ALL Rumania is celebrating

this month. For May 8
was the 30th anniversary Gt
the foundation of her Cotw-
munist party.

Never has a country had.

SO much to celebrate. Seldom
has a country: suffered so
much before gaining her na-
tional and social liberation.

The 30 years history of the
Rumanian Communist party is
the history of the struggle of the
Rumanian people to be free. It is
4 proud history of defiant battle
against seemingly impossible
Odds.

‘The Russian Revolution in No-
vember, 1917, showed the Ru-
Manian working class the need
for a Communist party, just as 27
years later,, in August 1944, the
fréeing of Rumania by the Soviet
Army gave the people the his-
, torical opportunity for social Jib-
eration.

The Russian Revolution taking
Place on the very border of the
Country was an inspiration to
every worker and peasant suffer-
ing unbelievable conditions of
Poverty. ;

When the Kaiser's troops
eventually retreated from Buch-

‘ arest, Rumania became a colony
of American, French and British
big business.

The King and the feudal .land-
lords, propped up with foreign
Money and foreign bayonets, as-
Sisted by the right-wing Socialist
leaders of the time, turned the
country into one of the main
Centres for . Churchill’s war of
intervention against Socialist
Russia.

It is to the honor of the early
Communist groups that the Ru-
Manian working class was rallied
to défeat intervention.

Hundreds of workers perished
in a massacre organized, by the
landlord’s government in 1918.
Despite this, the rising movement
culminated in the general strike

_ Of October, 1920.

Although defeated, ‘the general
Strike and the strikes that follow-
€d. forced partial concessions
from the government; the uni-
Versal vote, the 8-hour day and
land reform.

These reforms were later abol-
‘ished in a wave of reaction. But
the strike was a turning point in
the experience of the Rumanian
Working class.

@

An illegal manifesto printed in

December, 1920, signed by the
_ Central committee of the Com-
™unist groups in the Socialist
Party, drew the lesson.

m our past mistakes we
Must draw the conclusions for
the future . . . the Socialist party
Must be transformed into a
Strong Communist party.”

Tn May, 1921, the congress of
the Socialist party voted by a
four-fifths majority to transform
itself into a Communist party
4nd. affiliate to the Communist
Nternational. The Rumanian

Mmunist. party was born.

From 1924 to 1944 the Com-
Munist party was illegal. Hound-
ed and persecuted, its leaders ar-
Tested and tortured, it was a
Party of martyrs and heroes.

During these years Rumania
Was one of the worst dictator-
Ships in Burope. The royalist
egime of the dissolute corrupt

Ing Carol led to the fascist rule
f Antonescu and the anti-Semitic
Ton Guard,

. The right-wing Socialist lead-
me Were tolerated only because
€y fawned’ on the dictators.
Purned by the majority of the
Workers, the Socialist partys for
Many years virtually ceased to
exist,

The Communist party alone re-

mained unbroken despite the ter-
°r during these 20 horrible years.
+ *9 it alone belongs the im-
Perishable record of having led

°

-and may finish wt

rms

BY JOHN GOLLAN

ithe odds seemed
impossible

—
oe
a
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‘Q
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the struggle of the Rumanian
common people against those who
exploited and oppressed them.

The Rumanians will never for-
get the high point of that strug-
gle—the great railway strike of
February, 1933.

Arising directly out of the great
economic crisis,and the threat of
the Second World War, the work-
ers, led by the Communist party,
went into action.

Inspired by the Railwaymen’s
Commitee, under the leadership
of Gheorgh Gheorghiu - Dej,

‘strikes took place in Cluj, Jassy,

Pascani, Constanza among the
Phakhova Valley oil workers.

But the greatest strike of all
was that of the Bucharest rail
workshops.

It was suppressed. Hundreds of
people were killed or \ wounded.
Two ‘thousand were arrested. But
it was one of the first big actions
against fascism.

With Gheorghiu - Dej, Anna
Pauker and hundreds of others
in prison, the Rumanian working
class fought to save its leaders.

Their torture’ in the notorious
Doftana prison and similar jails
became the subject of world-wide
protest by the working class.

oe

The struggle was never halted.
The Rumanian Communist party
led the fight for national freedom
against the alliance of Antonescu
and Hitler.

That freedom came in August,
1944. Like an avenging force the
Soviet Army threw out both the
Nazis and the Iron Guard. The
prison doors were opened and the

new life for which thousands had
died was. beginning.

It -was hot without difficulties.
Hard battles had yet to be fought
and won. Encouraged by Winston
Churchill and Ernest Bevin, and
by the Truman administration,
the Rumanian -capitalists and
landlords, represented by Maniu
and Bratianu, supported by right-
wing Socialist leaders like Petres-
cu, tried to save Rumania for
capitalism and the foreign trusts.

King Michael became the white
hope of Bevin. But the Ruman-

ian people, led by the Commun- ~

ist party, made short shift of
these agents of foreign big busi-
ness.

On December 30, 1947, the
monarchy was abolished and the
Rumanian People’s Republic
established.

The capitalist landlord parties
were routed: 1947 was not 1917.

- Armed intervention by the West

Was -not so easy.

In February, 1948, came the de-
feat of Petrescu. . The best of
the Social-Democrats joined with
the Communist party to form the
United Rumanian Workers’ party.
e

Since then, the young Ruman-
ian People’s Republic has never
looked back.

Led by the party of Gheorghiu
Dej, Anna Pauker and Vassil
Luca, it has gone on from
strength to strength.

Rumania has become a Peo-

ple’s Democracy| with political
power firmly in the _  people’s
hands.

In June, 1948, the Republic

adopted the famous law to na-
tionalise industry. In May, 1949,
came the great decision to build
the Danube Black Sea canal.

In October, 1950, the plan for
the electrification of Rumania
was adopted. And in December,
1950, the historic Five-Year Plan
for Rumania became law.

Backward Rumania under this
great plan, will become a social-
ist, industrialised Rumania.

Its rich resources, once plun-
dered by its kings and the foreign
banks, will serve its people.

Already the country is.produc-
ing more. The standards of its
people are higher than before the
war.

Under the plan industry is to
be increased by 150 percent. Liv-
ing standards are to be raised
by 80 percent.

It will be done. The guarantee
of that is the Rumanian Workers’
party, inspired by the principles
of Marx and Lenin and led by
Gheorghiu-Dej, and the product
of 30 years of struggle.

It is the party of the people
and because of this it must win.
With such a party there is noth-
ing the Rumanian people can-
not do. .

Answers to questions on peace pact

What is the Pact

of Peace?

UST exactly what'it says — a

pact, a treaty, an agreement, an
instrument signed by the Five
Great Powers, registering their
settlement of the issues now divid-
ing them and so contributing
toward peace ..- indeed, for a
long time to come, ensuring it.

What would it mean

to the world?
N end to the fighting and hor-
rors and blasting of lives that
is going on in Korea and else-
Tat oad to the frightful piling
up of armaments that is hinder-

lfare
i human progress and we a
Hes : ith an explosion

that can be touched off by a

match.
In fact’,
real chance to settle dow

make life better.

for the first time, a
n and

Wouldn’t it be another
“Scrap of Paper’?

‘OT at all. The pact between

the Five must not be a mere
declaration of love between them
of intent not to go to war...

Such bland assurances are of-
ten ineffective; indeed, they may
be positively harmful, since they
may lull the unsuspecting into a
sense of false security.

A pact achieved as a result of
the active demand of hundreds of

millions of men and women would
have incomparably more moral

sanctions behind it, and be in-
finitely harder to break, than the
paper arrangements of official-
dom of the past.

And secondly this pact is bound
to be a serious agreement to do
things in common about the is-
sues in dispute, a program of
action for peace... ;

Which issues in dispute? '
All of them? :

HERE must be nothing barred

. . It is perfectly plain that -

endeavor to reach agreement on
one subject, with others barred,
makes a result more difficult.

Each party holds back consent
to a compromise on the isolated
issues in case he should be aban-
doning a point he might find use-
ful in the dispute on the next.

Give-and-take is bound to be
more possible if it covers the
whole field and is part of a full
settlement.

‘The Great Powers’—
Who is actually to meet?
OP toplevel VVIP’s. Truman,

Stalin, Mao, Attlee and who-
ever is in the job in France. [If
not them, then their own accred-
ited, {authoritative representa-
tives. People entitled to speak,
decide and agree for the coun-
tries concerned.

That is how it’ would differ
from the kind of long discussion
that has been going on in Paris.
. . . This should be a conference
not of diplomats but of execu-
tives. :

Hasn’t it been. tried
again and again and
failed3

T hasn’t been tried once since

the war.

It is quite true that. plenty of
conferences have argued and dis-
agreed, argued and disagreed;
but not one of these has been on
any higher level than Foreign
Ministers.

None has been at top level.

@ Questions and answers on the
present world-wide petition
campaign for a five - power
peace pact from Ivor Mon-
,tagu’s pamphlet, Negotiation
or War, published by » the
British Peace Council.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 1, 1951 — PAGE 5

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