Vasile Luca
Encyclopedia
Vasile Luca was an Austro-Hungarian
-born Romania
n and Soviet
communist
politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party
(PCR) from 1945 and until his imprisonment in the 1950s. Noted for his activities in the Ukrainian SSR
in 1940-1941, he sided with Ana Pauker
during World War II
, and returned to Romania to serve as the Minister of Finance and one of the most recognizable leaders of the Communist regime
. Luca's downfall, coming at the end of a conflict with Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
, signaled that of Pauker.
He was married to Elisabeta Luca (née Birman), a volunteer in the International Brigades
during the Spanish Civil War
, who was also imprisoned following her husband's arrest.
) in Transylvania
(at the time part of Austria-Hungary
), Luca was an ethnic Hungarian of the Székely
community; during his later years, Luca also indicated that he was of Jewish
and proletarian
origin.
In the period following the Aster Revolution
, as Transylvania's administration was taken over by Romania, he joined Károly Kratochwill's Székely Division (formed inside Hungary by Hungarian Transylvanian refugees). After the Romanian Army crushed the Hungarian Soviet Republic
, Luca took refuge in Braşov
and began working for the Romanian Railways
, attempting to align railworkers' trade union
s with the Profintern
. Luca later admitted that, in Leninist
terms, he had been mistaken to leave the Division — after allegedly being persuaded to do so by a group of workers in Satu Mare —, as he had missed an opportunity to carry out "revolutionary work under party directives", although he confessed that he had been denied membership of the Hungarian Communist Party
.
He soon adhered to the larger, maximalist
, wing of the former Socialist Party of Romania
, which had established the Romanian Communist Party, and became an associate of Imre Aladar. In 1924, as the party was outlawed and forced in the underground, Luca was elected secretary of the Braşov regional committee. Participating in the preparations for the 1929 Lupeni Strike
in the Jiu Valley
, he was also elected, with Alexandru Nicolschi
, to the internal Politburo
(one of the two bodies established by the Comintern
at the time, the other one supervising from inside the Soviet Union
). In conflicts inside the party, he was punished by the Comintern overseers and the Stalinist
leadership, being recalled from his party functions and later required to display a dose of self-criticism
.
funds during a 1927 trial in Cluj
(where Boris Stefanov
was sentenced), and was represented by Ion Gheorghe Maurer
during his 1938 trial. He was serving time in Cernăuţi, having been found guilty of attempt to cross the border between the Kingdom of Romania
and the Ukrainian SSR
, when the Soviet Union annexed Northern Bukovina
(see Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina).
Luca reoriented himself in the aftermath of the Great Purge
(having already renounced the friendship with Purge victim Aladar, as well as those of Vitali Holostenco
, Eugen Rozvan
, and Elek Köblös
). He took up Soviet citizenship, became deputy mayor of Chernivtsi
, and a deputy in the Soviet of Nationalities
of the Ukrainian SSR. In this latter capacity, Luca participated in the deportation of almost 30,000 citizens from Northern Bukovina to the Asiatic republics of the Soviet Union. On March 26, 1941, in Storozhynets, he gave a speech in front of a mass of people who were protesting the Soviet administration, calling them "spies, enemies, and diversionists"; the crowd responded with heckling. On April 1, a large number of people from nearby villages were killed while attempting to cross the border from the Soviet Union to Romania in Fântâna Albă (now Bila Krynytsya
, Ukraine
) — see Fântâna Albă massacre.
After the start of Operation Barbarossa
, he was instrumental in the creation of a Romanian language
section for Radio Moscow
, broadcasting propaganda
against the Ion Antonescu
regime and its German
allies (see Romania during World War II
). At the time, he began his collaboration with Ana Pauker
, who led the main cell of the PCR's "exterior wing", created by those who had taken refuge inside the Soviet Union. He enlisted in the Red Army
, helped recruit Romanian prisoners of war
to form the Tudor Vladimirescu Division
, and then returned to Romania with the Soviet troops in late 1944 (see Soviet occupation of Romania
). Luca later stated that he had been disappointed in the fact that local forces under King
Mihai I
had taken the initiative in ousting Antonescu and aligning the country with the Allies
, arguing that the PCR was supposed to await the Soviets' presence.
in the Petru Groza
cabinet which he had helped bring to power in February 1945 (with Pauker, he ensured the Allied Commission
's support for Communists who were protesting against the Nicolae Rădescu
executive). Luca became involved in all major conflicts between the PCR and the traditional opposition forces, the National Peasants' Party
and the National Liberal Party
: he gave inflammatory speeches on the issue of Northern Transylvania
's return to Romania (recommending its postponing), on projects regarding the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat
, as well as on collectivization
.
At the Party Conference in October, when the balance set after General Secretary
Ştefan Foriş
' downfall came to be questioned, Luca made his voice heard in opposition to Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
's "internal wing", and proposed that the latter be kept as nominal leader (with Pauker taking over the party executive); Gheorghiu-Dej, who managed to obtain Joseph Stalin
's approval through the intervention of Emil Bodnăraş
, became focused on maneuvering against the rival faction.
In late 1945, the issue of collectivization brought Luca into a brief and intense conflict with the Ploughmen's Front
(a group led by Petru Groza
and allied with the Communists), which threatened to cease supporting the PCR if private property
was not going to be guaranteed. His plans for rapid communization also rose opposition inside the party — Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
is known to have advised against them.
With those of Pauker, Teohari Georgescu
, and Gheorghiu-Dej, his name was one of the most prominent in propaganda (including the famous collective slogan
Ana, Luca, Teo, Dej / Bagă spaima în burgheji — "Ana, Luca, Teo[hari], Dej / Scare the bourgeois"). The group of leaders was active in suppression of various inner-party political factions, starting with that of Foriş, and continued with those of Remus Koffler and Pătrăşcanu.
He was personally charged with securing the brutal transition to collective farming, and kept his ministerial office after the proclamation of Communist Romania
. Inside the Secretariat, he, Pauker and Georgescu eventually became the main obstacle in the way of Gheorghiu-Dej's policies. According to some authors, Luca was the "most sectarian
member of the Stalinist
ruling gang".
, his temper caused frictions with the new leader. He was quite open about his opposition to the Danube-Black Sea Canal
—a pet project of Dej, apparently recommended by Joseph Stalin
himself. On the initiative of General Secretary
Gheorghiu-Dej, who sought and obtained Stalin's approval for purging the leadership in January 1952 (Dej had traveled personally to Moscow
for that purpose; Vyacheslav Molotov
intervened on behalf of Pauker, whereas Lavrentiy Beria
defended Georgescu) Luca was dismissed from government office in March, and purged from the party in May (formally, in August 1953), together with Pauker.
Officially, the purge was centered on accusations regarding Luca's opposition to the monetary reform
of the Romanian leu
, a measure ordered by the Soviet Union and carried out on January 28, 1952. He had been charged, through the voice of Miron Constantinescu
, with "grave deviations
" and taking a "right wing opportunistic line, breaking away from the working class
es" (see Right Opposition
); in addition to sharing the blame, Pauker was accused of having taken a "left wing opportunistic line" (see Left Opposition
) on various issues. Upon witnessing the attack on him during the Plenary meeting of May (immediately amplified by the interventions of Alexandru Moghioroş, Iosif Rangheţ, Ion Vincze
and others), Luca fainted. He was arrested in the same month, some days after his deposition and political indictment.
Luca's interrogation, approved and supervised by Soviet advisors, also involved aspects of his past: it was alleged that, as a youth, he had taken part in conflicts opposing the Székely Division and the communists on the side of the former, that he had been recruited by the Romanian secret police
(Siguranţa Statului) in the early 1920s and had thus infiltrated the PCR, and that he had been paid to encourage fighting inside the party.
In October 1954, he was sentenced to death
for economic sabotage
, but, after appealing to the PCR leaders, he had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment
and hard labour
, and died 9 years later in the prison of Aiud
, having been kept in almost complete isolation. After his imprisonment, he wrote several letters to Gheorghiu-Dej, in which he continued to plead his innocence; it is not known if the addressee ever replied to Luca personally, but he would usually add derogatory comments to the margin of each letter. Twenty-nine of Luca's present and former collaborators — from the Finance Ministry employees and from Centrocoop — were also arrested at the time. They were all subjected to torture
. Alexandru Iacob
, the deputy Finance Minister, received 20 years of forced labor, while Ivan Solymos, vice-president of Centrocoop, was sentenced to 15 and Dumitru Cernicica
, the Centrocoop first vice-president, was condemned to 3 years of corrective jail.
In 1952, charges against Luca implicated Teohari Georgescu
, who was accused of împăciuitorism ("appeasing attitude") and admitted to "not having seen the gravity of Luca's deeds" in a futile effort to save himself from incarceration. Pauker herself claimed that she had suspected Luca of attempting to topple Gheorghiu-Dej, and argued that her Jewish
origins and Luca's Hungarian (or Jewish-Hungarian) roots had made them the target of Soviet suspicion (she recalled having been told so by Andrey Vyshinsky
), as well as unpopular inside Romania.
The entire writings of Luca, Pauker, and Georgescu were removed from their places in officially-sanctioned libraries, and quotes from them were systematically deleted from reference works.
, the new general secretary, led to the re-evaluation of Luca's case by a party commission that included Ion Popescu-Puţuri.
The investigation revealed major irregularities and a pattern of abusive measures, including the direct implication of Gheorghiu-Dej, Iosif Chişinevschi
, and Securitate
chief Alexandru Drăghici, into the proceedings, as well as inhumane treatment to which Luca had been subjected. It resulted in Luca's rehabilitation
in 1968 (although the final verdict seemed to confirm that Luca had betrayed some of his comrades during his 1920s stay in Jilava
prison).
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
-born Romania
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 and Soviet
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....
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) from 1945 and until his imprisonment in the 1950s. Noted for his activities in the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
in 1940-1941, he sided with 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...
during World War II
World 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...
, and returned to Romania to serve as the Minister of Finance and one of the most recognizable leaders of the Communist regime
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...
. Luca's downfall, coming at the end of a conflict with 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...
, signaled that of Pauker.
He was married to Elisabeta Luca (née Birman), a volunteer in the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, who was also imprisoned following her husband's arrest.
Early activities
A native of Szentkatolna (or Sâncatolna - present-day CatalinaCatalina, Covasna
Catalina is a commune in Covasna County, Romania, composed of five villages:*Catalina*Hătuica / Hatolyka*Imeni / Imecsfalva*Mărcuşa / Kézdimárkosfalva*Mărtineni / Kézdimártonfalva...
) in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
(at the time part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
), Luca was an ethnic Hungarian of the Székely
Székely
The Székelys or Székely , sometimes also referred to as Szeklers , are a subgroup of the Hungarian people living mostly in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, Romania...
community; during his later years, Luca also indicated that he was of Jewish
History of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
and proletarian
Proletariat
The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...
origin.
In the period following the Aster Revolution
Aster Revolution
The Aster Revolution or Chrysanthemum Revolution was a revolution in Hungary led by leftist liberal count Mihály Károlyi, who founded the Hungarian Democratic Republic....
, as Transylvania's administration was taken over by Romania, he joined Károly Kratochwill's Székely Division (formed inside Hungary by Hungarian Transylvanian refugees). After the Romanian Army crushed the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Hungarian Soviet Republic
The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived Communist state established in Hungary in the aftermath of World War I....
, Luca took refuge in Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
and began working for the Romanian Railways
Caile Ferate Române
Căile Ferate Române is the official designation of the state railway carrier of Romania. Romania has a railway network of of which are electrified and the total track length is . The network is significantly interconnected with other European railway networks, providing pan-European passenger...
, attempting to align railworkers' trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s with the Profintern
Profintern
The Red International of Labor Unions , commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Communist International with the aim of coordinating Communist activities within trade unions...
. Luca later admitted that, in Leninist
Leninism
In Marxist philosophy, Leninism is the body of political theory for the democratic organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party, and the achievement of a direct-democracy dictatorship of the proletariat, as political prelude to the establishment of socialism...
terms, he had been mistaken to leave the Division — after allegedly being persuaded to do so by a group of workers in Satu Mare —, as he had missed an opportunity to carry out "revolutionary work under party directives", although he confessed that he had been denied membership of the Hungarian Communist Party
Hungarian Communist Party
The Communist Party of Hungary , renamed Hungarian Communist Party in 1945, was founded on November 24, 1918, and was in power in Hungary briefly from March to August 1919 under Béla Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The communist government was overthrown by the Romanian Army and driven...
.
He soon adhered to the larger, maximalist
Maximum programme
In Marxist theory, a maximum programme consists of a series of demands which will achieve socialism.The concept of a maximum programme comes from the Erfurt Programme of the SPD, later mirrored by much of the Socialist International. The maximum is contrasted with a minimum programme of immediate...
, wing of the former Socialist Party of Romania
Socialist Party of Romania
The Socialist Party of Romania was a Romanian socialist political party, created on December 11, 1918 by members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party , after the latter emerged from clandestinity...
, which had established the Romanian Communist Party, and became an associate of Imre Aladar. In 1924, as the party was outlawed and forced in the underground, Luca was elected secretary of the Braşov regional committee. Participating in the preparations for the 1929 Lupeni Strike
Lupeni Strike of 1929
The Lupeni Strike of 1929 took place on August 5 and 6 1929 in the mining town of Lupeni, in the Jiu Valley of Transylvania, Romania.-Chronology:...
in the Jiu Valley
Jiu Valley
The Jiu Valley is a region in southwestern Romania, in Hunedoara county, situated in a valley of the Jiu River between the Retezat Mountains and the Parâng Mountains...
, he was also elected, with Alexandru Nicolschi
Alexandru Nicolschi
Alexandru Nicolschi was a Romanian communist activist, Soviet agent and officer, and Securitate chief under the Communist regime...
, to the internal Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
(one of the two bodies established by the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
at the time, the other one supervising from inside 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....
). In conflicts inside the party, he was punished by the Comintern overseers and the 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...
leadership, being recalled from his party functions and later required to display a dose of self-criticism
Self-criticism
Self-criticism refers to the pointing out of things critical/important to one's own beliefs, thoughts, actions, behaviour or results; it can form part of private, personal reflection or a group discussion.-Philosophy:...
.
Prison and exile
Arrested in 1924, 1933, and 1938, and sentenced to prison terms; notably, Luca was successfully defended by attorneys paid for with Red AidInternational Red Aid
International Red Aid was an international social service organization established by the Communist International...
funds during a 1927 trial in 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...
(where Boris Stefanov
Boris Stefanov
Boris Stefanov was a Romanian communist politician, who served as general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1936 to 1940.-Early life and activism:...
was sentenced), and was represented by Ion Gheorghe Maurer
Ion Gheorghe Maurer
Ion Gheorghe Iosif Maurer was a Romanian communist politician and lawyer.-Biography:Born in Bucharest to a Saxon father and a Romanian mother of French origin, he completed studies in Law and became an attorney, defending in court members of the illegal leftist and Anti-fascist movements...
during his 1938 trial. He was serving time in Cernăuţi, having been found guilty of attempt to cross the border between 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...
and the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
, when the Soviet Union annexed Northern Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
(see Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina).
Luca reoriented himself in the aftermath of the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
(having already renounced the friendship with Purge victim Aladar, as well as those of Vitali Holostenco
Vitali Holostenco
Vitali Holostenco or Holostenko was a Romanian and Soviet communist politician. He used several pseudonyms, among which Barbu and Petrulescu.-Early life:...
, Eugen Rozvan
Eugen Rozvan
Eugen Rozvan was a Hungarian-born Romanian communist activist, lawyer, and Marxist historian, who settled in the Soviet Union late in his life.-Biography:...
, and Elek Köblös
Elek Köblös
Elek Köblös was an Austro-Hungarian-born Hungarian and Romania communist activist and political leader. He was also known by the pseudonyms Balthazar, Bădulescu, and Dănilă.-Early years:...
). He took up Soviet citizenship, became deputy mayor of Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. The city is situated on the upper course of the River Prut, a tributary of the Danube, in the northern part of the historic region of Bukovina, which is currently divided between Romania and Ukraine...
, and a deputy in the Soviet of Nationalities
Soviet of Nationalities
The Soviet of Nationalities , was one of the two chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, elected on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot in accordance with the principles of Soviet democracy...
of the Ukrainian SSR. In this latter capacity, Luca participated in the deportation of almost 30,000 citizens from Northern Bukovina to the Asiatic republics of the Soviet Union. On March 26, 1941, in Storozhynets, he gave a speech in front of a mass of people who were protesting the Soviet administration, calling them "spies, enemies, and diversionists"; the crowd responded with heckling. On April 1, a large number of people from nearby villages were killed while attempting to cross the border from the Soviet Union to Romania in Fântâna Albă (now Bila Krynytsya
Bila Krynytsya
Bila Krynytsya is a village in the Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine. It is located in the Hlybotsky Raion , on the Ukrainian-Romanian border, in the historic region of Bukovina . The international border runs just a few hundred metres south of the village...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) — see Fântâna Albă massacre.
After the start of 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...
, he was instrumental in the creation of a Romanian language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
section for Radio Moscow
Voice of Russia
Voice of Russia is the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service owned by the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company. Its predecessor Radio Moscow was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.-Early years:Radio Moscow...
, broadcasting 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....
against the 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...
regime and its German
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...
allies (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...
). At the time, he began his collaboration with 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...
, who led the main cell of the PCR's "exterior wing", created by those who had taken refuge inside the Soviet Union. He enlisted in the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, helped recruit Romanian prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
to form the Tudor Vladimirescu Division
Tudor Vladimirescu Division
The Tudor Vladimirescu Division was a Soviet-organized division of Romanians that fought against Germany and Hungary during the final year of World War II.-Creation:...
, and then returned to Romania with the Soviet troops in late 1944 (see Soviet occupation of Romania
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...
). Luca later stated that he had been disappointed in the fact that local forces under 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....
Mihai I
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
had taken the initiative in ousting Antonescu and aligning the country with the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
, arguing that the PCR was supposed to await the Soviets' presence.
Political leadership
One year later, he became Party Secretary, and soon after the Finance Minister and the Deputy PremierPrime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
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....
cabinet which he had helped bring to power in February 1945 (with Pauker, he ensured the Allied Commission
Allied Commission
Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allied Powers were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Eastern Advisory Commission to make recommendations...
's support for Communists who were protesting against 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....
executive). Luca became involved in all major conflicts between the PCR and the traditional opposition forces, the National Peasants' Party
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...
and the National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
: he gave inflammatory speeches on the issue of Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania is a region of Transylvania, situated within the territory of Romania. The population is largely composed of both ethnic Romanians and Hungarians, and the region has been part of Romania since 1918 . During World War II, as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as...
's return to Romania (recommending its postponing), on projects regarding the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat
Dictatorship of the proletariat
In Marxist socio-political thought, the dictatorship of the proletariat refers to a socialist state in which the proletariat, or the working class, have control of political power. The term, coined by Joseph Weydemeyer, was adopted by the founders of Marxism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in the...
, as well as on collectivization
Collective farming
Collective farming and communal farming are types of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise...
.
At the Party Conference in October, when the balance set after General Secretary
General Secretary
The office of general secretary is staffed by the chief officer of:*The General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace, a government agency for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace...
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....
' downfall came to be questioned, Luca made his voice heard in opposition to 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...
's "internal wing", and proposed that the latter be kept as nominal leader (with Pauker taking over the party executive); Gheorghiu-Dej, who managed to obtain 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...
's approval through the intervention of Emil Bodnăraş
Emil Bodnaras
Emil Bodnăraş was an influential Romanian Communist politician, an army officer, and a Soviet agent...
, became focused on maneuvering against the rival faction.
In late 1945, the issue of collectivization brought Luca into a brief and intense conflict with the Ploughmen's Front
Ploughmen's Front
The Ploughmen's Front was a Romanian left-wing agrarian-inspired political organisation of ploughmen, founded at Deva in 1933 and led by Petru Groza. At its peak in 1946, the Front had over 1 million members.-History:...
(a group led by 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....
and allied with the Communists), which threatened to cease supporting the PCR if private property
Private property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
was not going to be guaranteed. His plans for rapid communization also rose opposition inside the party — 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...
is known to have advised against them.
With those of Pauker, Teohari Georgescu
Teohari Georgescu
Teohari Georgescu was a high-ranking member of the Romanian Communist Party.-Life:Born in Bacău, he was the third of seven children of Constantin and Aneta Georgescu. Georgescu, whose formal education ended after the fourth grade, began his career as an assistant in his father's store...
, and Gheorghiu-Dej, his name was one of the most prominent in propaganda (including the famous collective slogan
Slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...
Ana, Luca, Teo, Dej / Bagă spaima în burgheji — "Ana, Luca, Teo[hari], Dej / Scare the bourgeois"). The group of leaders was active in suppression of various inner-party political factions, starting with that of Foriş, and continued with those of Remus Koffler and Pătrăşcanu.
He was personally charged with securing the brutal transition to collective farming, and kept his ministerial office after the proclamation of 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...
. Inside the Secretariat, he, Pauker and Georgescu eventually became the main obstacle in the way of Gheorghiu-Dej's policies. According to some authors, Luca was the "most sectarian
Sectarianism
Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
member of the 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...
ruling gang".
Downfall
While Luca had supported the rise of Gheorghiu-Dej during the Griviţa Strike of 1933Grivita Strike of 1933
The Grivița Strike of 1933 was a railway strike which was started at the Grivița Workshops, Bucharest, Romania, on 16 February 1933 by workers of Căile Ferate Române . The strike was brought about by the increasingly poor working conditions of railway employees in the context of the worldwide Great...
, his temper caused frictions with the new leader. He was quite open about his opposition to the Danube-Black Sea Canal
Danube-Black Sea Canal
The Danube – Black Sea Canal is a canal in Romania which runs from Cernavodă on the Danube to Agigea and Năvodari on the Black Sea...
—a pet project of Dej, apparently recommended by 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...
himself. On the initiative of General Secretary
General Secretary
The office of general secretary is staffed by the chief officer of:*The General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace, a government agency for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace...
Gheorghiu-Dej, who sought and obtained Stalin's approval for purging the leadership in January 1952 (Dej had traveled personally to 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...
for that purpose; Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
intervened on behalf of Pauker, whereas Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
defended Georgescu) Luca was dismissed from government office in March, and purged from the party in May (formally, in August 1953), together with Pauker.
Officially, the purge was centered on accusations regarding Luca's opposition to the monetary reform
Monetary reform
Monetary reform describes any movement or theory that proposes a different system of supplying money and financing the economy from the current system.Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals:...
of the Romanian leu
Romanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
, a measure ordered by the Soviet Union and carried out on January 28, 1952. He had been charged, through the voice of Miron Constantinescu
Miron Constantinescu
Miron Constantinescu was a Romanian communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party , as well as a Marxist sociologist, historian, academic, and journalist...
, with "grave deviations
Deviationism
A deviationist is a person who expresses a deviation: an abnormality or departure. In Stalinist Communism deviationism is an expressed belief which is not in accordance with official party doctrine for the time and area. Accusations of deviationism often led to purges...
" and taking a "right wing opportunistic line, breaking away from the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
es" (see Right Opposition
Right Opposition
The Right Opposition was the name given to the tendency made up of Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, Mikhail Tomsky and their supporters within the Soviet Union in the late 1920s...
); in addition to sharing the blame, Pauker was accused of having taken a "left wing opportunistic line" (see Left Opposition
Left Opposition
The Left Opposition was a faction within the Bolshevik Party from 1923 to 1927, headed de facto by Leon Trotsky. The Left Opposition formed as part of the power struggle within the party leadership that began with the Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's illness and intensified with his death in January...
) on various issues. Upon witnessing the attack on him during the Plenary meeting of May (immediately amplified by the interventions of Alexandru Moghioroş, Iosif Rangheţ, Ion Vincze
Ion Vincze
Ion Vincze was a Romanian communist politician and diplomat...
and others), Luca fainted. He was arrested in the same month, some days after his deposition and political indictment.
Luca's interrogation, approved and supervised by Soviet advisors, also involved aspects of his past: it was alleged that, as a youth, he had taken part in conflicts opposing the Székely Division and the communists on the side of the former, that he had been recruited by the Romanian secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
(Siguranţa Statului) in the early 1920s and had thus infiltrated the PCR, and that he had been paid to encourage fighting inside the party.
In October 1954, he was sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
for economic sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
, but, after appealing to the PCR leaders, he had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
and hard labour
Penal labour
Penal labour is a form of unfree labour in which prisoners perform work, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence which involve penal labour include penal servitude and imprisonment with hard labour...
, and died 9 years later in the prison of Aiud
Aiud
Aiud is a city located in Alba county, Transylvania, Romania. The city has a population of 28,934 people. It has the status of municipality and is the second-largest city in the county, after county seat Alba Iulia. The Aiud administrative region is 142.2 square kilometres in area.- Administration...
, having been kept in almost complete isolation. After his imprisonment, he wrote several letters to Gheorghiu-Dej, in which he continued to plead his innocence; it is not known if the addressee ever replied to Luca personally, but he would usually add derogatory comments to the margin of each letter. Twenty-nine of Luca's present and former collaborators — from the Finance Ministry employees and from Centrocoop — were also arrested at the time. They were all subjected to torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
. Alexandru Iacob
Alexandru Iacob (communist)
Alexandru Iacob was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian and Hungarian communist politician and economist, who served as Deputy to Vasile Luca within the Romanian Ministry of Finance, and eventually became a victim of repression in Communist Romania...
, the deputy Finance Minister, received 20 years of forced labor, while Ivan Solymos, vice-president of Centrocoop, was sentenced to 15 and Dumitru Cernicica
Dumitru Cernicica
Dumitru Cernicica was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian and Hungarian communist politician and engineer, who served in various economic-financial positions in the Romanian Communist government...
, the Centrocoop first vice-president, was condemned to 3 years of corrective jail.
In 1952, charges against Luca implicated Teohari Georgescu
Teohari Georgescu
Teohari Georgescu was a high-ranking member of the Romanian Communist Party.-Life:Born in Bacău, he was the third of seven children of Constantin and Aneta Georgescu. Georgescu, whose formal education ended after the fourth grade, began his career as an assistant in his father's store...
, who was accused of împăciuitorism ("appeasing attitude") and admitted to "not having seen the gravity of Luca's deeds" in a futile effort to save himself from incarceration. Pauker herself claimed that she had suspected Luca of attempting to topple Gheorghiu-Dej, and argued that her Jewish
History of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
origins and Luca's Hungarian (or Jewish-Hungarian) roots had made them the target of Soviet suspicion (she recalled having been told so by Andrey Vyshinsky
Andrey Vyshinsky
Andrey Januaryevich Vyshinsky – 22 November 1954) was a Soviet politician, jurist and diplomat.He is known as a state prosecutor of Joseph Stalin's Moscow trials and in the Nuremberg trials. He was the Soviet Foreign Minister from 1949 to 1953, after having served as Deputy Foreign...
), as well as unpopular inside Romania.
The entire writings of Luca, Pauker, and Georgescu were removed from their places in officially-sanctioned libraries, and quotes from them were systematically deleted from reference works.
Rehabilitation
In September 1965, just two years after his death and six months after the death of Gheorghiu-Dej, the change in tone signaled by Nicolae CeauşescuNicolae 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...
, the new general secretary, led to the re-evaluation of Luca's case by a party commission that included Ion Popescu-Puţuri.
The investigation revealed major irregularities and a pattern of abusive measures, including the direct implication of Gheorghiu-Dej, 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...
, and 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...
chief Alexandru Drăghici, into the proceedings, as well as inhumane treatment to which Luca had been subjected. It resulted in Luca's 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...
in 1968 (although the final verdict seemed to confirm that Luca had betrayed some of his comrades during his 1920s stay in Jilava
Jilava
Jilava is a commune in Ilfov county, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava.The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin meaning "humid place". Jilava was the location of a fort built by King Carol I of Romania, as part of the capital's defense system...
prison).