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115-427: Opposition (51) The Senate ( Romanian : Senat ) is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania . It has 136 seats (before the 2016 parliamentary election the total number of elected representatives was 176), to which members are elected by direct popular vote using party-list proportional representation in 43 electoral districts (the 41 counties , the city of Bucharest plus 1 constituency for

230-469: A Leninist program was about to be adopted). According to Frunză, although contrasted by the Communist press with its previous equivalent, the measure was supposedly much less relevant—land awarded to individual farmers in 1923 was more than three times the 1945 figures, and all effects were canceled by the 1948–1962 collectivization . It was also then that, through Pătrășcanu and Alexandru Drăghici ,

345-557: A bicameral parliament, with an upper house named in Romanian Corpul Ponderator ("Moderating Body"). This was later renamed the Senat . A formal Union of the two principalities came in 1859. On the initiative of Alexandru Ioan Cuza , a plebiscite in 1864 enlarged the principle of national representation. The 1866 Constitution of Romania proclaimed constitutional monarchy as Romania's form of government, on

460-625: A planned economy were enforced beginning 11 June 1948. The first five-year plan , conceived by Miron Constantinescu 's Soviet-Romanian committee, was adopted in 1950. Of newly enforced measures, the arguably most far-reaching was collectivization —by 1962, when the process was considered complete, 96% of the total arable land had been enclosed in collective farming , while around 80,000 peasants faced trial for resisting and 17,000 others were uprooted or deported for being chiaburi (the Romanian equivalent of kulaks ). Chiaburs were defined by

575-653: A Stalin-backed group around Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej before and after the large-scale Grivița Strikes . In 1934, Stalin's Popular Front doctrine was not fully passed into the local party's politics, mainly due to the Soviet territorial policies (culminating in the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact ) and the widespread suspicion other left-wing forces maintained toward the Comintern. The Communists did, nevertheless, attempt to reach consensus with other groupings on several occasions (in 1934–1943, they established alliances with

690-705: A bigger hall in that building. Between 1929 and 1940, it was temporarily housed in a building on the Regina Elisabeta Boulevard, while a new Palace of the Senate was to be built in today's Națiunile Unite Square. This building was never finished. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the Senate was housed in the "Palace of the Senate" ( Romanian : Palatul Senatului ), located in Revolution Square . That U-shaped structure

805-594: A crucial role in supporting the Communist Party's rise to power as the Soviet military command virtually ruled the city and the country ( see Soviet occupation of Romania ). After having been underground for two decades, the Communists enjoyed little popular support at first, compared to the other opposition parties (however, the decrease in popularity of the National Liberals was reflected in

920-559: A modern party system) is given by the following legend table: (formerly the historical National Liberal Party between 1875 and 1947) (formerly the historical National Peasants' Party - PNȚ between 1926 and 1947) (until 1992 National Salvation Front - FSN; until 1993 Democratic National Salvation Front - FDSN; until 2001 Party of Social Democracy in Romania - PDSR) (until 2015 Liberal Reformist Party - PLR) Ad interim ( acting ) officeholders are denoted by italics . The Rule of

1035-496: A national referendum in 1991, Romania returned to a bicameral parliamentary system, in which the Senate is an elected body. A referendum on modifying the size and structure of the Parliament from the current bicameral one with 137 senators and 334 deputies to a unicameral one with a maximum of 300 seats was held on 22 November 2009, at the same time as the first round of the 2009 presidential election . The electors approved by

1150-657: A number of Romanian Armed Forces officers, and armed Communist-led civilians supported by the National Democratic Bloc arrested dictator Ion Antonescu and seized control of the state ( see King Michael's Coup ). King Michael then proclaimed the old 1923 Constitution in force, ordered the Romanian Army to enter a ceasefire with the Red Army on the Moldavian front, and withdrew Romania from

1265-518: A percentage of 77.78% (50.95% turnout) the adoption of a unicameral Parliament, however as of 2024 the necessary constitutional changes to achieve this have not been put into effect. The first Romanian Senate functioned between 1864 and 1869 in a small building, which still exists today on the Calea Șerban Vodă. Once the new building of the University of Bucharest was inaugurated, the Senate moved in

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1380-526: A steady pace in its suppression of" class enemies ", until as late as 1962–1964. In 1962–1964, the party leadership approved a mass amnesty , extended to, among other prisoners, ca. 6,700 guilty of political crimes . This marked a toning down in the violence and scale of repression, after almost twenty years during which the Party had acted against political opposition and active anti-communist resistance , as well as against religious institutions (most notably,

1495-422: A stereotypical image of the regime as illegitimate. The early Communist Party had little influence in Romania. This was due to a number of factors: the country's lack of industrial development , which resulted in a relatively small working class (with industry and mining employing fewer than 10% of the active population ) and a large peasant population; the minor impact of Marxism among Romanian intellectuals ;

1610-533: A time when troops were suffering major defeats on the Eastern Front , the PCdR proposed that all parties form a Blocul Național Democrat ("National Democratic Bloc"), in order to arrange for Romania to withdraw from its alliance with Nazi Germany. The ensuing talks were prolonged by various factors, most notably by the opposition of National Peasants' Party leader Iuliu Maniu , who, alarmed by Soviet successes,

1725-424: A united bloc opposed to the government of the day. Some well-organised democracies, dominated long-term by a single faction, reduce their parliamentary opposition to tokenism . In some cases, in more authoritarian countries, tame "opposition" parties are created by the governing groups in order to create an impression of democratic debate. Some legislatures offer opposition parties particular powers. In Canada ,

1840-651: Is consistently carrying out the policy of enclosing and eliminating capitalist elements". Gheorghiu-Dej, who remained an orthodox Stalinist, took the position of Premier while moving Groza to the presidency of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly (de facto President of the People's Republic ). Executive and PMR leaderships remained in Gheorghiu-Dej's hands until his death in 1965 (with

1955-718: The Francs-tireurs ' Olga Bancic , Nicolae Cristea and Joseph Boczov . As Romania came under the rule of Ion Antonescu and, as an Axis country, joined in the German offensive against the Soviets , the Communist Party began approaching traditional parties that were engaged in semi-clandestine opposition to Antonescu: alongside the Social Democrats , it began talks with the National Peasants ' and

2070-485: The 2004 Romanian general election , held on 28 November 2004, the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA) won the greatest number of seats, even though no party won an outright majority. The President of the Senate for this legislature was Nicolae Văcăroiu , who was elected on 20 December 2004. Following his ad interim presidency of Romania, he delegated his attributions to the vice president Doru Ioan Tărăcilă . After Văcăroiu

2185-757: The Congress of Paris of 1856 , Russia gave up to Moldavia the left bank of the mouth of the Danube , including part of Bessarabia , and also gave up its claim to be the protector of Christians in the Ottoman Empire . Moldavia and Wallachia, while remaining under the suzerainty of the Ottomans, were recognized as quasi-independent self-governing principalities under the protection of the other European Powers. The Paris Convention of 19 August 1858 promulgated Statutul Dezvoltător ("Expanding Statute"), to introduce

2300-651: The Eastern bloc —notably, the anti-"Cosmopolitan" campaign in which Joseph Stalin targeted Jews in the Soviet Union, and the Prague Trials in Czechoslovakia which removed Jews from leading positions in that country's Communist government. At the same time, a new republican constitution , replacing its 1948 precedent, legislated Stalinist tenets, and proclaimed that "the people's democratic state

2415-518: The Great Depression in Romania , and the series of strikes infiltrated (and sometimes provoked) by the interior wing signified relative successes ( see Lupeni Strike of 1929 ), but gains were not capitalized—as lack of ideological appeal and suspicion of Stalinist directives remained notable factors. In parallel, its leadership suffered changes that were meant to place it under an ethnic Romanian and working-class leadership—the emergence of

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2530-596: The National Bank of Romania was passed into full public ownership (December 1946), and, in order to combat the Romanian leu 's devaluation , a surprise monetary reform was imposed as a stabilization measure in August 1947 (severely limiting the amount convertible by people without an actual job, primarily members of the aristocracy). The Marshall Plan was being overtly condemned, while nationalization and

2645-513: The National Liberal parties. At the time, virtually all the interior leadership was imprisoned at various locations (most of them interned at Caransebeș or in a concentration camp near Târgu Jiu ). Some communists, such as Petre Gheorghe , Filimon Sârbu , Francisc Panet or Ștefan Plavăț , tried to establish organised resistance groups; however, they were quickly captured by the Romanian authorities and executed, as were some of

2760-601: The National Peasants' Party against King Carol II and the Gheorghe Tătărescu government (who had intensified repression of Communist groups), finding themselves placed in an unusual position after the Iron Guard , a fascist movement, signed an electoral pact with Maniu; participation in the move was explained by Communist historiography as provoked by the Social-Democrats ' refusal to collaborate with

2875-564: The People's Democratic Front (FND), which won with 93.2 percent of the vote. By then, however, the FND had taken on the same character as other " popular fronts "in the Soviet bloc. The member parties became completely subservient to the PMR, and had to accept its" leading role "as a condition of their continued existence. Groza, however, remained Prime Minister. A new series of economic changes followed:

2990-624: The Ploughmen's Front , the Hungarian People's Union , and the Socialist Peasants' Party ), and small Communist groups became active in the leftist sections of mainstream parties. In 1934, Petre Constantinescu-Iași and other PCdR supporters created Amicii URSS , a pro-Soviet group reaching out to intellectuals , itself banned later in the same year. During the 1937 elections , the Communists backed Iuliu Maniu and

3105-642: The Romanian Revolution , but Romania kept its socialist-era constitution until 1991. Romania also retained its membership in the Warsaw Pact until its dissolution on 1 July 1991; that role had been largely symbolic since the late 1960s. The PCR co-ordinated several organizations during its existence, including the Union of Communist Youth , and organized training for its cadres at the Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy (future SNSPA ). In addition to Scînteia , its official platform and main newspaper between 1931 and 1989,

3220-627: The Romanian Roman Catholic and Greek-Catholic Churches). Estimates for the total number of victims in the 1947/1948-1964 period vary significantly: as low as 160,000 or 282,000 political prisoners, and as high 600,000 (according to one estimate, about 190,000 people were killed or died in custody— ). Notorious penal facilities of the time included the Danube-Black Sea Canal , Sighet , Gherla , Aiud , Pitești , and Râmnicu Sărat ; another method of punishment

3335-702: The Romanians living abroad ), to serve four-year terms. The parliamentary history of Romania is seen as beginning in May 1831 in Wallachia , where a constitution called Regulamentul Organic ("Organic Statute") was promulgated by the Russian Empire and adopted. In January 1832 it came into force in Moldavia also. This laid the foundations for the parliamentary institution in the two Romanian principalities. At

3450-615: The Second World War , King Carol II imposed a more authoritarian monarchy. Under the Constitution of 1938 , Parliament lost some of its main powers. The Senate was to be composed of members appointed by the King, members by right, and members elected in single-member electoral areas, in the same manner as Assembly members. The proportion of appointed and elected members was to be equal, while senators by right still had to meet

3565-664: The Socialist-Communist Party ( Partidul Socialist-Comunist ) and, soon after, the Communist Party of Romania ( Partidul Comunist din România or PCdR ). Government crackdown and competition with other socialist groups brought a drastic reduction in its membership—from the ca. 40,000 members the Socialist Party had, the new group was left with as much as 2,000 or as little as 500; after

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3680-510: The Twentieth Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , in which Khurshchev initiated De-Stalinization , Gheorghiu-Dej issued propaganda accusing Pauker, Luca and Georgescu of having been an arch-Stalinists responsible for the party's excesses in the late 1940s and early 1950s (notably, in regard to collectivization)—despite the fact that they had occasionally opposed a number of radical measures advocated by

3795-529: The United Kingdom , and New Zealand , 20 days each year are set aside as " Opposition Days " or "Supply Days", during which the opposition gets to set the agenda. Canada also has a Question Period , during which the opposition (and the Parliament generally) can ask questions of government ministers. Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( Romanian : Partidul Comunist Român , [parˈtidul kɔmuˈnist rɔˈmɨn] , PCR )

3910-480: The fall of one-party rule in 1989 , Romanian historians generally asserted that the party only had around 1,000 members at the end of World War II. Other researchers argue that this figure may have been intentionally based on the Muscovite faction figures and, as such, underestimated to undermine the influence of the internal faction; this estimate was afterwards promoted in post-communist historiography to reinforce

4025-456: The tendency to gravitate into two major parties or party groupings operates strongly, government and opposition roles can go to the two main groupings serially in alternation. The more proportionally representative a system, the greater the likelihood of multiple political parties appearing in the parliamentary debating chamber . Such systems can foster multiple "opposition" parties which may have little in common and minimal desire to form

4140-611: The " prison faction " ( political prisoners who looked to Gheorghiu-Dej as their leader) and the one around Ștefan Foriș and Remus Koffler . The exterior faction of the party was decimated during the Great Purge : an entire generation of party activists was killed on Stalin's orders, including, among others, Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea , David Fabian , Ecaterina Arbore , Imre Aladar , Elena Filipescu , Dumitru Grofu , Ion Dic Dicescu , Eugen Rozvan , Marcel Pauker , Alexander Stefanski , Timotei Marin , and Elek Köblös . It

4255-528: The 1920s and the 1930s, most of its activists were imprisoned or took refuge in the Soviet Union , which led to the creation of competing factions that sometimes came into open conflict. That did not prevent the party from participating in the political life of the country through various front organizations , most notably the Peasant Workers' Bloc . During the mid-1930s, due to the purges against

4370-803: The Axis. Later party discourse tended to dismiss the importance of both the Soviet offensive and the dialogue with other forces (and eventually described the coup as a revolt with large popular support). The King named General Constantin Sănătescu as prime minister of a coalition government which was dominated by the military, but included one representative each from the National Liberal Party, National Peasants' Party and Social Democratic Party, with Pătrășcanu as Minister of Justice —the first Communist to hold high office in Romania. The Red Army entered Bucharest on 31 August, and thereafter played

4485-548: The Brătianu government through the Mârzescu Law (named after its proponent, Minister of Justice Gheorghe Gh. Mârzescu ), passed in early 1924; Comintern sources indicate that, around 1928, it was losing contact with Soviet overseers. In 1925, the question of Romania's borders as posed by the Comintern led to protests by Cristescu and, eventually, to his exclusion from the party ( see Balkan Communist Federation ). Around

4600-602: The Communist Party absorbed the Romanian Social Democratic Party and attracted various new members. In the early 1950s, the group around Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej , with support from Stalin, defeated all other factions and achieved full control over the party and country. After 1953, the party gradually theorized a "national path" to communism. At the same time, however, the party delayed the time to join its Warsaw Pact brethren in de-Stalinization . The PCR's nationalist and national communist stance

4715-562: The Communists consecrated their control of the legal system—the process included the creation of the Romanian People's Tribunals , charged with investigating war crimes , and constantly supported by agitprop in the Communist press. During the period, government-backed Communists used various means to exercising influence over the vast majority of the press, and began infiltrating or competing with independent cultural forums. Economic dominance, partly responding to Soviet requirements,

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4830-484: The General Secretary. After that purge, Gheorghiu-Dej had begun promoting PMR activists who were perceived as more loyal to his own political views; among them were Nicolae Ceauşescu , Gheorghe Stoica , Ghizela Vass , Grigore Preoteasa , Alexandru Bârlădeanu , Ion Gheorghe Maurer , Gheorghe Gaston Marin , Paul Niculescu-Mizil , and Gheorghe Rădulescu ; in parallel, citing Khrushchevite precedents,

4945-576: The Groza cabinet representatives threatened to kill 1,000 students they had rounded up in custody. In February 1948, the Communists ended a long process of infiltrating the Romanian Social Democratic Party (ensuring control through electoral alliances and the two-party Frontul Unic Muncitoresc —Singular Workers' Front, the PCR had profited from the departure of Constantin Titel Petrescu 's group from

5060-462: The Iron Guard, the party was on the road to achieving power, but the dictatorship of king Carol II crushed this. In 1934–1936, PCR reformed itself in the mainland of Romania properly, with foreign observers predicting a possible communist takeover in Romania. The party emerged as a powerful actor on the Romanian political scene in August 1944, when it became involved in the royal coup that toppled

5175-544: The National Democratic Bloc was dissolved on 8 October 1944; instead, the Communists, Social Democrats, the Ploughmen's Front , Mihai Ralea 's Socialist Peasants' Party (which was absorbed by the former in November), the Hungarian People's Union (MADOSZ), and Mitiţă Constantinescu 's Union of Patriots formed the National Democratic Front (FND), which campaigned against the government, demanding

5290-625: The PCR was still highly disorganized and factionalized, it benefited from Soviet backing (including that of Vladislav Petrovich Vinogradov and other Soviet appointees to the Allied Commission ). After 1944, it was leading a paramilitary wing, the Patriotic Defense ( Apărarea Patriotică , disbanded in 1948), and a cultural society, the Romanian Society for Friendship with the Soviet Union . On PCdR initiative,

5405-478: The PCdR made possible the creation of the Bloc, which was designed as the basis of a future anti-Axis government. Parallel contacts were established, through Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu and Emil Bodnăraș , between the PCdR, the Soviets, and King Michael . A seminal event also occurred during those months: Ștefan Foriș , who was still general secretary, was deposed by with Soviet approval by the rival " prison faction "(at

5520-567: The PCdR protested Northern Transylvania 's cession to Hungary later in the same year (the Second Vienna Arbitration ), but evidence is inconclusive (party documents attesting the policy are dated after Nazi Germany 's invasion of the Soviet Union ). As the border changes sparked a political crisis leading to an Iron Guard takeover—the National Legionary State —the interior wing's confusion intensified:

5635-437: The PCdR. In the years following the elections, the PCdR entered a phase of rapid decline, coinciding with the increasingly authoritarian tone of King Carol's regime (but in fact inaugurated by the 1936 Craiova Trial of Ana Pauker and other high-ranking Communists). Journals viewed as associates of the party were closed down, and all suspected PCdR activists faced detention ( see Doftana Prison ). Siguranța Statului ,

5750-465: The PMR and resulted in a wave of arrests. While refusing to allow dissemination of Soviet literature exposing Stalinism (writers such as Ilya Ehrenburg and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ), Romanian leaders took active part in the campaign against Boris Pasternak . Despite Stalin's death, the massive police apparatus headed by the Securitate (created in 1949 and rapidly growing in numbers) maintained

5865-425: The PMR briefly reorganized its leadership on a plural basis (1954–1955), while Gheorghiu-Dej reshaped party doctrine to include ambiguous messages about Stalin's legacy (insisting on the defunct Soviet's leader contribution to Marxist thought, official documents also deplored his personality cult and encouraged Stalinists to self-criticism ). In this context, the PMR soon dismissed all the relevant consequences of

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5980-402: The PMR leadership officially questioned its own political support, and began a massive campaign to remove"foreign and hostile elements" from its rapidly expanded structures. In 1952, with Stalin's renewed approval, Gheorghiu-Dej emerged victorious from the confrontation with Ana Pauker , his chief "Muscovite"rival, as well as purging Vasile Luca , Teohari Georgescu , and their supporters from

6095-404: The PMR was occupied by the conflict between the " Muscovite wing ", the " prison wing "led by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej , and the newly emerged and weaker" Secretariat wing "led by Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu . After October 1945, the two former groups had associated in neutralizing Pătrăşcanu's—exposed as" bourgeois "and progressively marginalized, it was ultimately decapitated in 1948. Beginning that year,

6210-648: The PMR, associated with Constantin Doncea (June 1958). On the outside too, the PMR, leading a country that had joined the Warsaw Pact , remained an agent of political repression: it fully supported Khurshchev's invasion of Hungary in response to the Revolution of 1956 , after which Imre Nagy and other dissident Hungarian leaders were imprisoned on Romanian soil. The Hungarian rebellion also sparked student protests in such places as Bucharest, Timișoara , Oradea , Cluj and Iași , which contributed to unease inside

6325-418: The Party as the common enemies of communism in Romania. Thus, they were subjected to abuses by the cadres. In 1950, the party, which viewed itself as the vanguard of the working class , reported that people of proletarian origin held 64% of party offices and 40% of higher government posts, while results of the recruitment efforts remained below official expectations. During the period, the central scene of

6440-443: The Romanian secret police , infiltrated the small interior wing and probably obtained valuable information about its activities. The financial resources of the party, ensured by Soviet support and by various satellite organizations (collecting funds in the name of causes such as pacifism or support for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War ), were severely drained—by political difficulties at home, as well as, after 1939, by

6555-485: The Romanian military and occupying key installations, Michael agreed and dismissed Rădescu, who fled the country. On 6 March, Groza became leader of a Communist-led government and named Communists to lead the Romanian Armed Forces as well as the ministries of the Interior (Georgescu), Justice ( Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu ), Communications ( Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej ), Propaganda ( Petre Constantinescu-Iaşi ) and Finance ( Vasile Luca ). The non-Communist ministers came from

6670-399: The Senate consists of the President of the Senate , four vice-presidents, four secretaries, and four quaestors. The President of the Standing Bureau also serves as the President of the Senate . The President is elected, by secret ballot, for the duration of the legislative period. The political stance of the presidents of the upper house of the Parliament of Romania (after the development of

6785-485: The Senate states that at the first standing of the house, the meeting is headed by the eldest senator and helped by the youngest senator. Those bear the title of Interim President of the Senate , and, as their term is very short (one or two days) are not listed. The interim officeholders listed have hold the office in different circumstances and for a longer time (i.e. for more than one or two days). Parliamentary opposition In first-past-the-post assemblies, where

6900-405: The Senate, the Assembly of Deputies, and the King. The constitution instituted the membership by right ( senator de drept ) in the Senate for: Additionally, the Senate included an elective element, chosen by corporatist electoral colleges, including the chambers of commerce, industry, and agriculture, as well as university professors. In February 1938, amid the political crisis which soon led to

7015-488: The Social Democrats (who were falling under the control of the pro-Communists Lothar Rădăceanu and Ștefan Voitec ) and the traditional Ploughmen's Front ally, as well as, nominally, from the National Peasants' and National Liberal parties (followers of Tătărescu and Alexandrescu's dissident wings). As a result of the Potsdam Conference , where Western Allied governments refused to recognize Groza's administration, King Michael called on Groza to resign. When he refused,

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7130-404: The Social Democrats in March 1946). The Social Democrats merged with the PCR to form the Romanian Workers' Party ( Partidul Muncitoresc Român, PMR ) which remained the ruling party's official name until 24 July 1965 (when it returned to the designation as Romanian Communist Party ). Nevertheless, Social Democrats were excluded from most party posts and were forced to support Communist policies on

7245-570: The Twentieth Soviet Congress, and Gheorghiu-Dej even argued that De-Stalinization had been imposed by his team right after 1952. At a party meeting in March 1956, two members of the Politburo who were supporters of Khruschevite reforms, Miron Constantinescu and Iosif Chişinevschi , criticized Gheorghiu-Dej's leadership and identified him with Romanian Stalinism. They were purged in 1957, themselves accused of being Stalinists and of having been plotting with Pauker. Through Ceaușescu's voice, Gheorghiu-Dej also marginalized another group of old members of

7360-457: The appointment of more Communist officials and sympathizers, while claiming democratic legitimacy and alleging that Sănătescu had dictatorial ambitions. The FND was soon joined by the Liberal group around Tătărescu, Nicolae L. Lupu 's Democratic Peasants' Party (the latter claimed the legacy from the defunct Peasants' Party ), and Anton Alexandrescu 's faction (separated from the National Peasants' Party ). Sănătescu resigned in November, but

7475-412: The basis of democratic centralism ; it was also reported that only half of the PSD's 500,000 members joined the newly founded grouping. Capitalizing on these gains, the Communist government shunted most of the remaining parties aside after the 1948 elections (the Ploughmen's Front and the Hungarian People's Union dissolved themselves in 1953). The PMR fought the elections as the dominant partner of

7590-442: The basis of national sovereignty and the separation of powers . Legislative power was to be exercised by the new Prince ( Carol I of Romania ) and a bi-cameral parliament, with an Assembly of Deputies and a Senate. On 9 May 1877, the Declaration of Romania's independence was read under the dome of the Romanian Parliament. The 1923 Constitution , approved by both houses of parliament in May 1923, again entrusted legislative power to

7705-409: The building. In 2005 the senators moved into the Palace of the Parliament , joining their colleagues from the Chamber of Deputies . "Palatul Senatului" now houses the Ministry of Internal Affairs . In December 2008, the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) and the political alliance established between the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Conservative Party (PC) formed a coalition government. In

7820-440: The closing of Romanian-Soviet cultural ventures such as Editura Cartea Rusă at the end of the decade. Industrialization along the PMR's own directives highlighted Romanian independence—one of its consequences was the massive steel-producing industrial complex in Galați , which, being dependent on imports of iron from overseas, was for long a major strain on the Romanian economy. In 1957, Gheorghiu-Dej and Emil Bodnăraş persuaded

7935-472: The condition of unity in upholding the agreed-upon policies. The highest body within the PCR was the Party Congress , which began in 1969 to convene every five years. The Central Committee was the highest body when Congress was not in session. Because the Central Committee met only twice a year, most day-to-day duties and responsibilities were vested in Politburo. The party leader held the office of General Secretary and, after 1945, held significant influence over

8050-469: The conditions set out in the 1923 Constitution. In September 1940, after the abdication of King Carol, the National Legionary State suspended the parliament but itself lasted less than five months. It was succeeded by Ion Antonescu 's military dictatorship and the parliament remained suspended. After the royal coup of 23 August 1944, on 15 July 1946 the government controlled by the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) issued an electoral law that re-organized

8165-423: The early conflict between the PCdR and other minor socialist groups has been attributed to the legacy of Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea 's quasi-Poporanist ideas inside the latter, as an intellectual basis for the rejection of Leninism .) The PCdR's "foreign" image was because ethnic Romanians were a minority in its ranks until after the end of World War II: between 1924 and 1944, none of its general secretaries

8280-402: The election that confirmed the Bloc won around 48 percent of the vote. He concluded that had the election been conducted fairly, the opposition parties could have won enough votes between them to form a coalition government, albeit with far less than the 80 percent support opposition supporters long claimed. The following months were dedicated to confronting the National Peasants' Party , which

8395-632: The exception of 1954–1955, when his office of PMR leader was taken over by Gheorghe Apostol ). From the moment it came to power and until Stalin's death, as the Cold War erupted, the PMR endorsed Soviet requirements for the Eastern Bloc . Aligning the country with the Cominform , it officially condemned Josip Broz Tito 's independent actions in Yugoslavia ; Tito was routinely attacked by

8510-424: The external and internal wings: while Gheorghiu-Dej retained his general secretary position, Ana Pauker , Teohari Georgescu , and Vasile Luca became the other main leaders. The Central Committee had 27 full members and 8 candidate members The post-1945 constant growth in membership, by far the highest of all Eastern Bloc countries, was to provide a base of support for Gheorghiu-Dej. The conference also saw

8625-399: The first in a series of repressions, and, in the context of trial, allowed for several communist activists (including Leonte Filipescu ) to be shot while in custody—alleging that they had attempted to flee. Consequently, Argetoianu stated his belief that"communism is over in Romania", which allowed for a momentary relaxing of pressures—begun by King Ferdinand 's granting of an amnesty to

8740-585: The first mention of the PCdR as the Romanian Communist Party (PCR), the new name being used as a propaganda tool suggesting a closer connection with the national interest . Party control over the security forces was successfully used on 8 November 1945, when the opposition parties organised a demonstration in front of the Royal Palace to express solidarity with King Michael, who was still refusing to sign his name to new legislation, on

8855-618: The forming of a splinter group around Gheorghe Tătărescu , the National Liberal Party-Tătărescu , who later entered an alliance with the Communist Party). Soon after 23 August, the Communists also engaged in a campaign against Romania's main political group of the time, the National Peasants' Party, and its leaders Iuliu Maniu and Ion Mihalache . In Victor Frunză 's account, the conflict's first stage

8970-422: The government. Between 1974 and 1989, the General Secretary also held the office of President of Romania . Ideologically, the PCR was committed to Marxism–Leninism , a fusion of the original ideas of German philosopher and economic theorist Karl Marx , and Lenin, was introduced in 1929 by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin , as the party's guiding ideology and would remain so through much of its existence. In 1948,

9085-428: The left-wing political spectrum was dominated by Poporanism , an original ideology which partly reflected Narodnik influence, placed its focus on the peasantry (as it notably did with the early advocacy of cooperative farming by Ion Mihalache 's Peasants' Party ), and usually strongly supported the post-1919 territorial status quo—although they tended to oppose the centralized system it had come to imply. (In turn,

9200-619: The majority of the former, alongside Romanian and Bessarabian Jews in general, to camps, prisons and makeshift ghettos in occupied Transnistria ( see Holocaust in Romania ). Most Jews from the PCdR category were held in Vapniarka , where improper feeding caused an outbreak of paralysis, and in Rîbnița , where some 50 were victims of the authorities' criminal negligence and were shot by retreating German troops in March 1944. In June 1943, at

9315-406: The monarch that he appoint Communist sympathizer Petru Groza as Prime Minister, with the Soviet government suggesting it would reinstate Romanian sovereignty over Northern Transylvania only in such a scenario. Frunză claimed however that Vyshinsky also intimated a Soviet takeover of the country if the King failed to comply, and that, under pressure from Soviet troops who were supposedly disarming

9430-610: The monarch went to his summer home in Sinaia and refused to sign any government decrees or bills (a period colloquially known as greva regală —"the royal strike"). Following Anglo-American mediation, Groza agreed to include politicians from outside his electoral alliance, appointing two secondary figures in their parties (the National Liberal Mihail Romniceanu and the National Peasants' Emil Hațieganu ) as Ministers without Portfolio (January 1946). At

9545-557: The more active propagandists, such as Pompiliu Ștefu . A statistic of the Siguranţa reports that, in Bucharest, between January 1941 and September 1942, 143 individuals were tried for communism, of which 19 were sentenced to death and 78 to prison terms or forced labour . The antisemitic Antonescu regime established a distinction between PCdR members of Jewish Romanian origin and those of ethnic Romanian or other heritage, deporting

9660-502: The occasion of his name day . Demonstrators were faced with gunshots; around 10 people were killed, and many wounded. The official account, according to which the Groza government responded to a coup attempt, was disputed by Frunză. The PCR and its allies, grouped in the Bloc of Democratic Parties, won the Romanian elections of 19 November , although there is evidence of widespread electoral fraud . Years later, historian Petre Ţurlea reviewed an incomplete confidential PCR report about

9775-495: The official press, and the Romanian-Yugoslav Danube border became the scene of massive agitprop displays ( see Tito–Stalin split and Informbiro ). Uncomfortable and possibly threatened by the reformist measures adopted by Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev , Gheorghiu-Dej began to steer Romania towards a more "independent" path while remaining within the Soviet orbit during the late 1950s. Following

9890-587: The parliament as a single legislative body, called the Assembly of Deputies , thus disestablishing the Senate. Under the 1948 constitution this became the Great National Assembly , a relatively impotent body subordinate to the power of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR). The Romanian Revolution of 1989 opened the way to restoring pluralistic representative democracy . Under the country's new post-communist Constitution of 1991 , approved by

10005-409: The participants. According to Frunză, this culminated in a 13 February 1945 demonstration outside the Royal Palace , and followed a week later by street fighting between Georgescu's Communist forces and supporters of the National Peasants' Party in Bucharest. In a period of escalating chaos, Rădescu called for elections. The Soviet deputy foreign minister Andrey Vyshinsky went to Bucharest to request

10120-560: The party issued several local and national publications at various points in its history (including, after 1944, România Liberă ). The party was founded in 1921 when the Bolshevik -inspired maximalist faction won control of Romania's Social-Democratic party—the Socialist Party of Romania , successor to the defunct Romanian Social-Democratic Workers' Party and the short-lived Social Democratic Party of Romania (the latter

10235-487: The party—alleging that their various political attitudes were proof of" right-wing deviationism ". Out of a membership of approximately one million, between 300,000 and 465,000 members, almost half of the party, was removed in the successive purges. The specific target for the "verification campaign", as it was officially called, were former Iron Guard affiliates. The move against Pauker's group echoed Stalinist purges of Jews in particular from other Communist Parties in

10350-668: The pro- Nazi government of Ion Antonescu . With support from Soviet occupational forces , the PCR pressured King Michael I into abdicating, and it established the Romanian People's Republic in December 1947. The party operated as the Romanian Workers' Party ( Partidul Muncitoresc Romîn between 1948 and 1964 and Partidul Muncitoresc Român in 1964 and 1965) until it was officially renamed by Nicolae Ceaușescu , who had just been elected secretary general. Other legal, political parties existed in Romania, but their influence

10465-470: The right of self-determination ). In 1924, the Comintern provoked Romanian authorities by encouraging the Tatarbunary Uprising in southern Bessarabia, in an attempt to create a Moldavian republic on Romanian territory; also in that year, a Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , roughly corresponding to Transnistria , was established inside the Soviet Union. At the same time,

10580-550: The severing of connections with Moscow in France and Czechoslovakia . Consequently, the executive committee of the Comintern called on Romanian Communists to infiltrate the National Renaissance Front (FRN), the newly created sole legal party of Carol's dictatorship, and attempt to attract members of its structures to the revolutionary cause. Until 1944, the group active inside Romania became split between

10695-437: The success of state repression in driving the party underground and limiting its activities; and finally, the party's "anti-national" policy, as it began to be stated in the 1920s—supervised by the Comintern, this policy called for the breakup of Greater Romania , which was regarded as a colonial entity "illegally occupying" Transylvania , Dobruja , Bessarabia and Bukovina (regions that, the communists argued, had been denied

10810-573: The table below). Elections to the Senate were held on 26 November 2000, in which the Social Democratic Party (then abbreviated PDSR) won an overall majority. Then President of the Senate of Romania was former Prime Minister (between 1992 and 1996) Nicolae Văcăroiu , who was elected in December 2000. The allocation of seats was as follows: Last election of the President of Senate: November 2021 The Standing Bureau of

10925-458: The time of the party's Fifth Congress in 1931, the Muscovite wing became the PCdR's main political factor: Joseph Stalin replaced the entire party leadership, including the general secretary Vitali Holostenco —appointing instead Alexander Stefanski , who was at the time a member of the Communist Party of Poland . The interior wing began organizing itself as a more efficient conspiratorial network through regained Comintern control. The onset of

11040-544: The time, Groza's party and the PCR came to disagree on some issues (with the Front publicly affirming its support for private land ownership), before the Ploughmen's Front was eventually pressured into supporting Communist tenets. In the meantime, the first measure taken by the cabinet was a new land reform that advertised, among others, an interest into peasant issues and a respect for property (in front of common fears that

11155-498: The time, it was headed by former inmates of Caransebeș prison); replaced with the troika formed by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej , Constantin Pîrvulescu , and Iosif Rangheț , Foriș was discreetly assassinated in 1946. Several assessments view Foriș's dismissal as the complete rupture in historical continuity between the PCdR established in 1921 and what became the ruling party of Communist Romania . On 23 August 1944, King Michael,

11270-455: The tried PCdR. The PCdR was thus unable to send representatives to the Comintern, and was virtually replaced abroad by a delegation of various activists who had fled to the Soviet Union at various intervals (Romanian groups in Moscow and Kharkiv , the sources of a " Muscovite wing " in the following decades). The interior party only survived as an underground group after it was outlawed by

11385-553: The upper echelon faced investigation from Georgi Dimitrov (as well as other Comintern officials) on charges of " Trotskyism ", and, since the FRN had crumbled, several low-ranking party officials actually began collaborating with the new regime. At around the same time, a small section of the exterior wing remained active in France, where it eventually joined the Resistance to German occupation —it included Gheorghe Gaston Marin and

11500-470: The years, the PCR massively increased to become entirely submitted to Ceaușescu's will. From the 1960s onward, it had a reputation for being far more independent of the Soviet Union than its brethren in the Warsaw Pact. However, it also became the most hardline party in the Eastern Bloc , which harmed its relationship with even the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . It collapsed in 1989 in the wake of

11615-511: Was deportation to the inhospitable Bărăgan Plain . Nationalism and national communism penetrated official discourse, largely owing to Gheorghiu-Dej's call for economic independence and distancing from the Comecon . Moves to withdraw the country from Soviet overseeing were taken in quick succession after 1953. Khrushchev allowed Constantinescu to dissolve the SovRoms in 1954, followed by

11730-515: Was a communist party in Romania . The successor to the pro- Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania , it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system of the Kingdom of Romania . After being outlawed in 1924, the PCR remained a minor and illegal grouping for much of the interwar period and submitted to direct Comintern control. During

11845-859: Was alleged by authorities to have been involved in Max Goldstein 's bomb attack on the Parliament of Romania ; all major party figures, including the general secretary Gheorghe Cristescu , were prosecuted in the Dealul Spirii Trial . Constantin Argetoianu , the Minister of the Interior in the Alexandru Averescu , Take Ionescu , and Ion I. C. Brătianu cabinets, equated Comintern membership with conspiracy , ordered

11960-459: Was annihilated after the Tămădău Affair and show trial of its entire leadership. On 30 December 1947, the Communist Party's power was consolidated when King Michael was forced to abdicate . The Communist-dominated legislature then abolished the monarchy and proclaimed Romania a " People's Republic ", firmly aligned with the Soviet Union. According to the king, his signature was obtained after

12075-589: Was built from 1938 to 1941 under engineer Emil Prager  [ ro ] 's coordination, following the plans of architect Emil Nădejde. It housed the Council of Ministers and from 1958 to 1989 it was the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR). During the Revolution, Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena fled by helicopter from the roof of

12190-475: Was centered on Communist allegations that Maniu had encouraged violence against the Hungarian community in newly recovered Northern Transylvania . The Communist Party, engaged in a massive recruitment campaign, was able to attract ethnic Romanians in large numbers—workers and intellectuals alike, including some former members of the fascist Iron Guard . By 1947, it grew to around 710,000 members. Although

12305-428: Was continued under the leadership of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Following an episode of liberalization in the late 1960s, Ceaușescu again adopted a hard line by imposing the " July Theses ", re-Stalinizing the party's rule by intensifying the spreading of communist ideology in Romanian society and at the same time consolidating his grip on power whilst using the Party's authority to brew a persuasive cult of personality . Over

12420-633: Was first effected through the SovRoms (created in the summer of 1945), directing the bulk of Romanian trade towards the Soviet Union. The Communist Party held its first open conference (16–22 October 1945, at the Mihai Viteazul High School in Bucharest ) and agreed to replace the Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej – Constantin Pîrvulescu – Iosif Rangheț troika with a joint leadership reflecting an uneasy balance between

12535-491: Was limited and they were subordinate to the constitutionally-authorised leading role of the PCR. All other legal parties and entities were part of the Communist-dominated National Front . The PCR was a communist party , organized based on democratic centralism , a principle conceived by Russian Marxist theoretician Vladimir Lenin , which entails a democratic and open discussion on policy on

12650-401: Was of Romanian ethnicity. Interwar Romania had a minority population of 30%, and it was largely from this section that the party drew its membership—a large percentage of it was Jews , Hungarians and Bulgarians . Actual or perceived ethnic discrimination against these minorities added to the appeal of revolutionary ideas in their midst. Shortly after its creation, the PCdR's leadership

12765-564: Was persuaded by King Michael to form a second government which collapsed within weeks. General Nicolae Rădescu was asked to form a government and appointed Teohari Georgescu to the Ministry of the Interior , which allowed for the introduction of Communists into the security forces. The Communist Party subsequently launched a campaign against the Rădescu government, including the mass demonstration of 24 February that resulted in four deaths among

12880-560: Was refounded in 1927, reuniting those opposed to communist policies). The establishment was linked with the socialist group's affiliation to the Comintern (just before the latter's Third Congress): after a delegation was sent to Bolshevist Russia , a group of moderates (including Ioan Flueraș , Iosif Jumanca , Leon Ghelerter , and Constantin Popovici ) left at different intervals beginning with January 1921. The party renamed itself

12995-611: Was sworn in as president of the Court of Accounts, Ilie Sârbu was elected as the new President of the Senate . Until April 2007, the Justice and Truth Alliance governed in coalition with other minor parties. In April 2007, after the break-up of the Justice and Truth Alliance, the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (UDMR/RMDSZ) formed a minority government coalition (highlighted in bold in

13110-424: Was to be Ana Pauker 's mission to take over and reshape the surviving structure. In 1940, Romania had to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union and Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria ( see Soviet occupation of Bessarabia , Treaty of Craiova ); in contrast with the general mood, the PCdR welcomed both gestures along the lines of its earlier activism. Official history, after ca. 1950, stated that

13225-796: Was trying to reach a satisfactory compromise with the Western Allies (and, together with the National Liberals' leader Dinu Brătianu , continued to back negotiations initiated by Antonescu and Barbu Știrbey with the United States and the United Kingdom). In early 1944, as the Red Army reached and crossed the Prut River during the Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive , the self-confidence and status gained by

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