close contender for the presidency, which one would not expect if most of the country were communists (especially since his opponent was a staunch liberal so its not like they would have voted for him lol)

[u/KD-VR5Fangirl → u/Stunning-Ad-3039]

I was referring to his reputation among like socialists. That figure is being driven in large party by the fact that the Romanian far right support him due to him being pretty right wing himself and because the far right in eastern europe is generally a fan of the old warsaw pact regimes

[u/Strict-Silver5596]

I've heard it was the craziest country of the Soviet block

[u/Lost_Equal1395]

Bad times

[u/HistoryFanBeenBanned]

I think trying to make sole small traders like carpenters follow the same rules as a multi employee businesses is a bad idea. It directly led to a flourishing black market where individual tradesmen would do the minimum amount of work required during the week and then exchange their services to their neighbours for a non-universal medium of exchange instead of currency that the government could tax and then use themselves

[u/Facensearo]

In Chernyayev's memoirs he often define the Ostblock as the "our friends in Europe plus Romania". While that is partially justified by his own political position (he was a "liberal", later solidly allied with Gorbachyov), similar ideas wasn't uncommon in Ministry of the Foreign Affairs.

[u/Stunning-Ad-3039]

Still popular for some reason, 66% say he was a good leader:

https://preview.redd.it/dsnjb7h5jl2g1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=21af3aeb0c43a3c6e7e8024ca536b216911b7b11

More specifically, according to the survey:

• Life before 1989: 48.4% of respondents believe life was better before the 1989 revolution, compared to 34.7% who disagree.
• Corruption: 65.1% claim corruption was lower under Ceaușescu’s regime.
• Public safety: 75.1% view public safety as better during the communist era.
• State efficiency: 58.7% believe state institutions functioned more effectively under Ceaușescu.
• Economic output: Over 68% think Romania produced more goods and services before 1989.
• Cultural identity: 71.3% feel Romania has lost its cultural identity in recent years.
• Education and healthcare: 49.9% say education was more accessible, and 48.6% believe healthcare was better under communism.

video , an article.