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Romania Twelfth Party Congress
The Twelfth Party Congress in November 1979 was
attended by
2,656 delegates representing approximately 3 million party
members
and by delegations from 98 countries. None of the more
senior
officials from the other East European and Soviet parties
was
present. Ceausescu presented a lengthy report detailing
the
economic shortcomings and mistakes of the previous five
years,
particularly those in the agricultural sector. He stressed
the
necessity for greater efficiency and for additional
austerity
measures, especially energy conservation. Announcing that
offshore
oil had been found in the Black Sea, Ceausescu proclaimed
the goal
of energy self-sufficiency within ten years.
On internal party matters, Ceausescu stressed the need
for
greater discipline and pointed out shortcomings in
ideological,
political, and cultural activities. To detect potential
adversaries, party members' records were to be examined by
the
Party and State Cadres Commission, headed by Elena
Ceausescu.
The Twelfth Congress witnessed an unprecedented attack
on
Ceausescu's personal leadership by a former high-ranking
party
official, Constantin Pirvulescu, who openly opposed
Ceausescu's
reelection as general secretary, accusing him of putting
personal
and family interests above those of the party and the
country. He
accused the congress of neglecting the country's real
problems in
its preoccupation with Ceausescu's glorification.
Observers noted
that this unprecedented attack came from a man who could
not be
accused of pro-Soviet sentiments, because he had been a
staunch
defender of PCR autonomy. Nor could he, at the age of
eighty-four,
be accused of personal ambition. Pirvulescu's remarks
were,
according to press reports, evidence of discontent in the
party
ranks. Pirvulescu was stripped of his delegate
credentials,
expelled from the congress, and placed under strict
surveillance
and house arrest.
The congress elected a new Central Committee of 408
members,
including 163 alternate members, and a Polexco of 27 full
and 18
alternate members. The Polexco Permanent Bureau was
expanded from
eleven to fifteen members. This steady growth reflected
Ceausescu's desire to make the body an institutional
gathering of
the most powerful people in the government and party.
Data as of July 1989
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