DISCREPANŢA DINTRE IMAGINEA REALĂ ŞI CEA FABRICATĂ A REPREZENTANŢILOR PUTERII ÎN PRIMII ANI AI REGIMULUI COMUNIST DIN ROMÂNIA
THE MANUFACTURED IMAGE OF THE POWER HOLDERS DURING THE FIRST YEARS OF COMMUNIST RULE IN ROMANIA

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the propagandistic discourse in communist regimes has always been to create an idealized image of the social corpus and, in particular, of the representatives of the so-called “collective leadership”. Therefore, there is an erroneous tendency to analyze the history of the communist period, in the first two decades, from the perspective of a total subordination of the citizens to the decisions taken by the leaders, as well as to consider the unconditioned acceptance by the population of the measures undertaken by those who were in power. It is true that the members of the society have often adopted unconsciously the gestures and feelings that have been inspired from the outside. The reality, however, has sometimes been different. By using documentary sources from ANIC and CNSAS – depositories of archive funds and collections that often reflect opposite sides of the era – the study underlines the disparity between the genuine and the manufactured image of the power holders. Although the existence of such a phenomenon was specific to most of the totalitarian regimes, it has never been transformed into an aspect that prevailed. It has, however, become one of the facets of the regime which, although peripheral, has consumed the energies of the Securitate through the variety of forms it has embraced: from rumors, insults, verbal or written threats against communist personalities, to actions of destroying posters that represented them. We started from the premise that the research so far highlighted the main moments in the history of communism that generated attitudes against the regime, generally coming from more or less coagulated groups. Nonetheless, concerns about the attitude of the members of society, singled out, were left in a second plan. Albeit chaotically recorded, their existence mirrors a parallel society that does not pulse in the rhythms dictated by the regime.

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