Între transformare și adaptare. Avataruri ale cotidianului în regimul comunist din România
Coordonatori: Luciana M. Jinga, Ștefan Bosomitu
Luciana M. Jinga, Ştefan Bosomitu, Cuvânt înainte (pp. 13-16)
Studii
The present study focuses on a certain aspect of the cultural life in communist Romania, more precisely on the historical literature and the way it was perceived by the public. The cultural policies of that time took full advantage of this way of popularization and directed its attention towards the construction of a new type of discourse, offered to a new type of reader. This type of discourse is relevant in a society where reading becomes accessible,
and transforms itself in a way to escape reality. Thus, the historical literature and the image on the past cultivated by it in the collective imaginary were very relevant in the long run. The approach is interdisciplinary, concentrating on the relation between history and literature, a relation in which literature’s specific tendency to transform into fiction supports history, and implicitly propaganda. This study concentrates on the novels Un om între oameni [A man among men] by Camil Petrescu and Cronică de familie [Family chronicle] by Petru Dumitriu.
Keywords: historical literature, cultural policy, collective imaginary, interdisciplinary, history, fiction.
This article analyzes the overlapping meanings of public and private space during the first two postwar decades in Romania through a case study on the population’s everyday life in the newly built industrial cities Hunedoara and Călan. This study will focus on how residents of the urban centers had access to housing, jobs and consumer goods – in order to identify the means of transmission, articulation and contestation of the political authority –, as well as on the socio‑cultural and economic implications of this process. In doing so, this research illustrates the impact of industrialization upon the daily life of urban communities during the communist regime, showing how, in spite of a deficient supply of consumer goods, residents have developed mechanisms to improve their daily life by sending letters and petitions or by coagulating alternative – that is underground – networks of exchange. We follow the definition proposed by Jeff Weintraub to show that unlike Western Europe, where by private space one meant issues related to intimate life of the individuals and the public space was tantamount to other kinds of visible aspects, within the Romanian industrial cities public space usually meant community and national projects and private one was substituted by the notion of individual practices.
Keywords: Romania, Hunedoara, everyday life, industrialization, workers, letters, petitions.
Vlad Paşca, Clienţi la masa statului. Alimentaţia publică în România socialistă (1948‑1989) (pp. 75-95)
This study aims to describe the various ways in which Romanian food service evolved in the postwar era, with a focus on the political leadership’s role in the context of a command economy. Considering that private entrepreneurship has been eradicated in the 1950s, the improvement of food service concerned the state only, which employed primarily the Soviet model of organizing trade. During Nicolae Ceauşescu’s regime, food service put on a national appearance in order to become more appealing to Romanians and to the foreign tourists. Private enterprise incentives were also considered, but were soon abandoned as they were ideologically inappropriate. Shortcomings persisted and eventually proved to be inherent to the socialist system in general. In the long run, food service policies were rather intended to serve the overall economic performance of the regime than the individuals’ desires, while maintaining a seemingly win‑win situation.
Keywords: catering, communism, consumption, tourism, trade.
Dragoş Ursu, Reeducare şi viaţă cotidiană în Penitenciarul Aiud (pp. 97-124)
The objective of this study is to analyze the daily life of the political prisoners in the Aiud Penitentiary during the late re‑education (1959‑1964). By daily life we understand the prisoners’ activity and preoccupations, as well as the club activity imposed by the Aiud Operative Group (GOA). The first part of the study focuses on the activity and structure of the Aiud Operative Group, created in 1959 under colonel Gheorghe Crăciun’s command. Having the same structure as a regional direction of the Securitate, the Operative Group developed a strong informative work with the purpose of documenting the prisoners’ activity. Using the rich CNSAS archives that describe the GOA’s activity was an important stake of our research. Aiud was a prison whose constraints consisted in cold, hunger and isolation. Faced with these privations, the prisoners responded through solidarity (alimentary, medical and moral support), political resistance (anti‑communist‑enforcing debates) and spiritual freedom (literary preoccupations, religious life).
Keywords: communist penitentiary system, Aiud prison, Aiud Operative Group, daily life in prison.
Constantin Vasilescu, Cotidianul unui partizan. Studiu de caz: Gheorghe Arsenescu (pp. 125-154)
Contemporary historiography comprises several descriptions and evocations of anticommunism partisan struggle, focusing especially on the militant and paramilitary phenomenon, but also on the heroic dimension of the characters. Aspects such as human relationships or daily life are neglected as less spectacular. Furthermore, the biographical dimension, essential to a full understanding of the context, is treated superficially or hagiographic. Gheorghe Arsenescu’s case is no exception. His anticommunist partisan „story” spreads on more than a decade. During this time, his everyday existence was equally a struggle for survival and a battle with his own anguish and helplessness. Our study aims to fill this gap, focusing on the strengthened relations between the partisans’ leader (Arsenescu) and his adherents or followers. The armed confrontations will be mentioned only briefly and in context. The sources of this study are unpublished archival documents. Aware of their imperfection, we continually seek to subject them to corroboration and interpretation. For a more fluent presentation, we opted to correct the spelling mistakes contained in such sources, without altering their meaning.
Keywords: Gheorghe Arsenescu, anticommunist partisan struggle, resistence.
Adriana Cupcea, Naţionalism tătar şi comunism: destinul familiei Fazıl (1948‑1989) (pp. 155-172)
En proposant une recherche historique et sociologique, l’étude approche un épisode de l’histoire de la communauté Tatare de Dobrogea, de la perspective d’un chef Tatar de Dobrogea, Necip Hagi Fazıl, et du développement social de sa famille, pendant la période communiste. Situé à la tête du Comité d’Aide des Réfugiés Tatars, il a été arrêté et assassiné en 1948 par le Service Roumain de Sécurité à la cause de son implication dans l’accueil et la distribution dans les villages de Dobrogea, des réfugiés Tatars de Crimée qui sont arrivés à Constanţa, pendant 1943 et 1944.
Sur la base des témoignages oraux des membres vivants de la famille Fazıl, sur la recherche des documents personnels et des documents de l’archive CNSAS, nous avons analysé l’expérience quotidienne de la marginalité sociale de la perspective de la répression. Celle‑ci, c’est à la fois un cadre de référence et aussi un noyau de souvenir la vie quotidienne sous le régime communiste. En utilisant la méthode qualitative nous avons essayé de souligner les caractéristiques spécifiques du discours sur la vie quotidienne pendant le communisme, dans le cas d’une famille Tatare persécutée du point de vue politique. En même temps, nous avons déterminé comment les éléments spécifiques pour la persécution quotidienne se transforme dans des éléments du drame personnel. De cette perspective, la recherche suit des aspects et des phénomènes spécifiques pour le modèle quotidien communiste, comme le logement, la migration et les relations de travail, l’accès à l’éducation. Nous avons utilisé tous ses aspects pour reconstruir la vie d’une famille Tatare de Dobrogea, trouvéé pendant deux générations, sous la stigmatisation de l’accusation de nationalisme.
Mots clés: nationalisme Tatar, communisme, répression, quotidien, survie.
Sport in the communism era became an instrument used to organize the population and it also offered common people a way to spend their free time. On the other hand, going to the stadium during communism was perceived like a way of liberation. Even if the political system intended to control the situation in the arena, the public behaviour was not always a good example. Having big arenas and an impressive public became a problem for the communist authorities.
Many of these spectators were coming from the rural areas, where sport was not so well developed and so the rules of the games were not a priority for this part of the public. In fact, they represented an important part of the audience and their demeanour represents a challenge for the stadium security employees. For this reason the communism maintained a campaign to educate this public. This article describes the way how the regime has regarded the sport fans and how the political ideology made propaganda to build a new type of supporter. This action had a mixed effect and the supporter’s behaviour was hardly predictable during this kind of demonstrations (cultural, political or sportive). The stadium was a common space for them and the influence of the party principles in the sport world was received in different ways by the public.
Keywords: communist sport, supporter, propaganda, sport heroes, ideology.
Cezar Stanciu, Paradigma revoluţionară şi societatea de consum în România comunistă. O abordare comparativă (pp. 189-208)
„There can certainly be tendencies for an easier living, for working less, especially since there are good results in the economic activity”, said Nicolae Ceauşescu to Álvaro Cunhal, leader of the Portuguese Communist Party, during a meeting in August 1971. Visible increases in living standards and opening to the West during the 1960s had encouraged higher expectations among the population for better conditions of life. Similar evolutions also occurred in other Communist countries as well, where the ruling parties chose to meet such expectations, for the sake of social peace. A representative case is Hungary and its „goulash‑communism”. In Poland on the other hand, Władisław Gomułka refused to recognize the legitimacy of such social expectations which led to the workers’ riot in Gdańsk, in December 1970 that ultimately determined Gomułka’s oust from power. Confronted with similar pressures, Nicolae Ceauşescu chose a different path: that of revolutionary mobilization through propaganda and political education, refusing to engage in a real dialogue with society, as Kádár or Gierek did. This study engages in a comparative evaluation of the Romanian regime’s reaction to what it perceived as consumerist pressures from society, highlighting the similarities with the Chinese model and also what differentiated it from other Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. It shall contribute to describing Nicolae Ceauşescu’s regime as a prisoner in a Stalinist revolutionary paradigm, unable to respond or meet social expectations.
Keywords: revolution, Socialism, society, consumerism, legitimacy.
Manuela Marin, Ascultând Radio Europa Liberă în România lui Nicolae Ceauşescu (pp. 209-230)
My paper highlights the role that Radio Free Europe played in the Romanians’ everyday life during Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime. Using as a starting point the surveys regarding the audience of this radio station, I will show that during the 1980s RFE attracted an increasing number of regular listeners and I will point out that this development and also listeners’ preferences for certain programs is very much related to the changing political conditions taken place both in Romania and abroad. The second and the third part of my paper will highlight from different perspectives, that of the Romanian secret police, the Securitate, and that of the RFE listeners who managed to send their letters to their favourite radio station, the importance gained by the listening to RFE in Romanians’ everyday life and how a mundane activity such an tuning one’s radio on the RFE’s frequency became a means of everyday resistance to the Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime.
Keywords: Radio Free Europe, daily life, audience surveys, Securitate, letters.
Lucia Popa, „House pARTy”: „artificarea” vieţii cotidiene sub comunism (pp. 231-254)
Dans cette étude, je me propose d’analyser un exemple significatif de transformation des lieux quotidiens privés en scénographies alternatives dediées aux manifestations artistiques qui fonctionnaient comme des échappatoires face à la censure politique dans les dernières années du régime communiste de Roumanie. Ensuite je démontrerai que le rapport de ces manifestations artistiques alternatives avec le temps a été fortement influencé par le contexte politique, car elles sont „éphémères”, produites dans une période limitée, pour que les traces de leur existence disparaissent rapidement. La recherche commence par la présentation d’un cas insufisament traité par les chercheurs – une serie d`activités artistiques expérimentales, parfois même subversives, organisées secrètement à Bucarest, dans la résidence des artistes Decebal et Nadina Scriba à travers deux éditions (en juillet 1987 et en août 1988). Grâce à un réseau etroit d’artistes et à l’aide d’une caméra, quelques scènes de la vie quotidienne des artistes ont été „artifiées” – elles ont subi un passage de l’état de non‑art vers l’art – en transgressant par cela la perception ordinaire sur la limite entre l’art et la vie quotidienne. La recherche suivante analysera les effets de la politique culturelle pendant les derniers années de la Roumanie communiste dans la sphère alternative des plastiques: la relation avec le temps et la structure des objets et des actions artistiques „underground” subissent des mutations significatives dans ce contexte particulier. Au niveau iconique ou formel, les oeuvres d’art sont transformées évidemment: elles sont éphémères et simplifiées autant que possible. Du point de vue iconographique ou narratif, la plupart des oeuvres traitent des thèmes qui suggérent les événements politiques importants du moment.
Mots clés: artification, vie quotidienne, communisme, arts alternatifs, subversivité.
Recenzii
Gabriel Dimisianu, Amintiri şi portrete literare (Georgiana Leşu) (pp. 265-268)
Dinu Zamfirescu, Cârtiţele Securităţii. Agenţi de influenţă din exilul românesc (Mihaela Toader) (pp. 269-272)
Radu Preda, Comunismul. O modernitate eşuată (Nicolae Drăguşin) (pp. 273-278)
Vintilă Mihăilescu, Scutecele naţiunii şi hainele împăratului. Note de antropologie publică (Tudor Mihăescu) (pp. 279-283)
www.istoriacomunismului.ro – O istorie a comunismului românesc pentru cei născuţi în democraţie (Tudor Mihăescu) (pp. 284-286)