Transitional justice Romanian style:
Condemning the communist ideology, but not the communist repressors
The debate about transitional justice in post-communist Romania, though vigorously supported by numerous public intellectuals in the early 1990’s, slowly faded away after 2004, for coming at term with a merely symbolic measure, namely officially condemning communism as criminal ideology in 2007. Intellectuals’ satisfaction with symbolic measures instead of effective transitional justice is twofold. On the one hand, the condemnation of communism was a long awaited ideological victory for right-wing intellectuals. On the other hand, the public positions that many of them occupied with the support of right-wing parties in government unable them to accuse political elites in power and to keep pushing for more decisive action against former communist repressors. This inability paves the way for the final rehabilitation and legitimation of former repressors as valuable capitalist entrepreneurs, key businessmen and devoted public servants.
Keywords: Intellectuals, Right-wing parties, Populism, Post-Communism, Romania
1. Cătălin Augustin Stoica, “Once upon a Time There Was a Big Party: The Social Bases of the Romanian Communist Party (Part I)”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 19, no. 4, 2005, pp. 686-716. Idem, ”Once upon a Time There Was a Big Party: The Social Bases of the Romanian Communist Party (Part II)”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 20, no. 3, 2006, pp. 447-482.
2. Lavinia Stan, Lucian Turcescu, “The Devil’s Confessors: Priests, Communists, Spies, and Informers”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 19, no. 4, 2005, pp. 655-685.
3. Kevin Adamson, ”Discourses of Violence and the Ideological Strategies of the Romanian Communist Party, 1944-1953”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 21, no. 4, 2007, pp. 559-587.
4. Lavinia Stan, “The Vanishing Truth: Politics and Memory in Post-Communist Europe”, East-European Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 4, 2006, pp. 383-408; Monica Ciobanu, “Criminalising the Past and Reconstructing Collective Memory: The Romanian Truth Commission”, Europe-Asia Studies, vol. 61, no. 2, 2009, pp. 313-336.
5. Lavinia Stan (ed.), Transitional Justice in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, Routledge, London, 2009; Hilary Appel, “Anti-Communist Justice and Founding for Post-Communist Order: Lustration and Restitution in Central Europe”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 19, no. 3, 2005, pp. 379-405.
6. Grigore Pop-Eleches, “Between Historical Legacies and the Promise of Western Integration: Democratic Conditionality after Communism”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 21, no. 1, 2007, pp. 142-161; Steven Fish, Omar Choudhry, “Democratization and Economic Liberalization in the Postcommunist World”, Comparative Political Studies, vol. 40, no. 3, 2007, pp. 254-282; Monica Ciobanu, “Romania’s Travails with Democracy and Accession to the European Union”, Europe-Asia Studies, vol. 59, no. 8, 2007, pp. 1429-1450.
7. Cosmina Tănăsoiu, “Intellectuals and Post-Communist Politics in : An Analysis of Public Discourse, 1990-2000”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 22, no. 1, 2008, pp. 80-113.
8. Matt Killingsworth, “Lustration after totalitarianism: Poland’s attempt to reconcile with its Communist past”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 275-284; Jane Henderson, “The Russian Constitutional Court and the Communist Party case: Watershed or whitewash?”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 40, no. 1, 2007, pp. 1-16.
9. Lubomír Kopeček, “Dealing with the communist past: Its role in the disintegration of the Czech Civic Forum and the emergence of the Civic Democratic Party”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 43, no. 2, 2010, pp. 199-208.
10. Lavinia Stan, “Goulash Justice for Goulash Communism? Explaining Transitional Justice in ”, Studia Politica. Romanian Political Science Review, vol. VII, no. 2, 2007, pp. 269-291.
11. Terry D. Clark, Jovita Pranevičiūte, “Perspectives on communist successor parties: The case of Lithuania”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 443-464; Krzysztof Jasiewicz, “The (not always sweet) uses of opportunism: Post-communist political parties in Poland”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 421-442; Grigore Pop-Eleches, ”A party for all seasons: Electoral adaptation of Romanian Communist
successor parties”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 41, no. 4, 2008, pp. 465-479; Marek Rybář, Kevin Deegan-Krause, “Slovakia’s Communist successor parties
in comparative perspective”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 41, no. 4, 2008, pp. 497-519.
12. Lavinia Stan, “Spies, files and lies: explaining the failure of access to Securitate files”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 37, no. 3, 2004, pp. 341-359.
13. Idem, “Vigilante justice in post-communist Europe”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 44, no. 4, 2011, pp. 319-327.
14. Isabela Preoteasa, “Intellectuals and the public sphere in post-communist Romania: a discourse analytical perspective”, Discourse & Society, vol. 13, no. 2, 2002, pp. 269-292.
15. Venelin I. Ganev, “The ‘Triumph of Neoliberalism’ Reconsidered: Critical Remarks on Ideas-Centered Analyses of Political and Economic Change in Post-Communism”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 19, no. 3, 2005, pp. 343-378; Jozef Pinior, “Settling Accounts for the Wrongs Done on the Left”, Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, vol. 15, no. 2, 2007, pp. 271-273; S. Fisher, J. Gould, T. Haughton, “Slovakia’s Neoliberal Turn”, Europe-Asia Studies, vol. 59, no. 6, 2007, pp. 977-998; Colin
C. Williams, John Round, “The Illusion of Capitalism in Post-Soviet Ukraine”, Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 16, 3, 2008, pp. 331-345.
16. Cosmina Tănăsoiu, “Intellectuals and Post- Communist Politics in Romania…cit.”
17. Jacques Rupnik, “From democracy fatigue to populist backlash”, Journal of Democracy, vol. 18, no. 4, 2007, pp. 17-25; Jan Zielonka, “The Quality of Democracy after Joining the European Union”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 21, no. 1, 2007, pp. 162-180; Bojan Bugaric, “Populism, Liberal Democracy, and the Rule of Law in Central and Eastern Europe”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 41, no. 2, 2008, pp. 191-203; Paul Levitz, Grigore Pop-Eleches, “Why No Backsliding? The European Union’s Impact on Democracy and Governance Before and After Accession”, Comparative Political Studies, vol. 43, no. 4, 2010, pp. 457-485; Venelin I. Ganev, “Post-Accession Hooliganism: Democratic Governance in Bulgaria and Romania after 2007”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 27, no. 1, 2013, pp. 26-44; Sergiu Gherghina, Sergiu Mişcoiu (eds.), Partide şi personalităţi populiste în România postcomunistă, Institutul European, Iaşi, 2010.
18. One of the most striking political developments in Romania, as in other Central and East-European countries, is the alliance between populism and neo-liberalism, which seem to be opposite political orientations at the first glance. For the Polish case, see Stuart Shields, “Neoliberalism Redux: ’s Recombinant Populism and Its Alternatives”, Critical Sociology, published online before print on 15 October, 2013, doi: 10.1177/0896920513501349).
19. Isabela Ieţcu, “Argumentation, dialogue and conflicting moral economies in post-1989 Romania: an argument against the trade-union movement”, Discourse & Society, vol. 17, no. 5, 2006, pp. 627-650.
20. Steven D. Roper, Romania: The Unfinished Revolution, Routledge, New York, 2000.
21. Vladimir Tismăneanu, “The Quasi-revolution and its Discontents: Emerging Political Pluralism in Post- Ceauşescu Romania”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 7, no. 2, 1993, pp. 309-348; Steven D. Roper, “The Romanian revolution from a theoretical perspective”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 27, no. 4, 2004, pp. 401-410; Henry F. Carey (ed.), Romania since 1989: Politics, Economics and Society, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, 2004.
22. Steven D. Roper, Feşnic, “Historical Legacies and Their Impact on Post-Communist Voting Behavior”, Europe-Asia Studies, vol. 55, no. 1, 2003, pp. 119-131.
23. Monica Ciobanu, “Criminalising the Past and Reconstructing Collective Memory…cit.”, p. 313.
24. Vladimir Tismăneanu, “Democracy and the Communist Past in Romania”, in Ronald F. King, Paul E. Sum (eds.), Romania under Băsescu. Aspirations, Achievements, and Frustrations during His First Presidential Term, Lanham, Books, pp. 21-29.
25. Lavinia Stan, “The Vanishing Truth…cit.”
26. Gabriel Liiceanu, Apel către lichele, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1992.
27. Cosmina Tănăsoiu, “Intellectuals and Post-Communist Politics in Romania…cit.”, p. 88.
28. Horia-Roman Patapievici, Politice, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1996, p. 213.
29. Interview in Evenimentul Zilei, 15 March 2008.
30. György Konrád, Iván Szelényi, The Intellectuals on the Road to Class Power, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1979.
31. Milovan Djilas, The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System, Praeger, New York, 1957.
32. Ghiţă Ionescu, “Social Structure: Rumania under Communism”, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, no. 317, 1958, pp. 53-62; Janina Frentzel-Zagórska, Krzysztof Zagórski, ”East European Intellectuals on the Road of Dissent: The Old Prophecy of a New Class Re-examined”, Politics & Society, vol.17, no. 1, 1989, pp. 89-113.
33. Iván Szelényi, “The Prospects and Limits of the East European New Class Project: An Auto-critical Reflection on The Intellectuals on the Road to Class Power”, Politics & Society, vol. 15, no. 2, 1987, pp. 103-144.
34. David Stark, László Bruszt, Postsocialist Pathways. Transforming Politics and Property in East Central Europe, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1998; Gill Eyal, Iván Szelényi, Eleonor Townsley, Making Capitalism without Capitalists: The New Ruling Elites in Eastern Europe, Verso, London, 2001; Georges Mink, Jean-Charles Szurek, “Democracy and Capitalism: The Role of the Former Elites in Postcommunist Transformation”, Diogenes, vol. 49, no. 2, 2002, pp. 115-119.
35. To briefly exemplify, Andrei Pleşu, one of the most visible public intellectuals, has been appointed as presidential counsellor, while Horia-Roman Patapievici was appointed as state secretary minister in charge with the direction of the Romanian Cultural Institute, designed to promote the Romanian culture abroad.
36. This relationship was strongly affirmed in 2005 by an anecdotical meeting held at the presidential summer resort of Neptun, on the coast, when a handful of intellectuals made the journey from to the sea side by using the official presidential airplane (Ziarul Naţional, 17 April 2013, http://ziarulnational.md/all-inclusive-pentru-recreerea-primilor-oameni-din-stat-3-palate-20-de-vile-un-complex-in-delta-si-un-elicopter/, accessed 06 March 2014).
37. In a televised interview, Gabriel Liiceanu slightly corrected Băsescu, who publically stated that the Romanian educational system produces but idiots and therefore misses his goals, by preparing philosophers instead of waiters and car repair workers („Premierul” Băsescu scrie şi programa şcolară: „De tinichigii şi mecanici avem nevoie. Noi facem filosofi, şi ăia neintegrabili în câmpul muncii”, Gândul.info, 14 June 2009, http://www.gandul.info/stiri/premierul-basescuscrie-si-programa-scolara-de-tinichigii-si-mecanici-avem-nevoie-noi-facem-filosofi-si-aia-neintegrabili-in-campul-muncii-4549799, accessed 06 March 2014).
38. Jurnalul Naţional, 5 May 2005, http://jurnalul.ro/stiri/politica/demisie-andrei-plesu-l-a-parasit-pe-basescu-45773.html (accessed 06 March 2014).
39. Monica Ciobanu, “Criminalising the Past and Reconstructing Collective Memory…cit”, p. 316. Many well-known anti-communist intellectuals were thus blamed of having supported the former secret police by various actions, casting a doubt about the legitimacy of keeping on blaming former Securitate informers.
40. Ibidem, p. 319.
41. Anneli Ute Gabanyi, “The New Business Elite: From Nomenklatura to Oligarchy”, in Henry F. Carey (ed.), since 1989: Politics, Economics and Society, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, 2004.
42. Romana Careja, “Paths to Policy Coherence to Create Market Economies in Central and Eastern Europe”, International Political Science Review, vol. 32, no. 3, 2011, pp. 345-366.
43. Alina Mungiu Pipiddi, Laura Ştefan, “Perpetual Transition: Contentious Property and Europeanization in South-East Europe”, East European Politics and Societies, vol. 26, no. 2, 2012, pp. 340-361.
44. The tension sometimes exploded into substitute confrontations, as the rivalry between football teams run by regime officials, for example. As military units, both Securitate and the army held in custody numerous sport clubs.
45. David Stark, László Bruszt, Postsocialist Pathways…cit.
46. This conversion strategy is most visible in 2000, when PSD largely defeated the right-wing parties who governed between 1996 and 2000. His return to power is similar to the return of other social-democratic parties in Central and Eastern Europe in the mid-1990’s, following the economic difficulties of the early transition under right-wing party rule.
47. Monica Ciobanu, “Romania’s Travails with Democracy…cit”, p. 1440.
48. Idem, “Criminalising the Past and Reconstructing Collective Memory…cit”, p. 319.
49. Revista 22, 18 November 2002, http://www.revista22.ro/ristea-priboi-se-intoarce-254.html, accessed 06 March 2014.
50. Cotidianul.ro, 20 May 2010, http://www.cotidianul.ro/homostean-seful-militiei-si-al-securitatii-decorat-de-presedintele-romaniei-115097/, accessed 06 March 2014.
51. Realitatea Sălăjeană, 27 June 2008, http://www.realitateasalajeana.ro/index.php?cmd=article&artid=5505, accessed 06 March 2014.
52. Sălăjeanul, 18 December 2013, http://www.salajeanul.ro/lia-stanca-si-elena-udrea-sunt-proprietarele-statiunii-baile-boghis-7288, accessed 06 March 2014.
53. Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, “Reinventing the Peasants. Capture in Post-Communist ”, Romanian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2003, pp. 23-38.
54. Idem, “Fighting political corruption in post -communist Europe”, in Romanian Coalition for a Clean Parliament, A Quest for Political Integrity, Polirom, Iaşi, 2005, p. 7.
55. Ziarul Financiar, 14 January 2005, http://www.zf.ro/politica/prefectul-capitalei-a-demisionat-la-cinci-zile-de-la-numire-2896306, accessed 06 March 2014.
56. Back in 1996, Horia-Roman Patapievici was concerned about the troubling fact that most of those guilty for the communist regime’s misconducts were still among us, free to pursue their private lives with no moral or judicial consequences for their crimes. See Horia-Roman Patapievici, “Asasinii printre noi”, in Politice, Humanitas, Bucureşti, 1996, pp. 187-193.
57. Jozef Pinior, “Settling Accounts for the Wrongs Done on the Left…cit.”
58. Horia-Roman Patapievici, Despre Idei & Blocaje, Humanitas, Bucureşti, 2007.
59. Jürgen Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Mit Press, , 1989.
