Continuity, Legitimacy and Identity: Understanding the Romanian August of 1968

Abstract

This paper argues that in order to explain why communist Romania did not take part to the crushing of the Prague Spring one should examine the developments in Romanian communism over the years 1956-1968. Second, the present paper examines the legitimacy issue and focuses on perceptions from below of RCP policies in the post-1964 period. The political actions taken by the Romanian communists during the period 1964-1968 resulted in positive actions expressing consent from the part of large segments of the Romanian society. Third, this paper addresses the issue of identity politics under Romanian communism and demonstrates that the year 1968 marked the transition to a comprehensive nation-building project aiming at constructing an ethnically homogenous Romanian “socialist” nation.