Mihail Gorbachev and the Romanian Rural Systematization Project (1989) Cover Image

Mihail Gorbaciov și Proiectul românesc de Sistematizare Rurală (1989)
Mihail Gorbachev and the Romanian Rural Systematization Project (1989)

Author(s): Nicoleta Şerban
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Cultural history, Civil Society, Social history, Rural and urban sociology, History of Communism
Published by: Editura Institutul European
Keywords: rural; village; demolition; exile; Gorbachev;

Summary/Abstract: In 1989, the scandal broke out in the West because of the rural systematization project. The project involved the demolition of half of Romania's villages, 7-8 thousand villages that were to be wiped off the face of the earth along with their cemeteries. There was a wave of protests from the West against this particularly brutal project. Ceausescu, however, remained deaf to any kind of criticism. It is the reason for which both the West and the Romanian exile sought to make the Kremlin leader responsible for intervening to stop the madness. Everyone waited for a sign from Gorbachev, the only one who could have changed something, in their opinion.

  • Issue Year: X/2022
  • Issue No: 4 (38)
  • Page Range: 33-38
  • Page Count: 5
  • Language: Romanian