Nicolae Ceauşescu – mecanismele unei dictaturi (1965-1967)
Nicolae Ceausescu - The Mechanisms of a Dictatorship (1965-1967)

Summary/Abstract: The article describes the manner and means used by Nicolae Ceausescu between 1965-1967 for the establishment of a personal dictatorship. The reform of the party's governing bodies, mainly by increasing the number of members, and his vast program of bureaucratic reforms, led to the removal of any potential opposition from the start. The inventing of a Romanian history of communism, the acceptance into the party of those excluded during Dej's regime and the consolidation of bureaucracy through a mix of rewarding measures and control policies, quickly transformed Ceausescu into the only source of power and legitimacy in the party. In parallel, Ceausescu undertook a true non-violent sweep of the leading cadres, managing to quickly obtain a real power base. His true political genius consisted in the ability to combine in unique packages of measures, initiatives to strengthen his power and real modernization policies. The old leaders of the party were deprived, shortly after Ceausescu's coming, of the institutional mechanisms by which they could have opposed, but they also lacked the courage. Within a few months of his coming to power, Ceausescu undertook a political reform similar to that of Stalin in 1952. One year after his inauguration, more than half of those who led the party, the state and the economy owed their positions to the new Secretary-General. Under the pretext of modernizing the party and state apparatus, using the fact that many of the "veterans" of communism lacked academic competence, Ceausescu managed to gather an army of loyalists, giving his leadership a systemic character.

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