ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

118Mădălina Abagiuthan it is usually thought (…)” 1 . This advantage was considered at maximum bythe PCR leaders.In the centre of the cultural politics promoted by the communist regimein its first phase, there was the cultural orientation named proletcultism.Proletcultism is defined as “a cultural current (initiated in the Soviet Union afterthe October revolution) whose aesthetical principles were reduced to the idea offorming a «pure proletarian» culture, and which rejected the entire cultureinheritance of the past” 2 . Proletcultism, though being a dominant culturalorientation in the 50’s, was in fact a current closer to propaganda than to art.Proletcultism representatives served not «proletarian culture», but the interestsof the communist nomenclature, initially of the exterior nomenclature, endingwith the autochthon one. The artists cherished by the communists, especiallywriters, enjoyed high prestige and a social status much more advantageouscompared to their colleagues. But these advantages were paid through a certainobedience of the state’s structures and, obviously, of the party’s directives. Onthe other side, the communist nomenclature had already submitted its culture,since it needed a positive image to project especial abroad in order to build up itsown international prestige.Gheorghe-Gheorghiu Dej’s replacement with Nicolae Ceauşescu aspresident will lead to the appearance of a new cultural-ideological orientation:protochronism. The protochronism phenomenon is translated through thenegation of any occidental influence and engorgement of the Romanian culture.In a 20 th Century magazine issue from July 1974, Professor Edgar Papu signedan article which would have not only high resonance but also certain posterity:Romanian protochronism. In this text, the erudite essayist launched a hypothesisnot only spectacular, but even revolutionary, regarding the statute of theRomanian language and literature and their rapports with the great literaturesand cultures in Europe and all over the world. In the article, it is not affirmedonly the originality of the Romanian literature, but especially its intermittentpriority towards these literature 3 . Protochronist action in the name ofdemocratization and understand to found organizations to administer theproduction of culture: Writers Union, Plastic Artists Union, Composers andMusicologists Union. But all these institutions will be under the strictsurveillance of the party’s leaders, who had to approve the any release of acultural-artistic material.By the transformation of the cultural-artistic domain into an instrumentof self-image promoting, Nicolae Ceauşescu becomes the main subject of mostof the literary works at the time. Almost everything is written on command, thecommunist political regime, all through the time they ruled, denying people to1 Jean Marie Domenach, Political propaganda, Iasi, European Institute, 2004, p. 90.2 Romanian language explicative dictionary, 1984 edition, p. 751.3 Apud Mircea Martin, Romanian culture, between communism and nationalism, in“Magazine 22”, 31 st October-5 th November 2002.