Romanian Military Thinking

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Romanian Military Thinking ~ 4/2007
and political instructors; to have worked in the field for at least four years; to have knowledge
that corresponded to six elementary classes, mention being made that, in exceptional cases,
it could correspond to only four elementary classes !” 4 .
As well, term soldiers represented one of the basic sources intended for the
construction of the new cadre corps, since, after graduating from the courses of regiment
schools, they could be selected for the active military service, following one of the paths,
respectively commissioned officer, warrant officer or non-commissioned officer. The
political-ideological criterion played a very important part in this selection. Thus, according
to the “Ministerial decision no. 955/12 October 1949, they had to meet the following
requirements: “healthy” social origin, a certificate to demonstrate that neither the
candidate nor his parents “were members of fascist or pro-fascist organisations and that
his parents were not judged for war crimes”; an “assessment sheet” signed by the company
commander, by the company and the unit political instructors and by the chief of the unit
intelligence service, countersigned by the unit commander” 5 .
The haste and the radical manner in which the process of social re-composition of
the officer corps within the Romanian military body was developed were relevantly
emphasised by the fact that, in 1955, more than 85 per cent of the officers came directly
(figure 1) from
f a m i l i e s
belonging to the
working or
peasant classes,
which meant, in
figures, that out of
the 37 293 officers,
only 3 386 were,
institutionally,
educated and
Year Workers
Poor
and
middle
peasants
The total
number
of workers
and
peasants
Office
workers
/
Intellectuals
Kulaks
Landowners Other
/ categories
Industrialists
1948 6 23 29 43 18 10 -
1950 8 33 41
(petty
bourgeois) 4
10 5 -
1955 22,35 62,36 84,71 11,93 0,79 0,01 2,51
1968 31,3 50,3 81,6 17 - - 1,4
1977 36,1 40,3 76,4 - - - 23,6
Figure 1: The officer corps social composition6 trained within the former armed forces.
In the same reference year – 1955, the social origin of the military cadres corps
(figure 2) practically reflected the accomplishment of a process that offered the Minister
of Defence at that time – Emil Bodn`ra[ – the opportunity to assert “One of the main
accomplishments of the party in building the armed forces is the mass shaping of the new
cadres of officers. The officers in our armed forces belong today to the working class, working
peasantry and the intellectuality that is close to the people” 7 .
After 1955, encouraged by Moscow directives that sought for a détente in international
relations 8 , the leadership of the single party proceeded, between 1955 and 1960 to reduce
4 Cf. {perlea Florin, De la Armata Regal` la armata popular`. Sovietizarea Armatei Române
(1948-1959), Editura Ziua, Bucure[ti, pp. 138-139.
5 Ibidem, p. 43.
6 Ibidem, p. 143.
7 Romanian Military Archive, microfilms, roll PII 4.2463, c. 460.
8 Romanian Military Archive, microfilms, roll PII 5.115, cc. 23-25.