ral Committee, in November
1965, to establish a commission of inquiry to reexamine the political
trials conducted by the Gheorghiu-Dej regime during the 1950s. The
commission was particularly directed to investigate the 1954 trial and
execution of Lucretiu Patrascanu, who had been the Romanian minister of
justice from 1944 to 1948 and an important member of the party
hierarchy. The formation of the commission of inquiry and its findings
were not announced publicly until April 1968.

Political observers identified three principal factions within the PCR
during the 1965-67 period: Ceausescu and his supporters; the veteran
party men led by Stoica, Apostol, and Draghici; and the intellectuals,
of whom Maurer was perhaps the nominal representative. Those allied with
Ceausescu, who was forty-seven years old when he came to power, tended
to be men of his own generation and outlook, and whenever possible he
engineered their appointment or promotion into important party,
government, and military positions.

One of Ceausescu's foremost concerns was what he termed the
revitalization of the PCR. To achieve this end, he not only brought his
own younger men into the top party organs but also sought to broaden the
professional skills represented in these bodies through the recruitment
of technically trained men and academicians. At the same time, increased
technical and scientific contacts were permitted with Western nations,
and previously banned works of foreign writers and artists were allowed
to be reintroduced--moves that helped Ceausescu gain additional support
among the PCR's intellectuals.

Although the party encouraged a revival of nationalism and introduced
several limited domestic reforms, it did not relax its tight political
control and continued to direct the country's economy through a highly
centralized system. The maintenance of strict party control was
evidenced in the congresses of the youth and labor union organizations
in mid-1966, when the delegates were informed that the PCR would begin
to enforce the "patriotic education" of their members.

The 1967 National Party Conference

At a specially convened National Conference of the PCR in December
1967--the first such conference in twenty-two years--Ceausescu continued
to strengthen his own position. The conference was attended by the
members of the Central Committee as well as by 1,150 delegates from
local party organizations. Ceausescu elected to employ the t