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Communism's Staying Power in Romania
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10921 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1993 |
2,727 Words |
| Author
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Mike Maturo
Free-lance writer Mike Maturo became interested in eastern
Europe while teaching English in Hungary in 1989-1990. His
most recent trip to Romania was during the winter of 1992-93. |
In the old days we had money, bad politics, and nothing to buy," mused a pensioner. "We still have bad politics and each day less money to live. My vote was for nothing," he added.
Optimism, Romanian-style, challenges the accepted definition. Annual inflation, at 200 percent, erodes incomes and confidence. Sharp ethnic tensions, regional disunity, and falling industrial production provide Romanians a skewed view of the future. Since the bloody overthrow of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in December 1989, demand for reform continues to threaten the old communist bosses. Yet inexperience in electoral politics and ineffective oppositions provide former communists a win by default, high-lighted by the 1992 presidential reelection of Icon Iliescu. Romania remains stuck in transition, despite an economic tailspin and the democratic means to chart a new course.
Fiery campaign speeches regarding the return of former Romanian lands led many to vote with a nationalist spirit. Glorifying the image of a greater Romania, nationalists charged emotions about Russian Moldava and the Bukovina region of the Ukraine, seized during World War II. Two ultranationalist parties launched virulent attacks against the Hungarian minority in Transylvania, fanning old hatreds to split the electorate along ethnic lines. Some parties warned of the consequences of selling out to the West--portrayed as an economic occupation--through privatization of the major industries.
Incumbent candidate Iliescu--former communist and member of the National Salvation Front (NSF)--equated quick economic reforms with chaos. The Democratic Convention's candidate, Emil Constantinescu--an outsider with no communist ties--proposed sweeping economic changes. The Iliescu victory proved the country's fear to speed up the pace of economic reform.
Yet peasant loyalty was the main force behind the Iliescu victory. During his first two years as president, from 1990-92, Iliescu deeded land to the peasants--40 percent of the population--appealing to their historic concern. That, along with promises to slow the pace of reform, secured him 64 percent of the final presidential vote and the NSF 28 percent of the seats in Parliament. An alliance with the nationalist parties in Parliament gives the political Right control.
Oppositionists accuse the state-run television of running a propaganda campaign. According to Petru Litiu of the opposition Democratic Convention Party (DCP),
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