Ceauşescu şi discursul din 21 august 1968
Ceauşescu and the Speech of August 21, 1968

Summary/Abstract: Undoubtedly, on August 21, 1968 Ceauşescu gained his supreme laurels both in the country and abroad when, in front of an impressive crowd gathered mostly on its own accord he firmly condemned the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the reunited armies of five of the Warsaw Pact members, demanding the immediate retreat of the troops, and, in a display of honesty never repeated afterwards, presented Romania as a country under threat but ready to defend itself. The speech was widely broadcast and commented both in Romania and abroad. A key moment of the attitude of the Romanian communist party in 1968, it gave rise to several interpretations and was read in various keys, according to expectations o prejudices. While for Western administrations, analysts and observers the rally and speech in Bucharest were the proof of a tendency to cut ties with the Soviet Communist Party, for the Romanian people and especially for the Romanian intellectuals, it was a sign that RCP was taking the road towards liberalism and democracy. Numerous young and older people, intellectuals and even former political detainees joined the RCP ranks in the hope to support the Prague Spring and reform communism from within. But the disappointment that followed surpassed any former expectations.

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