The Romanian Revolution: Explained Documentary
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Date: 2022-07-19
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Comments and reviews: 19
lil
Romania's revolution was really nothing more than a coup orchestrated by Iliescu's FSN amid the widespread anti-Ceausescu protests. Just like communism, capitalism was largely enforced by the politicians rather than chosen by the people. This is because the election following the 1989 coup offered the citizens of Romania no other choice. All the newly formed political parties and their candidates were right wing capitalists that largely shared the same views. In fact, the 90s and early 2000s were the worst times in Romania after WW2 economically.
While Iliescu was indeed a member of the communist party before the coup, the policies he implemented after taking power were mostly neoliberal, with a big focus on selling national assets to foreign multi-national corporations. He is considered a right-winger by most political analysts and it is a universally agreed upon fact that his presidency caused a lot of problems for Romania.
Nowadays, most of the people who lived in Socialist Romania generally agree that life before 1989 was better, although there is a significant minority that disagrees. Interestingly enough, although Romania is richer now, it has more poverty than it did in the 80s. I guess this transition to capitalism, although it was undemocratic and just part of a fight for power, solved some of the population's problems but also created a lot of new ones along the way.
People already seem to have had enough of our new system. Talk to any older Romanian and you're likely going to hear about how nothing has improved in the last 30 years. In fact, it is projected that Romania will lose over 20% of its population by 2050 because of economic hardships. People are coerced to move to other countries (like Germany, UK, etc) to find jobs and a decent quality of life. It is really a sad story and the victims are, as is most often the case, the innocent citizens of the country who wanted nothing more than a normal life.
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Romania's revolution was really nothing more than a coup orchestrated by Iliescu's FSN amid the widespread anti-Ceausescu protests. Just like communism, capitalism was largely enforced by the politicians rather than chosen by the people. This is because the election following the 1989 coup offered the citizens of Romania no other choice. All the newly formed political parties and their candidates were right wing capitalists that largely shared the same views. In fact, the 90s and early 2000s were the worst times in Romania after WW2 economically.
While Iliescu was indeed a member of the communist party before the coup, the policies he implemented after taking power were mostly neoliberal, with a big focus on selling national assets to foreign multi-national corporations. He is considered a right-winger by most political analysts and it is a universally agreed upon fact that his presidency caused a lot of problems for Romania.
Nowadays, most of the people who lived in Socialist Romania generally agree that life before 1989 was better, although there is a significant minority that disagrees. Interestingly enough, although Romania is richer now, it has more poverty than it did in the 80s. I guess this transition to capitalism, although it was undemocratic and just part of a fight for power, solved some of the population's problems but also created a lot of new ones along the way.
People already seem to have had enough of our new system. Talk to any older Romanian and you're likely going to hear about how nothing has improved in the last 30 years. In fact, it is projected that Romania will lose over 20% of its population by 2050 because of economic hardships. People are coerced to move to other countries (like Germany, UK, etc) to find jobs and a decent quality of life. It is really a sad story and the victims are, as is most often the case, the innocent citizens of the country who wanted nothing more than a normal life.
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Alex
Those who had been in the communist party were still running it
Romanian here. This phrase couldn't be any more accurate. It's 2022 and yet, corruption is overwhelming across all governmental strata. Not only this but many of the government's institutions perform under old communist ways - inefficient and corrupt. The bureaucracy is astounding, the officials are stuck in the old ways, corrupt, feeling powerful while lording over the common people. This applies to almost any governmental official, including the ones in the rural areas.
A large majority of the populace is ruralized (not the American kind of rural country, which is to say almost living in the Middle Ages, mentally speaking. The old generation still hasn't detached from the communist way of life. They still expect the state to take care of them and they aren't used to taking the initiative and doing something for themselves. That's why the vast majority of people in rural areas are on social welfare. Romania's social welfare is theoretically temporary but practically permanent. The institution that should help you look for a job doesn't do that. And so 99% of all people in rural areas receive welfare until they die.
The economy is shit. The individual buying power is shit. The minimum wage is a part of the problem but most importantly, the mentality of the people is beyond abysmal. Professionally speaking, there's not a lot of variety in what you can do that is well paid. The school system works on a communist-based curriculum still and it doesn't prepare you for anything except memorizing a lot of unnecessary stuff you won't ever need.
reply
Those who had been in the communist party were still running it
Romanian here. This phrase couldn't be any more accurate. It's 2022 and yet, corruption is overwhelming across all governmental strata. Not only this but many of the government's institutions perform under old communist ways - inefficient and corrupt. The bureaucracy is astounding, the officials are stuck in the old ways, corrupt, feeling powerful while lording over the common people. This applies to almost any governmental official, including the ones in the rural areas.
A large majority of the populace is ruralized (not the American kind of rural country, which is to say almost living in the Middle Ages, mentally speaking. The old generation still hasn't detached from the communist way of life. They still expect the state to take care of them and they aren't used to taking the initiative and doing something for themselves. That's why the vast majority of people in rural areas are on social welfare. Romania's social welfare is theoretically temporary but practically permanent. The institution that should help you look for a job doesn't do that. And so 99% of all people in rural areas receive welfare until they die.
The economy is shit. The individual buying power is shit. The minimum wage is a part of the problem but most importantly, the mentality of the people is beyond abysmal. Professionally speaking, there's not a lot of variety in what you can do that is well paid. The school system works on a communist-based curriculum still and it doesn't prepare you for anything except memorizing a lot of unnecessary stuff you won't ever need.
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Sergiu
The transition towards a free market was slow towards nothing. All the state's factories and means of production were seized by corupt commies who used to shine Ceausescu's ass when they were young.
Sold them for scrap in order for their own profit
Led the country into massive levels of inflation, lack of job opportunities and poverty
People started to immigrate towards foreign countries as seasonal workers in order to send money back home to get out of poverty
Afterwards this seasonal period turned into years or decades
I graduated highschool in 2011 - everyone in my classroom had at least 1 parent or 1 relative working abroad and sending money back home. In that period, my peers told me that their parents were considering to bring them into the country they went to work because job opportunities in Romania were very few and didn't pay enough to live decently. Needless to say, I also left Romania and only returned as a tourist from time to time
In the last few years, more and more young people would leave the country and have offsprings in other countries.
Coruption, bribery, nepotism, stealling public funded projects, protecting criminals, scammers and lack of infrastructure, medieval education system, poor medical services - all of these led to a mass exodus of people that just wanted to work and live an ordinary life - and the current politicians have the audacity to say that those who leave the country are traitors
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The transition towards a free market was slow towards nothing. All the state's factories and means of production were seized by corupt commies who used to shine Ceausescu's ass when they were young.
Sold them for scrap in order for their own profit
Led the country into massive levels of inflation, lack of job opportunities and poverty
People started to immigrate towards foreign countries as seasonal workers in order to send money back home to get out of poverty
Afterwards this seasonal period turned into years or decades
I graduated highschool in 2011 - everyone in my classroom had at least 1 parent or 1 relative working abroad and sending money back home. In that period, my peers told me that their parents were considering to bring them into the country they went to work because job opportunities in Romania were very few and didn't pay enough to live decently. Needless to say, I also left Romania and only returned as a tourist from time to time
In the last few years, more and more young people would leave the country and have offsprings in other countries.
Coruption, bribery, nepotism, stealling public funded projects, protecting criminals, scammers and lack of infrastructure, medieval education system, poor medical services - all of these led to a mass exodus of people that just wanted to work and live an ordinary life - and the current politicians have the audacity to say that those who leave the country are traitors
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maxson
My grandma experienced this era while in Romania for a good while. To this day, she despises Ceausescu, her son (my father) nearly died as an indirect result of his regime, and she can recall fraudulent elections he'd set up to make himself look democratic while also consistently winning by a landslide (99 to 1, literally. Still, she never approved of the way he was treated when he was captured, she thinks they were animals and he should have been tried properly, instead of that circus they called trial and execution.
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My grandma experienced this era while in Romania for a good while. To this day, she despises Ceausescu, her son (my father) nearly died as an indirect result of his regime, and she can recall fraudulent elections he'd set up to make himself look democratic while also consistently winning by a landslide (99 to 1, literally. Still, she never approved of the way he was treated when he was captured, she thinks they were animals and he should have been tried properly, instead of that circus they called trial and execution.
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09lnt
Iliescu was number 2 (or close, and like you said a pure communist. But Ceausescu didn't get overturned by the people, but by Iliescu who convinced part of the army to not support Ceausescu anymore, thus a revolution broke out and the army killed themselves and protesters. About 1. 000 people died, some of them military, but although the country was still controlled by the old communists, it opened up to the west.
Some of the old communist party members are still running the country today.
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Iliescu was number 2 (or close, and like you said a pure communist. But Ceausescu didn't get overturned by the people, but by Iliescu who convinced part of the army to not support Ceausescu anymore, thus a revolution broke out and the army killed themselves and protesters. About 1. 000 people died, some of them military, but although the country was still controlled by the old communists, it opened up to the west.
Some of the old communist party members are still running the country today.
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Samson
That Save money Reuse syringes thing is something weird that could only exist in the USSR. The Soviets never built disposable anything, it was all built to last. This included syringes which came with a pot of boiling water where it sterilized between patients. Of course, accidents happened occasionally, but often the volume of patients getting shots meant the needle didn't spend enough time boiling.
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That Save money Reuse syringes thing is something weird that could only exist in the USSR. The Soviets never built disposable anything, it was all built to last. This included syringes which came with a pot of boiling water where it sterilized between patients. Of course, accidents happened occasionally, but often the volume of patients getting shots meant the needle didn't spend enough time boiling.
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FlorinG
Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena Ceausescu were both executed by firing squad on Christmas day in 1989. The rumours were that the secret police might attempt to free them, so they had to make sure that was never going to happen.
As a Romanian i clearly remember everything like it happened yesterday. Nobody cried for them, they didnt deserve anybodys tears.
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Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena Ceausescu were both executed by firing squad on Christmas day in 1989. The rumours were that the secret police might attempt to free them, so they had to make sure that was never going to happen.
As a Romanian i clearly remember everything like it happened yesterday. Nobody cried for them, they didnt deserve anybodys tears.
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Alex
I live in Romania. Ceausescu's biggest mistake was that he banned people from freely traveling outside of the country and the fact that 90% of what Romania produced was sent for export. If he cared about people's happiness, the regime might have been in place since today. Romania was the only debt free country in the world!
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I live in Romania. Ceausescu's biggest mistake was that he banned people from freely traveling outside of the country and the fact that 90% of what Romania produced was sent for export. If he cared about people's happiness, the regime might have been in place since today. Romania was the only debt free country in the world!
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Kund
3: 08 Maybe the most important bit of the video. This is the biggest problem with today's Romania and why many think that the revolution was not only useless, considering how many lives it took, but also preserved the elites of a late dictatorship.
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3: 08 Maybe the most important bit of the video. This is the biggest problem with today's Romania and why many think that the revolution was not only useless, considering how many lives it took, but also preserved the elites of a late dictatorship.
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MrTroves
It says a lot about how hated Nicolae and his wife were that there was a raffle to be apart of the shooting squad. and the lucky winners didn't even wait for the order to fire, they just opened up the moment they saw the pair.
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It says a lot about how hated Nicolae and his wife were that there was a raffle to be apart of the shooting squad. and the lucky winners didn't even wait for the order to fire, they just opened up the moment they saw the pair.
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Andrei
Paris commune was the only experience with communism.
Infiltrated foreign agents created the social conditions for regime change.
Formula was used quite often lately.
Capitalism went extinct 70 yrs ago
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Paris commune was the only experience with communism.
Infiltrated foreign agents created the social conditions for regime change.
Formula was used quite often lately.
Capitalism went extinct 70 yrs ago
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Lion
the fact that even after communism fell in Romania but former communists still ruled the country didnt make Romania unique at all. It made them exactly the same as all other former communist countries in Europe.
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the fact that even after communism fell in Romania but former communists still ruled the country didnt make Romania unique at all. It made them exactly the same as all other former communist countries in Europe.
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Pinky
We watched the Romanian revolution on CNN in school. I remember watching it in history class and out teacher telling us that we were witnessing history. It was on the last day before Christmas break.
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We watched the Romanian revolution on CNN in school. I remember watching it in history class and out teacher telling us that we were witnessing history. It was on the last day before Christmas break.
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Ikrani
A teacher at my old school was from Romania. He once had to work on a crew tasked with upending a cemetary because the tyrant in charge didn't like driving by it on his way to work.
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A teacher at my old school was from Romania. He once had to work on a crew tasked with upending a cemetary because the tyrant in charge didn't like driving by it on his way to work.
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Matthew
1989 was a great year for communism! There was no communism in the Soviet Union, or the Bloc, and they were just sullying the word with their despotism and corrupt bureaucracies.
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1989 was a great year for communism! There was no communism in the Soviet Union, or the Bloc, and they were just sullying the word with their despotism and corrupt bureaucracies.
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Samson
A recurring theme in the fall of the USSR is people equating membership in the party with loyalty to the government only to find out the elites were no different from anyone else.
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A recurring theme in the fall of the USSR is people equating membership in the party with loyalty to the government only to find out the elites were no different from anyone else.
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Brendon
Can you elaborate on the refuse injection particulars please? Also can you make a reference to the thousands of children who were freed from that regimes overthrow. Many thanks.
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Can you elaborate on the refuse injection particulars please? Also can you make a reference to the thousands of children who were freed from that regimes overthrow. Many thanks.
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Sidiq
It was shocking, seeing their corpses on tv, in my mind I associated stuff like that with pre world war 2 Europe. Seeing him and his wife executed like that shocked me big time.
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It was shocking, seeing their corpses on tv, in my mind I associated stuff like that with pre world war 2 Europe. Seeing him and his wife executed like that shocked me big time.
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Markstubation01
At College my director told us about how he partook in the protests in Romania and how the police fired at them and killed half the student population of his college.
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At College my director told us about how he partook in the protests in Romania and how the police fired at them and killed half the student population of his college.
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