Subjective Retrospections and Identity (Re) Construction Techniques. The Past of the Illegal PCdR Members Reflected in the “Institutional Autobiographies” Cover Image

Retrospecţii subiective şi tehnici de (re)construcţie identitară. Trecutul ilegaliştilor PCdR reflectat în „autobiografii de instituţie”
Subjective Retrospections and Identity (Re) Construction Techniques. The Past of the Illegal PCdR Members Reflected in the “Institutional Autobiographies”

Author(s): Ştefan Bosomitu
Subject(s): History
Published by: Editura Universităţii Petru Maior
Keywords: Interwar Communists; Institutional Autobiography; Autobiographical Narrative; Biased Retrospection; Constructed Identity

Summary/Abstract: The Romanian Communist Party’s narratives regarding its own “clandestine history” were far from being consonant, but rather unpredictable, incoherent, and (sometimes) contradictory. In a similar manner, the personal memories/histories of its most important members were subjected to an analogous process. Discussing the “institutional autobiographies” (mandatory documents for every party member) of seven important senior members of the RCP, my article is trying to decipher the mechanisms and techniques through which these subjects defined, reconstructed, and reinvented their “identity” and their “revolutionary self”, within a process that thoroughly considered the party’s (re)evaluation of its own history. The analysis focuses on issues related to the individual’s “social” and “ideological biography”, while also acknowledging the individual’s narration of the “revolutionary self”. These themes defined one’s political capital, a detail that was determining one’s role and statute within the party’s structures.

  • Issue Year: 16/2016
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 41-64
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: Romanian