Miron Constantinescu
Encyclopedia
Miron Constantinescu was a Romania
n communist
politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party
(PCR, known as PMR for a period of his lifetime), as well as a Marxist
sociologist, historian, academic, and journalist. Initially close to Communist Romania
's leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
, he became increasingly critical of the latter's Stalinist
policies during the 1950s, and was sidelined together with Iosif Chişinevschi
. Reinstated under Nicolae Ceauşescu
, he became a member of the Romanian Academy
.
, Bessarabia
, at a time when the region was experiencing the aftermath of the October Revolution
. (During the same month, the Moldavian Democratic Republic
was proclaimed, leading to the union of Bessarabia with the Kingdom of Romania
). According to fellow communist Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Constantinescu was born in Odessa
. Widely believed to be an illegitimate son of the geologist
Gheorghe Munteanu-Murgoci, Constantinescu retreated to a Romanian Orthodox
monastery
a short while after receiving his bachelor's degree
.
According to Bârlădeanu, Constantinescu used this period to decide between siding with the fascist
Iron Guard
and joining the PCR. In 1935, he joined the Union of Communist Youth
, UTC (youth wing
of the PCR), and became involved in agitprop
campaigns. During the 1930s, he attended the University of Bucharest
's Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, becoming one of sociologist Dimitrie Gusti
's most notable students.
With Bârlădeanu, Grigore Preoteasa
, Gheorghe Rădulescu, Constanţa Crăciun, and others, Constantinescu founded the anti-fascist
Frontul Studenţesc Democrat (FSD, the Students' Democratic Front) in 1935. The group was, in effect, an outlet of the Communist Party — its entire leadership continued to carry party work throughout the FSD's existence. The following year, as the UTC was dissolved, Constantinescu was among the few of its members to continue political activity in PCR ranks. In 1938, during the National Renaissance Front
regime established by King
Carol II
, the Communist Party ordered him to reestablish the UTC. He was among the few intellectual
s at the forefront of party activities.
, authorities were alarmed by his alleged contacts with the Soviet Union
and NKVD
agents, at the time when Ion Antonescu
's regime allied itself with Nazi Germany
and took part in Operation Barbarossa
(see Romania during World War II
). Eventually, he was arrested and interned
, initially in the camp in Târgu Jiu
. Although, like Preoteasa, he was originally close to Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
(who was himself an intellectual isolated among PCR members), Constantinescu associated with Gheorghiu-Dej-Emil Bodnăraş
faction while in detention, endorsing successful moves against rival leader Ştefan Foriş
.
Kept alongside other prominent activists in the prison in Caransebeş
, where he is believed to have been included in Gheorghiu-Dej's projected Soviet-backed government, he became the focus of attention from penal authorities after being caught while composing messages addressed to the outside (upon discovery, he attempted to swallow all the rolling papers he had written on). Consequently, the administration separated Communist prisoners into two groups: Constantinescu's was sent to Lugoj prison.
An editor in chief of the PCR's Scînteia
after the start of Soviet occupation
, Constantinescu led the panel of journalists towards Stalinist guidelines, and encouraged a personality cult around Gheorghiu-Dej, whose biography he helped falsify. He was himself praised in the PCR press, and papers circulated the notion that he worked as much as 14 or 16 hours a day as a rule. In February 1945, during street clashes between pro-Communist forces and authorities (leading to the fall of the Nicolae Rădescu
cabinet), Scînteia published a claim that its editor had been the target of an assassination attempt.
Through his editorials of 1947, Constantinescu signaled an attack on Foreign Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu
, leader of the National Liberal Party-Tătărescu and associate of the Communists in the Petru Groza
government, who had criticized his allies' economic and social policies.
, as its youngest member, in early 1945, Constantinescu, who lacked training in economics
, was also appointed head of the State Planning Committee
in 1950, supervising the work of Soviet and Romanian politicians in creating the framework for a planned economy
in Romania.
After the outbreak of PCR inner conflicts between Ana Pauker
's "Muscovite wing" and Gheorghiu-Dej's "prison faction", he kept a low profile, and did not take sides, before approving of Gheorghiu-Dej's victory and joining the official delegation that announced it in Moscow
(he had also been the one to voice official accusations against Vasile Luca
in February 1952).
Surviving Pauker's fall, he personally witnessed the 20th Congress
of the Soviet Communist Party
and became interested in the Soviet call for De-Stalinization
, beginning talks on the topic with Italian Communist Party
leader Palmiro Togliatti
. In 1956, his Planning Committee reached an agreement with Soviet authorities regarding the dissolution of SovRoms (enterprises which had placed a strain on Romanian economy, having directed its resources to the Soviet Union). Constantinescu was also charged with carrying out Gheorghiu-Dej's program of partial rehabilitation
offered to cultural figures such as the writer Tudor Arghezi
, the philosopher Lucian Blaga
, and the historian Constantin C. Giurescu
.
In the aftermath of the 1956 Revolution in Hungary
, he was sent to Cluj
, in order to exercise tighter control over a region with significant Hungarian population.
, Constantinescu observed the increasingly hostile relations between Nikita Khrushchev
and Gheorghiu-Dej, and ultimately decided to attack the latter in public (identifying him with Stalinism and citing the history of Securitate
political violence). The two had been probably encouraged by Khrushchev, and attempted in vain to rally Alexandru Moghioroş to their cause.
Accused of "attempt to direct the party towards liberal anarchy
and revisionism
", he was nonetheless convoked to express criticism of the writers Alexandru Jar, Mihail Davidoglu and Ion Vitner, all of whom had displayed similar support for reform. Constantinescu was purged by the Party Plenum in June 1957; he was marginalized, but kept his freedom and was allowed to work as a lector
for the Pedagogic Institute, and later as a researcher for the Romanian Academy's Institute for Economics and the Nicolae Iorga Institute of History in Bucharest
(led by Andrei Oţetea at the time). Active in the revival of sociology studies after the Stalinist period, he was notably engaged with Henri H. Stahl
on the Bibliotheca Historica Romaniae research project.
Countering earlier accusations, Gheorghiu-Dej eventually included Constantinescu and Chişinevschi on various lists of "Stalinists", as well as accusing them of having supported the "Muscovite wing" in its alleged actions against the PCR itself. During the 1957 Plenum, as well as in 1961, Nicolae Ceauşescu
was fully endorsing Gheorghiu-Dej's theories on the subject, and, initially indicating that, unlike the two opponents, he held Joseph Stalin
in esteem, alleged that Constantinescu had little understanding of Marxist principles (although his was, in all likelihood, much less significant).
; Constantinescu's own name was cleared upon PCR inquiry which presented its results in April 1968. He was consequently reinstated to the top echelon, and served as Minister of Education for a short period, as well as being elected a member of the Central Committee
Secretariat and deputy member of the Executive Political Committee. He later became President of Academy of Social and Political Sciences, Rector
of Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy
, and President of the Great National Assembly
from March to July 18, 1974.
Until his death, he was forced to cede part of his party status to Ceauşescu, who was officially praised for having reorganized the Union of Communist Youth
in 1938, a task which had actually been carried out by Constantinescu.
, and interned at a sanatorium
in Câmpina
(a gifted artist, she was allowed to continue painting, and exhibited her works on hospital grounds). According to one popular, but unconfirmed, rumor, the two women had been in love with the same unnamed man.
Constantinescu's two sons, both named Horia, suffered tragic deaths in their youth — the first-born died during an appendicectomy
; the second-born froze to death while on a trip to the Bucegi Mountains
.
's Boat"), written by Lucian Blaga
years after he was reinstated by Gheorghiu-Dej (the book was only published posthumously).
Miron Constantinescu's stay in Caransebeş
prison and the subsequent investigation became a theme of official PCR propaganda
; the 1981 film
Convoiul ("The Convoy"), directed by Mircea Mureşan
and starring Ion Besoiu
, Emil Hossu, and Costel Constantin, was a romanticized depiction of the events.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
(PCR, known as PMR for a period of his lifetime), as well as a Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
sociologist, historian, academic, and journalist. Initially close to Communist Romania
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
's leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
, he became increasingly critical of the latter's Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
policies during the 1950s, and was sidelined together with Iosif Chişinevschi
Iosif Chisinevschi
Iosif Chişinevschi , born Iosif Roitman, was a Romanian communist politician. The leading ideologue of the Romanian Communist Party from 1944 to 1957, he served as head of its Agitprop Department from 1948 to 1952 and was in charge of propaganda and culture from 1952 to 1955...
. Reinstated under Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
, he became a member of the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
.
Early life
Constantinescu was said to be born in ChişinăuChisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
, Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
, at a time when the region was experiencing the aftermath of the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
. (During the same month, the Moldavian Democratic Republic
Moldavian Democratic Republic
The Moldavian Democratic Republic , a.k.a. Moldavian Republic, was the state proclaimed on by Sfatul Ţării of Bessarabia, elected in October-November 1917 in the wake of the February Revolution and disintegration of the political power in the Russian Empire.Sfatul Ţării was its legislative body,...
was proclaimed, leading to the union of Bessarabia with the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
). According to fellow communist Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Constantinescu was born in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
. Widely believed to be an illegitimate son of the geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
Gheorghe Munteanu-Murgoci, Constantinescu retreated to a Romanian Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
a short while after receiving his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
.
According to Bârlădeanu, Constantinescu used this period to decide between siding with the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
and joining the PCR. In 1935, he joined the Union of Communist Youth
Union of Communist Youth
The Union of Communist Youth was the Romanian Communist Party's youth organisation, modelled after the Soviet Komsomol. It aimed to cultivate young cadres into the party, as well as to help create the "new man" envisioned by communist ideologues.-History:Founded in 1922, the UTC went underground...
, UTC (youth wing
Youth wing
A youth wing is a subsidiary, autonomous or independently-allied front of a larger organization that is formed in order to rally support and allegiance for that organization's campaigns from members and potential members of a younger age...
of the PCR), and became involved in agitprop
Agitprop
Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....
campaigns. During the 1930s, he attended the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
's Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, becoming one of sociologist Dimitrie Gusti
Dimitrie Gusti
Dimitrie Gusti was a Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and voluntarist philosopher; a professor at the University of Iaşi and the University of Bucharest, he served as Romania's Minister of Education in 1932-1933...
's most notable students.
With Bârlădeanu, Grigore Preoteasa
Grigore Preoteasa
Grigore Preoteasa was a Romanian communist activist, journalist, and politician, who served as Communist Romania's Minister of Foreign Affairs between October 4, 1955 and the time of his death.-Biography:...
, Gheorghe Rădulescu, Constanţa Crăciun, and others, Constantinescu founded the anti-fascist
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
Frontul Studenţesc Democrat (FSD, the Students' Democratic Front) in 1935. The group was, in effect, an outlet of the Communist Party — its entire leadership continued to carry party work throughout the FSD's existence. The following year, as the UTC was dissolved, Constantinescu was among the few of its members to continue political activity in PCR ranks. In 1938, during the National Renaissance Front
National Renaissance Front
The National Renaissance Front was a fascist Romanian political party created by King Carol II in 1938 as the single monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the 1923 Constitution, and the passing of the 1938 Constitution of Romania...
regime established by King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Carol II
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
, the Communist Party ordered him to reestablish the UTC. He was among the few intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
s at the forefront of party activities.
World War II and Scînteia
In World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, authorities were alarmed by his alleged contacts with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
agents, at the time when Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
's regime allied itself with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and took part in Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
(see Romania during World War II
Romania during World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron...
). Eventually, he was arrested and interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
, initially in the camp in Târgu Jiu
Târgu Jiu
Târgu Jiu is the capital of Gorj County, Oltenia, Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu. Eight villages are administered by the city: Bârseşti, Drăgoeni, Iezureni, Polata, Preajba Mare, Româneşti, Slobozia and Ursaţi.-History:The city takes its name...
. Although, like Preoteasa, he was originally close to Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
Lucretiu Patrascanu
Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania , also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at Bucharest University...
(who was himself an intellectual isolated among PCR members), Constantinescu associated with Gheorghiu-Dej-Emil Bodnăraş
Emil Bodnaras
Emil Bodnăraş was an influential Romanian Communist politician, an army officer, and a Soviet agent...
faction while in detention, endorsing successful moves against rival leader Ştefan Foriş
Stefan Foris
Ştefan Foriş was a Romanian communist activist and journalist who served as general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party between 1940 and 1944....
.
Kept alongside other prominent activists in the prison in Caransebeş
Caransebes
Caransebeş is a city in Caraş-Severin County, part of the Banat region in southwestern Romania. It is located at the confluence of the river Timiş with the river Sebeş, the latter coming from the Ţarcu Mountains. To the west, it is in direct contact with the Banat hills...
, where he is believed to have been included in Gheorghiu-Dej's projected Soviet-backed government, he became the focus of attention from penal authorities after being caught while composing messages addressed to the outside (upon discovery, he attempted to swallow all the rolling papers he had written on). Consequently, the administration separated Communist prisoners into two groups: Constantinescu's was sent to Lugoj prison.
An editor in chief of the PCR's Scînteia
Scînteia
Scînteia was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history...
after the start of Soviet occupation
Soviet occupation of Romania
The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...
, Constantinescu led the panel of journalists towards Stalinist guidelines, and encouraged a personality cult around Gheorghiu-Dej, whose biography he helped falsify. He was himself praised in the PCR press, and papers circulated the notion that he worked as much as 14 or 16 hours a day as a rule. In February 1945, during street clashes between pro-Communist forces and authorities (leading to the fall of the Nicolae Rădescu
Nicolae Radescu
Nicolae Rădescu was a Romanian army officer and political figure. He was the last pre-communist rule Prime Minister of Romania, serving from December 7, 1944 to March 1, 1945....
cabinet), Scînteia published a claim that its editor had been the target of an assassination attempt.
Through his editorials of 1947, Constantinescu signaled an attack on Foreign Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu
Gheorghe Tatarescu
Gheorghe I. Tătărescu was a Romanian politician who served twice as Prime Minister of Romania , three times as Minister of Foreign Affairs , and once as Minister of War...
, leader of the National Liberal Party-Tătărescu and associate of the Communists in the Petru Groza
Petru Groza
Petru Groza was a Romanian politician, best known as the Prime Minister of the first Communist Party-dominated governments under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Communist regime in Romania....
government, who had criticized his allies' economic and social policies.
Politburo and Planning Committee
Taking a seat on the PolitburoPolitburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
, as its youngest member, in early 1945, Constantinescu, who lacked training in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, was also appointed head of the State Planning Committee
Five-year plans of Romania
The Five-Year Plans of Romania were economic development projects in Communist Romania, largely inspired by the Soviet model. Starting from 1951, there were 8 five-year plans.-Origins:...
in 1950, supervising the work of Soviet and Romanian politicians in creating the framework for a planned economy
Planned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
in Romania.
After the outbreak of PCR inner conflicts between Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
's "Muscovite wing" and Gheorghiu-Dej's "prison faction", he kept a low profile, and did not take sides, before approving of Gheorghiu-Dej's victory and joining the official delegation that announced it in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
(he had also been the one to voice official accusations against Vasile Luca
Vasile Luca
Vasile Luca was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian and Soviet communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party from 1945 and until his imprisonment in the 1950s...
in February 1952).
Surviving Pauker's fall, he personally witnessed the 20th Congress
20th Congress of the CPSU
The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held during 14– 25 February 1956. It is known especially for Nikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech", which denounced the personality cult and dictatorship of Joseph Stalin....
of the Soviet Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
and became interested in the Soviet call for De-Stalinization
History of the Soviet Union (1953-1985)
In the USSR, the eleven-year period from the death of Joseph Stalin to the political ouster of Nikita Khrushchev , the national politics were dominated by the Cold War; the ideological U.S.–USSR struggle for the planetary domination of their respective socio–economic systems, and the defense of...
, beginning talks on the topic with Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
leader Palmiro Togliatti
Palmiro Togliatti
Palmiro Togliatti was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death.-Early life:...
. In 1956, his Planning Committee reached an agreement with Soviet authorities regarding the dissolution of SovRoms (enterprises which had placed a strain on Romanian economy, having directed its resources to the Soviet Union). Constantinescu was also charged with carrying out Gheorghiu-Dej's program of partial rehabilitation
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
offered to cultural figures such as the writer Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer, best known for his contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest , he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeş River.-Early life:Along with Mihai Eminescu, Mateiu Caragiale, and...
, the philosopher Lucian Blaga
Lucian Blaga
-Biography:Lucian Blaga was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. He was a philosopher and writer higly acclaimed for his originality, a university professor and a diplomat. He was born on May 9, 1895 in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia, Romania, his father being an...
, and the historian Constantin C. Giurescu
Constantin C. Giurescu
Constantin C . Giurescu was a Romanian historian, member of Romanian Academy and professor at the University of Bucharest.Born in Focşani, son of historian Constantin Giurescu, he completed his primary and secondary studies in Bucharest...
.
In the aftermath of the 1956 Revolution in Hungary
People's Republic of Hungary
The People's Republic of Hungary or Hungarian People's Republic was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the guidance of the Soviet Union. The state remained in existence until 1989 when opposition forces consolidated in forcing the regime to...
, he was sent to Cluj
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
, in order to exercise tighter control over a region with significant Hungarian population.
1956 clash with Gheorghiu-Dej
In 1956, together with the pro-Soviet Iosif ChişinevschiIosif Chisinevschi
Iosif Chişinevschi , born Iosif Roitman, was a Romanian communist politician. The leading ideologue of the Romanian Communist Party from 1944 to 1957, he served as head of its Agitprop Department from 1948 to 1952 and was in charge of propaganda and culture from 1952 to 1955...
, Constantinescu observed the increasingly hostile relations between Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
and Gheorghiu-Dej, and ultimately decided to attack the latter in public (identifying him with Stalinism and citing the history of Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
political violence). The two had been probably encouraged by Khrushchev, and attempted in vain to rally Alexandru Moghioroş to their cause.
Accused of "attempt to direct the party towards liberal anarchy
Libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism is a group of political philosophies that promote a non-hierarchical, non-bureaucratic, stateless society without private property in the means of production...
and revisionism
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
", he was nonetheless convoked to express criticism of the writers Alexandru Jar, Mihail Davidoglu and Ion Vitner, all of whom had displayed similar support for reform. Constantinescu was purged by the Party Plenum in June 1957; he was marginalized, but kept his freedom and was allowed to work as a lector
Lector
Lector is a Latin term for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages the word has come to take various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as , , and . It has various specialized uses:...
for the Pedagogic Institute, and later as a researcher for the Romanian Academy's Institute for Economics and the Nicolae Iorga Institute of History in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
(led by Andrei Oţetea at the time). Active in the revival of sociology studies after the Stalinist period, he was notably engaged with Henri H. Stahl
Henri H. Stahl
Henri H. Stahl was a Romanian Marxist cultural anthropologist, ethnographer, sociologist, and social historian.-Biography:...
on the Bibliotheca Historica Romaniae research project.
Countering earlier accusations, Gheorghiu-Dej eventually included Constantinescu and Chişinevschi on various lists of "Stalinists", as well as accusing them of having supported the "Muscovite wing" in its alleged actions against the PCR itself. During the 1957 Plenum, as well as in 1961, Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
was fully endorsing Gheorghiu-Dej's theories on the subject, and, initially indicating that, unlike the two opponents, he held Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
in esteem, alleged that Constantinescu had little understanding of Marxist principles (although his was, in all likelihood, much less significant).
Rehabilitation and later life
Following Gheorghiu-Dej's death, Ceauşescu's rise brought a wave of rehabilitationsRehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
; Constantinescu's own name was cleared upon PCR inquiry which presented its results in April 1968. He was consequently reinstated to the top echelon, and served as Minister of Education for a short period, as well as being elected a member of the Central Committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
Secretariat and deputy member of the Executive Political Committee. He later became President of Academy of Social and Political Sciences, Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy
Stefan Gheorghiu Academy
The Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy The Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy The Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy (Romanian: Academia Ştefan Gheorghiu, in full: Academia de învăţămînt social-politic Ştefan Gheorghiu de pe lîngă CC al PCR - approx...
, and President of the Great National Assembly
Great National Assembly
The Great National Assembly was the legislature of the Romanian People's Republic and the Socialist Republic Romania. When Communism was overthrown in Romania in December 1989, the National Assembly was replaced by a bicameral parliament, made up of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.The Great...
from March to July 18, 1974.
Until his death, he was forced to cede part of his party status to Ceauşescu, who was officially praised for having reorganized the Union of Communist Youth
Union of Communist Youth
The Union of Communist Youth was the Romanian Communist Party's youth organisation, modelled after the Soviet Komsomol. It aimed to cultivate young cadres into the party, as well as to help create the "new man" envisioned by communist ideologues.-History:Founded in 1922, the UTC went underground...
in 1938, a task which had actually been carried out by Constantinescu.
Personal life
His wife Sulamita, née Bloch, was herself a PCR activist. She died, in 1968, at the hands of their daughter (sources do not agree on the method used in killing — Sulamita Constantinescu was either hit with a clothes iron or attacked with a knife or a hatchet). Constantinescu's daughter was diagnosed with schizophreniaSchizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
, and interned at a sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
in Câmpina
Câmpina
Câmpina is a city in Prahova county, Romania, north of the county seat Ploieşti, located on the main route between Wallachia and Transylvania. In 2003, the city celebrated 500 years since its founding.-History:...
(a gifted artist, she was allowed to continue painting, and exhibited her works on hospital grounds). According to one popular, but unconfirmed, rumor, the two women had been in love with the same unnamed man.
Constantinescu's two sons, both named Horia, suffered tragic deaths in their youth — the first-born died during an appendicectomy
Appendicectomy
An appendectomy is the surgical removal of the vermiform appendix. This procedure is normally performed as an emergency procedure, when the patient is suffering from acute appendicitis...
; the second-born froze to death while on a trip to the Bucegi Mountains
Bucegi Mountains
The Bucegi Mountains are located in central Romania, south of the city Braşov. They are part of the Southern Carpathians group of the Carpathian Mountains....
.
In fiction
Under the name Constant Mironescu, Constantinescu appears in the semi-autobiographical novel Luntrea lui Caron ("CharonCharon (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on...
's Boat"), written by Lucian Blaga
Lucian Blaga
-Biography:Lucian Blaga was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. He was a philosopher and writer higly acclaimed for his originality, a university professor and a diplomat. He was born on May 9, 1895 in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia, Romania, his father being an...
years after he was reinstated by Gheorghiu-Dej (the book was only published posthumously).
Miron Constantinescu's stay in Caransebeş
Caransebes
Caransebeş is a city in Caraş-Severin County, part of the Banat region in southwestern Romania. It is located at the confluence of the river Timiş with the river Sebeş, the latter coming from the Ţarcu Mountains. To the west, it is in direct contact with the Banat hills...
prison and the subsequent investigation became a theme of official PCR propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
; the 1981 film
1981 in film
-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....
Convoiul ("The Convoy"), directed by Mircea Mureşan
Mircea Muresan
Mircea Mureșan is a Romanian film director. He has directed 22 films since 1961. Mureșan won the prize for Best First Work at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival for the film Răscoala.-External links:...
and starring Ion Besoiu
Ion Besoiu
Ion Besoiu is a Romanian actor.He appeared in some of the most important Romanian films from the Communist period: "Furtuna", "Neamul Şoimăreştilor", "Haiducii", "Răscoala", "Mihai Viteazul", "Ciprian Porumbescu", "Păcală", "Ion, blestemul pământului, blestemul iubirii", "Ultima noapte de...
, Emil Hossu, and Costel Constantin, was a romanticized depiction of the events.