I, the People...

On Ceausescu's Nationalism

Written by: Golan

A spectre is haunting Romania - the spectre of Ceausescu. For years at this point, Nicolae Ceausescu has been a divisive figure for the Romanian collective psyche. You either love him or hate him. There are no in-betweens. Many myths have been spread about him, especially by and among those who look back with nostalgia and anemoia at the times he was ruling Romania.

These myths, or exaggerations, or maybe stuff removed from their context in order to create a certain image, include and are not limited to the dictator having paid off all the national debt, guaranteed homes and jobs, a supposed international respect for Romanians pale in comparison to the central myth on which all of these are at least partially based. A myth that is still believed by many Romanians today: that Ceausescu was a nationalist.

And while it is true that the propaganda of the time had a nationalistic tendency, one mustn't take it as proof of Ceausescu supposedly loving Romania. The truth is that he loved Romania for as long as he was synonymous with Romania. Official propaganda would often invoke the "trinity" of Partidul-Ceausescu-Romania (the Party-Ceausescu-Romania). He would also be known as the most beloved son of the people or even guarantor of the nation's progress and independence. We can clearly see this push in communist propaganda of making Ceausescu synonymous with the Communist Party and with the nation itself. Through this device, any criticism of the dictator or of the regime was understood as an attack on the people.

How nationalistic was Ceausescu really? It seems than in his early political activism, he was (and probably still remained) a very ardent Marxist, especially devoted to the Party and admiring the USSR. The nationalistic tendencies can be seen during his 24-year-long reign. After his regime was overthrown in the Romanian Revolution of 1989, he was arrested, tried and eventually executed. According to eyewitness accounts, he yelled, among other things, "Long live the Socialist Republic of Romania, free and independent!" and was shot while he was singing the Internationale, a song that is not exactly compatible with nationalism.

However, the "Long live..." he shouted is interesting, because it further proves the point that he loved Romania for as long as he was synonymous with Romania. The transition from People's Republic to Socialist Republic was done in 1965 by Ceausescu. The Socialist Republic was thus his own brain-child, his own creation and further solidifies the synonymity. It's hard to say whether his attitudes can be classified as nationalistic. I would call it narcissistic pseudo-nationalism, because it does not seem to have ever been about the nation, but solely about himself.

The legacy of Ceausescu's myths and manipulation continues even today. It is clear his lies have not died with him and they keep being believed by many, both on the left and on the right (there are even individuals that could be considered far-right that praise Ceausescu for his "nationalism"). This graven image of Ceausescu keeps roaming and reproducing itself in the psyche of Romanians. The dictator's demise came when he started conflating himself with this image, and now the Romanians are conflating him with his image. Now that the real, signified Ceausescu is gone, his signifiers remain.



And now Ceausescu is a simulacrum.