ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

96Cezar Avramrelations could be cleansed of as a class” 6 . Gh. Gherghiu-Dej adopted theStalinist, emphasizing the fact Romanian Communist Party never gave up theidea of nationalizing the entire land. “By limiting and gradually eliminating thelandowners and the kulaks, by interdicting land sale and leasing, by developingthe ways of cooperation in agriculture … by accelerating the process of themechanization of agriculture in view of the transition towards masscollectivization, we will create the conditions for the nationalization of the landin order to turn it into commune property” 7 .Dej, the leader of the Party, kept his word and succeeded in destroyingprivate property, leveling the social classes in the rural areas, making the peoplework for the benefit of the state, so that no one would get rich, and finallybuilding the state capitalism through the elimination of private capitalism.However, between 1948-1953, both the apportionment of the peasantsand the collectivization process continued, as well as the expropriation and theseizure of land, all done in the name of “the welfare and happiness of the hardworkingpeasants”.Although is was reported as completed in March 1947, the process ofagrarian reform, put into practice according to the decree 187 of March 23,1945, continued both legislatively and in practice. This is confirmed by law no177 of June 7, 1947 which interdicts the filing of lawsuits against the process ofagrarian reform, turning it into “a Government act”, and by the law no. 10 ofDecember 16, 1950 that annulled the payments for the apportionment owed bythe peasants according to the decree 187/1945. Into 1949-1953, the process ofapportionment was parallel to that of land nationalization. Thus, from thenational reserve made complete by the decree 83/1949 (940,238 hectares on anational level representing the rest of 50 hectares from each landowner’s farm,after the 1945 apportionment; the surface of land seized in 1945 and 1949 wasup to 2,360,000 hectares 8 ), by the decree 151 of June 10, 1950 9 , regarding thecirculation of agricultural goods, by the decree 111 of July 27, 1951 10 , regardingthe goods subjects to seizure, the seized goods or the owns without an owner ora legal heir, by the decree 307 of August 29, 1953 11 regarding by thedistrainment of judicial verdicts, by the HCM 308 of February 1, 1953 12 , theautumn of 1953, the peasants were given a land surface of 158,000 hectares,February 8 1953.6 I.V. Stalin, Opere, vol. 11, Bucureşti, 1951, p. 164.7 Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej, Articole şi cuvântări, Bucureşti, 1955, p. 305.8 Costin Murgescu, op. cit., p. 163.9 Buletinul Oficial, no. 52 of June 10 1950.10 Idem, mo. 80 of July 27 1951.11 Idem, no 27 of August 29 1953.12 State Archives, Dolj County, Sf. Pop., Castranova, dos. 128/1953, p. 61; “Scânteia” of