Rural Systematization as an Instrument of Political Control of the Communist Regime in Romania

摘要

This paper deals with one of the means of communist control over society in Romania: rural systematization. After the Second World War, the Romanian villages underwent radical changes. The main objective of the communist regime was to reduce the number of villages from 13,129 to 10,000 by the year 2000. To this end, feasibility studies were conducted and the villages were classified as viable and non-viable. About a quarter of Romanian's village were threatened. They were classified according to the following criteria: functionality, infrastructure and social and cultural facilities. The community itself, with its traditional and historical values and the role of the private investors were completely ignored. Some of the villages were to be turned into agro-industrial towns, while others were to be abandoned. The priority of the rural strategy was the shaping of the 'New Man' who had to be provided with decent living and safety conditions. The result of the territorial systematization process would be the 'New Towns', which had to meet the 'New Man's' needs. This required, among other things, new buildings erected after typical design. The purpose of the communist authorities was to homogenize all the members of the society, so that they were easier to control. Another communist priority was to control the migration from the rural to the urban area by optimizing the commuting system. Encouraging population growth and improving the living conditions were the means by which the communist authorities planned to incorporate the rural environment into the urban one.