REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

88
Remembrance in Time
A second identified form of resistance is the subversive use of language. In this case, we
will consider firstly what the Securitate identified as "documents containing hostile
message".
Thus, in the context of elections of deputies for people's councils, in a voting precinct
was found a note "with a mentioning that denigrated the RCP", while in another ballot
box, "on one bulletin was written the objection regarding the lack of opposition in
elections". 10 Also, the members of Securitate have recorded that on the cover of the
Cinema magazine in January 1989, two young men wrote on the faces of the Romanian
presidential couple "ox and cow" as an expression of personal dissatisfaction with the
political and economic situation in Romania. 11
The proliferation of hate speech was also an example of subversive use of language.
According to the documents prepared by Securitate, the target of such negative comments
was the "superior leaders of the party and state". However, given the fact that Ceausescu
was identified by the official propaganda discourse as the only party and state leader, we
can actually say that his person was the principal target of expressions classified as
"disparaging" or "libelous". Usually, this type of comments was influenced by the
negative effects of the economic measures initiated by the Romanian communist regime
led by Nicolae Ceausescu. For example, a retired man from the city Sebeş was recorded
in the Security documents because he "made biased statements regarding the
socioeconomic situation in our country and brought insults to the senior party and state
leaders". 12
In the category of documents with “hateful content" belong some letters written by
various individuals to different bodies of the central party or state or, where appropriate to
foreign radio stations, identified by Securitate as having a hostile attitude towards the
communist regime in Bucharest.
In one of his volumes of memoirs, Paul Niculescu-Mizil showed that during the
leadership of Nicolae Ceausescu there was a system for studying and solving various
letters sent by citizens. 13 Presented by official propaganda as a concrete and eloquent
manifestation of the socialist democratic regime, this system of examination and
resolution of "proposals, complaints and requests of the working people" was found in all
local and central levels of party and government administration, of mass organizations
and not in the least as part of the activity of the Romanian media.
Within this system, the citizens were encouraged to contact the authorities with
proposals of general interest, with allegations of deficiencies or irregularities in the
activity of economic entities, with applications to solve personal problems, to denounce
abuses by local officials and last but not least to express their views on current issues of
domestic and foreign policy. This latter type of correspondence between citizens and
authorities is relevant to the topic of this paper for three reasons. Firstly, these letters
constitute an argument proving the existence and expression of personal views of various
people on various topics through official channels. Secondly, a minority of those who
10 Arhiva CNSAS, D 13314, vol 20, f. 53.
11 Arhiva CNSAS, D 533, f. 32.
12 Arhiva CNSAS, D 336, vol 2, f. 46.
13 Paul Niculescu-Mizil, De la Comintern la comunismul naŃional. Despre Consfătuirea partidelor
comuniste şi muncitoreşti, Moscova, 1969, Editura Evenimentul Românesc, Bucureşti, 2001, p.
370.