movement in search
"the generals, have acquired considerable influence because of the crushing of the Securitate. Yet the fighting was carried out by rank and file soldiers, while the generals were appointed to key positions enforcing the power of the old regime, and were clearly part of it" Page 20
More than any other of the East Buropean revolutions of 1989, the overthrow of the Causescu regime in Romania showed the power of the mass movement.
All of these revolutions have exposed the complete isolation of the stalinist bureaucracies from mass support. Their strength has always rested first and foremost on their control of the repressive apparatus of the state, coupled with their links with the Moscow bureaucracy and the threat of Soviet intervention if the masses went beyond the limits permitted by the Kremlin leaders.
Causescu's was a regime that even played the "China card' - attempting its own Tienanmen massacre - and lost. The slaughter in Timisoara and Bucharest represented a policy only narrowly rejected by Honecker's East German regime, which instead opted to concede refors. Though the Romanian regime appeared more firmly under the grip of the secret police and repressive forces, the advantage of the Romanian masses was that they knew of, and drew confidence from, the huge events rocking the rest of Eastem Europe (indeed even though the detailed news was heavily censored in the Romanian press, Causescu himself confirmed the scale and importance of the events when he came out and publicly denounced them). The Romanians also knew that after years of estrangement from Moscow, and especially now in the period of Gorbachev, there was no way Soviet troops would arrive to bale out Causescu The regime came under such pressure that even its conscript army eventually rebelled.
Of course there were the dark days in which Causescu tried to cling to power through brute force. On Sunday December 17 thousands were shot dead in Timisoara: but the
SUPPLEMENT Romania: mass of leadership A revolutionary Invades Causescu's study
people of the town continued to
demonstrate, and on December 19 the
workers went on strike. On the Wed-
nesday they marched from their fac-
tories to join the other demonstrators;
this time the soldiers did not fire. The
masses had control of the streets of
Timisoara.
In Bucharest that evening.
Causescu spoke to a Communist
Party rally, trying to isolate the op-
position movement: he was shouted
down by the crowd, howling
"Timisoara". That night hundreds of
demonstrators were killed in
Bucharest, but the power of the
regime had clearly crumbled: fear and
bewilderment could be seen alongside
anger on Causescu's face as the
heckling broke out in what he ex-
pected to be yet another stage-
managed official rally - before the of-
ficial television coverage was
abruptly cut off.
The following morning mass
strike action broke out in Bucharest,
and the streets were awash with
people heading for the Central Com-
mittee building, containing Nicolae
and Elena Causescu. Panorama has
shown the film, taken by a Romanian
cameraman living opposite the
Central Committee building, of what
must be the decisive moments in a
spontaneous revolution. His film
showed both the shootings during the night and the masses storming the building the next day. It shows Causescu getting into an overloaded helicopter on the roof, and the crowds half-way across to him when it takes off, escaping by seconds. Later the Ceauscescus were caught and handed over to the army. Once they had taken over the building, the leaders addressed the masses outside. The Panorama coverage showed clearly that it was only at this stage that the army generals came over to the side of the revolutionary movement, in order to gain control. The very first thing they asked the crowd to do was hand over the arms that they had taken from the vicious "Securitate".
Though the army then bore the brunt of the fighting against the Securitate over the next few days, the mass movement had been the decisive factor in swaying their allegiance. Only the courage and persistence of the masses ensured that the army refused to carry out its normal role of gunning down demonstrators.
Once the masses had taken control of Bucharest, they suddenly found they had support not only from army generals, but also from various "politicians', many of them one-time allies of Causescu. The "National Salvation Front was formed, includ ing several genuine and long-standing opponents of Causescu, but also some obviously dubious forces.
The generals, after declaring themselves late in the day to be on the side of the masses, have acquired considerable influence because of the crushing of the Securitate. Yet the fighting was carried out by rank and file soldiers, while the generals were appointed to key positions enforcing the power of the old regime, and were clearly part of it. The conscript soldiers who genuinely supported the SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 20, Dec-Jan 1989-90
mass movement now have no influence over events. There has been no development of democracy - soldiers" councils or similar bodies - within the army.
On Christmas Day the army chiefs announced that after a military trial behind closed doors thay had shot Nicolae and Elena Causescu. Understandably, most Romanians celebrated: there had been a long queue of volunteers to fire the fatal bullets.
There is no question that these bloodstained dictators deserved to be shot. But why did the army chiefs press through with such a quick trial and execution? Why did they not stage a full-scale public trial?
The official story was that after holding them captive for two days the army was afraid that there might be a bid to rescue them, and that their execution might end further resistance from desperate, hard-line Securitate forces seeking to restore the old regime. But by that point the resistance had already almost ended: the display of the captured couple on television, and the announcement of details for a full trial would have been just as effective.
In fact, by quickly executing the two Causescus and rounding up their family and a few other henchmen, the army chiefs are attempting to make it look as if these few alone were responsible for the corruption and brutality of decades of LETH stalinist rule. This is simply another version of the 'cult of personality: nobody could seriously believe that while the Causescus lived in the most ostentatious and outrageous luxury, their hand-picked aides and bureaucratic lackeys shared the poverty and shortages of the working class. If a full trial had taken place, there can be no doubt that the complicity of many of those now parading as defenders of democracy - not least top generals - would have been exposed.
The quick execution was a useful means of gagging the old dictator, and thus making life easier for those now in control. And the very next decree sought to abolish the death penalty - perhaps fearing that some incriminating information might anyway leak out, and some of the new regime might otherwise face the firing squad. This matter has conSOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 21, February 1990
SUPPLEMENT Nicked! Romanian Deputy Premier arrested by people whlle escaping in a lorry tinued to rumble on as the authority of the National Salvation Front has been called into question.
Revolutionary violence is necessary against a brutal regime, which would not scruple at the most vicious attempts to retain power. For revolutionaries the issue is not whether the execution of Causescu was deserved, but ensuring that the key political lessons are leamed by the masses in the process of the revolution. Much more could have been revealed and leamed through a full trial.
Since then there has been growing mistrust of the National Salvation Front. Students have demonstrated, demanding to know who selected the "student representatives. The leadership has vacillated to and fro on the death penalty issue, and also on the question of banning the Communist Party, which if carried through in this bureaucratic fashion from would represent not only a serious diversion from the fight for workers" control and workers" democracy, but a dangerous precedent for the repression of political currents unpopular with the new regime.
The Front has set itself up as a political party to contest the elections set for April: but it is also keeping control of the television service until then, to maximise its chances of victory. Many factory committees and students' committees were formed in this people's revolution: yet the new regime is seeking to usurp rather than base itself and build upon these committees.
As in other East European revolutions, the "market" is presented as a
solution to all economic ills by the more conscious of the right wing political elements that have slipped into power. Yet many of these are bureaucrats who figure that they personally would benefit from such a free 'market".
There is a harsh choice to be made: either the fight for a socialist solution, or embracing the bitter austerity that would be enforced if the new regime opts to follow the path of the Interational Monetary Fund and restore some form of capitalism in Romania.
The working class solution in Romania and elsewhere is to fight for a conception of mass, participatory democracy, and planning through workers" control and workers" management carried out by independent factory committees and student committees: there should also be a consolidation of the militias that set up road blocks and fought the Securitate, and the establishment of councils of rank and file soldiers.
There must be a thorough cleansing of the ranks to purge all of the op portunist ex-bureaucrats seeking now to cling to power by endorsing the new regime. An obvious starting point for this must be a public exposure of the contents of those Securitate files not yet destroyed, full, public trials of the remaining Causescu family, and an opening of the books of every major state institution and enterprise to uncover the webs of corruption on which the Causescu regime was based.
Tony Johnson
*by quickly
executing the
two
Ceausescus
and rounding up their family and a few other henchmen, the army chiefs are
attempting to make it look as
if these few
Malone were responsible for the corruption and brutality of
decades of
stalinist rule.
The quick execution was a useful means of gagging the
old dictator,
making life easier for those now in control"
Page 21