Nicolae Ceausescu repeatedly claimed that the nationality problem was definitely solved in Romania with the establishment of the socialist society. The socio-political realities of the socialist society assured, claimed Ceausescu, a perfect equality for all Romanian citizens, irrespective of nationality, whereas the juridical network assured all the minorities' rights. And indeed, the 1965 Constitution and a complex network of other laws made generous provisions for minority facilities. The regime assured the facade of proportional representation, a fact stress by all scholars (Shöpflin; Fisher; Fischer-Galati; Shafir), who always set the difference between the legislation and reality. As Michael Shafir pointed out #1;, Nicolae Ceausescu recognised the difference between natiune (nation) - which comprised all the inhabitants of the country regardless of ethnic affiliation, and nationalitate (nationality) which designed ethnicity. The 1974 Party's Programme stipulates that natiune (nation) will continue to exist in the period of socialist construction, as well as for some considerable time under communism, as indeed will the nation state #2;. "Nationalitatile" (nationalities) according to the 1974 Programme will also "preserve their full importance in the period of forging the multilateral developed socialist society and the gradual transition to communism" #3;. They 'will continue to exist in the period of socialist edification and in that of communist construction" #4;.
Formally, the individuals Hungarians enjoyed legal rights under the Romanian Constitution, just as all others Romanian citizens. As a community, they also have the rights to be represented proportionally in state and public institutions. In counties populated by non-Romanian nationals, for example, all nationalities could appoint officials from their ranks or from among the citizens who share the way of life of the local population. Strictly proportional parliamentary representation was ensured. According to statistics, the proportions of the minorities on the CC or other political bodies reflected their proportion in the population. The Hungarians were heavily represented in the Gheorghiu-Dej Political Bureau, and also in the Political Executive Committee, and preserved a proportional share in both organs during the Ceausescu's rule.
In 1968, the Council of Workers of Hungarian, German or Serb nationalities (and later Ukrainian) were created for helping to solve the minorities' problems, within the framework of the Front of Socialist Unity and Democracy and under the daily supervision of the RCP's Central Committee Secretariat, and they were financed from its budget #5;.
The party's policy toward minorities underwent certain changes in time, reflecting the internal and external changing. The first change occurred after the 1956 Hungarian revolution. In 1959, at a meeting presided over by the CC Secretary N. Ceausescu, the Hungarian Bolyai University was merged with the local Romanian university. In 1960, territorial re-organisation was introduced, altering the population structure and weakening the autonomous region with Hungarian majority. The region was renamed "Mures Autonomous Hungarian Region". Finally, in 1968, the Region was abolished.
Gradually, the role of minorities in shaping the RCP politics
after the second World War was reconsidered, with an emphasis
on the myth of "Judeo-Bolshevism" on the one hand, and
on the link between Hungarian and Russian question, on the other
hand. The new policy became more obvious in the mid-1980's, when
the growing suspicion against foreigners and minorities led to
a drop in the minorities' share in the CC and other political
institutions, and the figures were not even published any more #6;.
The aggravated situation of Hungarian minority provoked its growing
bitterness and resentments, and led to many sharp controversies
with Budapest.
|
|
| Back | Index | Next |