Socialist Humanism. The Doctrinarian Base of Romanian Political Novel during the Communist Period
The aim of this article is to highlight a few connections between Socialist Humanist and the political novel in Romania during the communist regime after 1965. Firstly, we prove that a major doctrinarian policy, spread throughout the Soviet bloc after Stalin’s death, lessened writer’s to turn their attention, even in Romania, to the atrocities that were committed by the Marxist-Leninist ideology. Secondly, we mention the mechanism which helped Gheorghe GheorghiuDej, in his later years (1962-1964), to embrace N.S. Khrushchev’s plan to educate people in a so called aesthetic and humanitarian pedagogy. Thirdly, we spot the way in which Nicolae Ceauşescu, the successor of Dej, permitted novelists to point out, with the help of the Esopic language, the cruelties of “popular democracy” in Romania (1948-1964). Fourthly, we analyze a series of opinions about Socialist Humanism and literature, expressed by Mihail Ralea, C. I. Gulian, Eugen Barbu, Constantin Ţoiu and Al. Ivasiuc.
Keywords: Socialist Humanism, politic novel, Marxism-Leninism, “popular democracy”, Esopic language.
