IGN POLICY

Historical Factors

After coming under full communist control in the early post-World War II
period, the country was closely aligned with the international policies
and goals of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Romania's
international and domestic policies generally supported the political
and economic goals of the Soviet Union. Beneath the surface, however, an
internal party struggle was being waged in Romania between certain
communist leaders who were fully oriented toward the Soviet Union and
others who sought an orientation that was less Soviet dominated (see ch.
2).

Although the internal struggle involved personal ambitions as much as
political and ideological goals, the group surrounding party First
Secretary Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej urged the attainment of national goals
through cooperation with the Soviet Union rather than a position of
complete integration and exclusive dependence on the Soviets. By
mid-1952 Gheorghiu-Dej was able to gain full control of the party, purge
his leading opponents, and assume the dual role of party chief and head
of the government. Shortly after assuming the premiership, Gheorghiu-Dej
began a slow and cautious disengagement from Soviet domination, being
careful, however, not to advocate goals that were at variance with the
policies of Soviet Premier Josef Stalin. Domestic politics, in fact,
remained strongly Stalinist in orientation, and it was not until after
Stalin's death in March 1953 that the first significant steps were taken
to diminish Soviet control.

To a significant degree the country's foreign policy during the
Gheorghiu-Dej era reflected the Romanian leader's struggle for his own
political survival, particularly in the face of Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev's campaign to weaken the power of Stalinist-oriented Eastern
European communist leaders. Important also was the growing Romanian
determination to limit the influence of the Soviet Union in the
country's internal affairs, especially in the realm of economic
development. Political events within the communist world during the
remainder of the 1950s and the early 1960s provided Gheorghiu-Dej the
opportunity to assert an increasingly independent stance and to gain
concessions from the Soviets.

Faced with Khrushchev's emphasis on de-Stalinization and his demands for
communist unity under Soviet leadership, the Gheorghiu-Dej regime
responded by giving lip service to Soviet policies while, at the