create a full socialist consciousness in the people, and that a full socialist consciousness could

only come about if the entire population was made aware of socialist values that guided society.
The Communist Party was to be the agency that would so "enlighten" the population and in the
words of the British historian Richard Crampton "...the party would merge state and society, the
individual and the collective, and would promote 'the ever more organic participation of party
members in the entire social life'".[25]

Doua secvente semnifi cati ve pentru tema dramei sunt: cea din tabloul al II-lea, in care
Ionagaseste un cutit, semn al libertatii de actiune si comenteaza lipsa de vigilenta a chitului, apoi
recomandaca “ar trebui sa se puna un gratar la intrare in orice suflet”, simbolizand ideea ca este
necesara o selectierelationala a lucrurilor importante in viata. A doua secventa este cea in care Iona se
sinucide. Solutia deiesire pe care o gaseste semnifica evadarea din propria carcera, din propriul destin,
din propria captivitate.D r a m a s e t e r m i n a c u r e p l i c a c e s u g e r e a z a i n c r e d e r e a p e c a r e
i - o d a r e g a s i r e a s i n e l u i , c u n a o s t e r e a  propriilor capacitati de actiune, concluzionand ca “ e
greu sa fii singur” si simbolizand un nou inceput.Iona, personaj principal si eponim, pescar
Leadership of Romania
When Gheorghiu-Dej died on 19 March 1965, Ceaușescu was not the obvious successor despite
his closeness to the longtime leader. However, widespread infighting by older and more
connected officials made the Politburo turn to Ceaușescu as a compromise candidate.[14] He was
elected general secretary on 22 March 1965, three days after Gheorghiu-Dej's death.

One of his first acts was to change the name of the party from the Romanian Workers' Party back
to the Communist Party of Romania and to declare the country a socialist republic, rather than a
people's republic. In 1967, he consolidated his power by becoming president of the State
Council, making him de jure head of state. His political apparatus sent many thousands of
political opponents to prison or psychiatric hospitals.[citation needed]

Ceaușescu with Deng Xiaoping and Leonid Brezhnev in 1965.

Initially, Ceaușescu became a popular figure, both in Romania and in the West, because of his
independent foreign policy, which challenged the authority of the Soviet Union. In the 1960s, he
eased press censorship and ended Romania's active participation in the Warsaw Pact, but
Romania formally remained a member. He refused to take part in the 1968 invasion of
Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces and even actively and openly condemned that action in
his 21 August 1968 speech. He travelled to Prague a week before the invasion to offer moral
support to his Czechoslovak counterpart, Alexander Dubček. Although the Soviet Union largely
tolerated Ceaușescu's recalcitrance, his seeming independence from Moscow earned Romania a
maverick status within the Eastern Bloc.[14]

Ceaușescu's main aim as leader was to make Romania a world power, and all of his economic,
foreign and demographic policies were meant to achieve Ceaușescu's ultimate goal: turning
Romania into one of the world's great powers.[15] In October 1966, Ceaușescu banned abortion
and contraception and brought in one of the world's harshest anti-abortion laws,[16] leading to a
large spike in the number of Romanian infants abandoned to deplorable conditions in the
country's orphanages.

Ceaușescu with Indira Gandhi during his visit to India in 1969.

During the following years Ceaușescu pursued an open policy towards the United States and
Western Europe. Romania was the first Warsaw Pact country to recognize West Germany, the
first to join the International Monetary Fund, and the first to receive a US President, Richard
Nixon.[17] In 1971, Romania became a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Romania and Yugoslavia were also the only Eastern European countries that entered into trade
agreements with the European Economic Community before the fall of the Eastern Bloc.[18]

A series of official visits to Western countries (including the United States, France, the United
Kingdom, Spain and Australia) helped Ceaușescu to present himself as a reforming Communist,
pursuing an independent foreign policy within the Soviet Bloc. He also became eager to be seen
as an enlightened international statesman, able to mediate in international conflicts, and to gain
international respect for Romania.[19] Ceaușescu negotiated in international affairs, such as the
opening of US relations with China in 1969 and the visit of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to
Israel in 1977. Also Romania was the only country in the world to maintain normal diplomatic
relations with both Israel and the PLO. In 1980, Romania participated in the 1980 Summer
Olympics in Moscow with its other Soviet bloc allies, but in 1984 was one of the few
Communist countries to participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles when most of
the Eastern Bloc's nations boycotted this event.[20]

1966 decree

In 1966, in an attempt to boost the country's population, Ceaușescu made abortion illegal and
introduced Decree 770 in order to reverse the Romanian population's low birth and fertility rates.
Mothers of at least five children were entitled to receive significant benefits, while mothers of at
least ten children were declared "heroine mothers" by the Romanian state. Few women ever
sought to receive this status.

The government targeted rising divorce rates, and made divorce more difficult—it was decreed
that marriages could only be dissolved in exceptional cases. By the late 1960s, the population
began to swell. In turn, a new problem was created, child abandonment, which swelled the
orphanage population (see Cighid). Many of the children in these orphanages were rejected due
to mental and physical deficiencies. The subsequent generation of children is known as
generația nefericită (generation unfortunate) in Romania.[citation needed]

Measures to encourage reproduction included financial motivations for families who bore
children, guaranteed maternity leave, and childcare support for mothers who returned to work,
work protection for women, and extensive access to medical control in all stages of pregnancy,
as well as after it. Medical control was seen as one of the most productive effects of the law,
since all women who became pregnant were under the care of a qualified medical practitioner,
even in rural areas. In some cases, if a woman was unable to visit a medical office, a doctor
would visit her home.[21]

President of the State Council

In office
9 December 1967 – 22 December 1989
 Ion Gheorghe Maurer
 Manea Mănescu
Prime Minister  Ilie Verdeț
 Constantin Dăscălescu

Preceded by Chivu Stoica

Succeeded by Office abolished
Additional positions
Personal details
26 January 1918
Born Scornicești, Olt County, Kingdom of
Romania
25 December 1989 (aged 71)
Died Târgoviște, Socialist Republic of
Romania
Cause of death Execution by firing squad
Ghencea Cemetery, Bucharest,
Resting place
Romania
Nationality Romanian
Romanian Communist Party (1932-
Political party
1989)
Spouse(s) Elena Petrescu
 (m. 1947; died 1989)
 Valentin
 Zoia
Children
 Nicu

Cult of personality
Known for Systematization
Austerity Policy
Signature