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Romania Thirteenth Party Congress
At the Thirteenth Party Congress of November 1984,
Ceausescu's
address was devoted mostly to the economy. The report made
clear
that there would be no substantial effort to increase the
standard
of living and that forced industrialization would continue
unabated. It revealed that the industrial growth rate
during the
first four years of the decade had been much lower than
was
projected by the eleventh and twelfth congresses. The
report did
not mention food shortages and rationing. Ignoring the
fact that
electricity and fuel supplies to the general population
had been
cut drastically, Ceausescu blithely predicted that by
1995,
Romania would be energy self-sufficient.
A major part of the report was devoted to the question
of
political-educational activity and the "fashioning of a
new man" in
order to "elevate the socialist revolutionary awareness of
all
working people." Observers pointed out that the report
featured
Ceausescu's Stalinist ideological orthodoxy more
prominently than
ever before. He called for intensified study of Marxist
philosophical writings and urged the party to fight
"mysticism" and
"obscurantism" (euphemisms for religion), as well as
"obsolete" and
"foreign" ideological influences.
The congress elected a new Central Committee of 446
members,
who in turn selected a commission to propose the
composition of a
new PCR Polexco of 23 full members and 25 alternate
members. Among
the new alternate members were Ceausescu's son Nicu, whose
political ambitions were undisguised, and Tudor
Postelnicu, one of
Ceausescu's most trusted security men after the defection
of Ion
Pacepa in 1978
(see Security and Intelligence Services
, ch.5). The
size of the Permanent Bureau was reduced to eight members,
only
five of whom remained from the 1979 Permanent Bureau. All
personnel
changes after the Thirteenth Congress were designed to
increase
Ceausescu's power base.
Data as of July 1989
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