idarity, a ranking member
of the PCR Standing Presidium declared, "it would be unrealistic to
think that fourteen socialist countries spread over three continents,
each with its specific characteristics, should show themselves strictly
identical in the building of a new society." Additional party statements
insisted that each country must be allowed to apply the principles of
Marxism-Leninism to its own particular conditions and that no general
line for all parties could be established. In adjusting Marxism-Leninism
to national needs each party must be able to make its own unique
contribution to the enrichment of the entire communist movement.

During the negotiations for the renewal of the friendship treaties with
the other Warsaw Pact countries, the Ceausescu government repeatedly
stressed that its own formula for developing international relations
with noncommunist nations was based on the same principles as those
applied to socialist states and that Romania was open to the
establishment of such relations "without regard for difference in the
social order." A party spokesman asserted that the country's foreign
relations are not determined by short-term circumstances that are valid
at one moment and superseded the next but by policies directed at
long-term cooperation in all fields of common interests.

PCR policy has sought to support the country's independent political
stance by increasing its economic independence. This has led to the
rejection of COMECON attempts to integrate the economies of its member
states and to establish a division of labor among them. Instead, the PCR
has followed a policy aimed at the industrialization of the country,
based on the proposition that an expanded industrial base is what is
most needed for Romania's overall economic development.

In the same manner that the PCR has resisted complete integration into
COMECON, the regime has also opposed Soviet plans for the fuller
integration of military forces under the Warsaw Pact. Romanian
objections to such integration stem from a concern for the preservation
of the country's national sovereignty and a desire to limit Soviet
hegemony in Eastern Europe. PCR leaders have described military blocs
and the existence of foreign troops and military bases on the territory
of other states as being incompatible with national independence and as
the primary obstacles to cooperation among nations. On the other hand,
party spokesmen have frequently sta