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Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania

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The Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania (Romanian: Comisia Prezidenţială pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din România), also known as the Tismăneanu Commission (Comisia Tismăneanu), is a commission instituted in Romania by President Traian Băsescu in order to carry out an investigation of the Communist regime and provide a comprehensive report allowing for the condemnation of Communism as experienced by Romania.

Created in April 2006 as a panel presided over by political scientist Vladimir Tismăneanu, it focused on examining the activity of institutions that enforced and the perpetuated the communist dictatorship, "the methods making possible the abuses, the murders, the felonies of the dictatorship, the flagrant violations of human rights and the role of some political figures in the maintaining and the functioning of the totalitarian regime in Romania". The Commission presented its final report to Parliament on December 18 of the same year — it has been adopted as an official document of the Romanian Presidency, and published on its website. The report confirms Romania as the first former Eastern Bloc country to officially condemn its Сommunist regime[1]. The quality and the conclusions of the report, as well as the commission itself are at the center of an ongoing debate inside Romanian society.

Starting on January 8, 2007, modifications are brought to the report of the commission to correct important errors and ommissions [2]. The legal status of these changes to a final report adopted as official Presidency document is unclear.[3].


Members

The members were selected by Commission's President Vladimir Tismăneanu. They are:

Final report

Pillars, enforcers, and supporters of Communism

The report identifies several individuals as responsible for officially-endorsed violent methods. Several of them have their biographies reviewed as part of the 660 pages long text. Among those identified as main supporters of the communist regime are several present-day political figures (former Romanian President Ion Iliescu, and senators Corneliu Vadim Tudor and Adrian Păunescu), as well as the Commission President's own father, Leonte Tismăneanu.

In the category comprising those found to be "guilty of enforcing and perpetuating a regime built on crimes" are named Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Ana Pauker, Gheorghe Apostol, Gheorghe Rădulescu, Manea Mănescu and Ion Iliescu.

Among those found responsible for political indoctrination are Ion Iliescu, Mihai Roller, Paul Niculescu-Mizil, Valter Roman, and Silviu Brucan.

A special category comprises those participants in the cultural life who were found to have actively supported the Сommunist regime. The Report mentions Eugen Barbu, Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Dan Zamfirescu, Ion Dodu Bălan, Dinu Săraru, Adrian Păunescu, Ilie Bădescu, Mihai Ungheanu, Nicolae Dan Fruntelată, Arthur Silvestri and Ilie Purcaru. The Săptămâna magazine, directed by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, was considered "the main platform for manipulative pseudo-nationalism during the late years of the Ceauşescu regime".

The report imentions Mihai Bujor Sion and Leonte Tismăneanu among the main activists of the Romanian Communist Party. Those identified as involved in the regime's propaganda apparatus are Matei Socor (head of the Agerpres news agency), Paul Niculescu-Mizil, Leonte Răutu, Eugen Florescu and Ion Iliescu.

Ghizela Vass and Ştefan Andrei were identified as main agents of the Communist regime involved in policies pertaining to external affairs.

Other conclusions

The report also contradicts President Băsescu's earlier assertion (a thesis also supported also by the Left and nationalist groupings of the Romanian political spectrum) that the Communist secret police, the Securitate, can be divided into two distinct sections - one serving the regime, the other ensuring the nation's security. Vladimir Tismăneanu was quoted by Adevărul saying:

"We [the Commission] reject on a scientific basis the existence of two kinds of Securitate, one of before 1965, Cominternist and anti-patriotic, and the other one devoted to the people and to the patriotic values".[4]

Controversy

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Support

Historian and writer Alex Mihai Stoenescu considers that the report contains essential remarks concerning the Romanian Communist regime (but the report is not yet polished according to historical writing criteria).[5]

Critique

Critics of the report of the Tismăneanu commission focus on several types of problems:

  1. The choice of events and personalities included in the report.
  2. The moral authority of the commission members.
  3. The actual conclusions of the report.

In the first category some of the critics point that the commission:

  • Failed to take into account the Communist crimes in Soviet-occupied Bessarabia and Bukovina, and the period of Soviet occupation during World War II.[6][7][8]
  • The personalities nominated as having contributed to the Communist regime are perceived as political enemies of Traian Băsescu, the current president of Romania, who initiated the commission.[9].

The controversy around the moral authority of the commission and on Tismăneanu himself is covered here. It is remarkable that Tismăneanu's own father was, according to the report, one of the main propagandists in charge of communist indoctrination. One of members of the Commission (Sorin Antohi) turned out to be a collaborator of the Securitate who had lied about his academic credentials. Antohi is a close collaborator of Tismăneanu and is still an editor of a scientific journal chaired by the latter. Another member (Metropolitan Nicolae Corneanu) resigned after declaring that he was not aware of his nomination on the commission. Still another member (Mihnea Berindei) was publicly accused of being a Securitate collaborator. The exiled writer and dissident Paul Goma was fired from the commission after only three weeks by Tismăneanu on personal grounds. Former Radio Free Europe journalist, professor Michael Shafir states that he was invited not to take part in the commission.[10]

Critics of the actual conclusions of the report point that:

  • Condemning a political doctrine is useless (because the crimes of the regime should be condemned) and dangerous (because existing communist states could be take it as an attack).[11]
  • President Traian Băsescu declaring the Communist regime as illegitimate on the basis of the report is also dangerous, because it may be interpreted as an annulment of all international treaties in which Communist Romania took part[12].
  • The wholesale condemnation of the period is also perceived by some critics as a critique of what all Romanians did in that period[citation needed].
  • The language of the report is unsuitable for a historical work, through incorrect uses of words such as genocide, and through a faulty citation policy.[13]
  • Important dissident leaders are omitted from the report [14]
  • The report mixes all victims of the Communist regime into a single category, whereas some of them should be singled out, such as former Iron Guard members. [15]

Finally, some political parties oppose the condemnation of Communism altogether.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ ""Romania condemns its communist past"". EuroNews. 2006-12-18. Retrieved 2006-12-19.; ""Romanian president, in a first for the nation, condemns its Communist dictatorship"". International Herald Tribune. 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2006-12-19. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); ""Romanian Leader Condemns Communist Rule"". The New York Times. 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2006-12-19. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ The modification note on the web site of the Romanian Presidency http://www.presidency.ro/?_RID=htm&id=83
  3. ^ Tismaneanu is changing the "official state document" on the Internet http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2007-01-23&id=214593
  4. ^ Template:Ro icon ""Iliescu, Vadim şi Păunescu, stâlpii comunismului"". Adevărul. 2006-12-15. Retrieved 2006-12-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Good points of the Tismaneanu report http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2007-01-20&id=214524&kword=tismaneanu
  6. ^ Ziua 18-12-2006 http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2006-12-18&id=212999&ziua=5581bf5daf332c124e68563c879ac9ae
  7. ^ Paul Goma letter to President Băsescu http://paulgoma.free.fr/includes/Scrisoare_adresata_lui_Traian_Basescu_Paul_Goma_2.php
  8. ^ Dissident Victor Frunză interview in Jurnalul Naţional http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol_69589/raportul_tismaneanu___protest_fata_de__dubla_morala_.html
  9. ^ Jurnalul Naţional 19-12-2006 http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol_68572/raportul_rafuielii_politice.html
  10. ^ Michael Shafir interview in Ziua de Cluj http://www.ziuadecj.ro/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3525
  11. ^ PUR press release of 18-12-2006 http://www.pur.ro/ro/comunicate/648/
  12. ^ PUR press release of 18-12-2006 http://www.pur.ro/ro/comunicate/648/
  13. ^ Michael Shafir interview in Ziua de Cluj http://www.ziuadecj.ro/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3525
  14. ^ Ucis de Comisia Tismaneanu, article in Ziua http://www.ziua.net/display.php?data=2007-01-08&id=213782&kword=Ucis+de+comisia
  15. ^ Michael Shafir interview in Ziua de Cluj http://www.ziuadecj.ro/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3525
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