Studii și Materiale de Istorie Contemporană, vol. XXIII, 2024

Cosmin POPA, Reformele anului 1967 sau de ce „liberalismul” lui Ceauşescu a fost doar o ortodoxie bine mascată [The Reforms of 1967 or Why Ceauşescu’s Liberalism Was Just Well-Disguised Orthodoxy]

The full text is available on CEEOL/ Textul integral al studiului poate fi accesat prin CEEOL: https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1327797 

The reforms implemented by Nicolae Ceauşescu in 1967, despite being advertised as decentralisation, aimed at streamlining the bureaucratic apparatus within the economy. Their objective was to increase the efficacy of central planning. The decentralisation of exports, the reform of the banking system and the creation of industrial trusts continued to devise economic mechanisms established in previous years. The consolidation of the central political leadership was another key goal. Furthermore, the reforms opened opportunities for social mobility among the party’s “intelligentsia” and the technical experts who emerged in the latter years of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej’s rule. Yet, these policies effectively kept in place the core of the communist system: the planned economy remained tightly linked to the directives issued by the upper echelons of the party. However, the interposition of an additional administrative authority between the ministry and enterprises, through the formation of industrial trusts, generated the significant fragmentation of the areas of competence that were the purview of the central bureaucracy. The phenomenon brought the partial deprivation of its political base. Subsequently, the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party became the supreme authority on economic matters. The direct connection between Ceauşescu and industrial trusts constrained the capacity of the ministerial bureaucracy to effectively intervene in economic policy. 

Keywords: industrialization, communism, bureaucracy, decentralization, planned economy.