Alexandru Bârlădeanu (or ''Bîrlădeanu''; 25 January 1911 – 13 November 1997) was a Romanian
Marxian economist
Marxian economics, or the Marxian school of economics, is a heterodox school of political economic thought. Its foundations can be traced back to Karl Marx's critique of political economy. However, unlike critics of political economy, Marxian ec ...
and statesman who was prominent during the
communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
until being sidelined in 1968. In his later years, following the collapse of the regime, he served as
Senate President
President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies.
The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for ...
.
Biography
Origins and early career
Born into a family of teachers in
Comrat
Comrat ( ro, Comrat, ; gag, Komrat, Russian and bg, Комрат, Komrat) is a city and municipality in Moldova and the capital of the autonomous region of Gagauzia. It is located in the south of the country, on the Ialpug River. In 2014, Comr ...
in the
Imperial Russian
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. Th ...
province of
Bessarabia
Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds o ...
, Lavinia Betea "Alexandru Bârlădeanu: Spion, speculant, retrograd, degradat cinic și moral" ''Jurnalul Național'', 18 June 2010; accessed April 3, 2012 Dan Drăghia Biography at the 1990 Mineriad section of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile site; accessed April 3, 2012 he finished primary school in
Căușeni
Căușeni () is a town and the administrative center of Căușeni District, Moldova.
Its population at the 2014 census was 15,939, of which 12,056 Moldovans, 1,119 Romanians, 747 Russians, 545 Ukrainians, 204 Bulgarians, 69 Gagauzians, 12 Gyps ...
in 1921, studying in
Tighina
Bender (, Moldovan Cyrillic: Бендер) or Bendery (russian: Бендеры, , uk, Бендери), also known as Tighina ( ro, Tighina), is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under ''de facto'' control of the un ...
in 1921–1926 and attending high school in
Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...
from 1926 to 1928. His first job was in 1928, as a functionary at the Tighina school inspectorate. For the following eight years, he was a tutor and substitute teacher at the commercial school and the apprentices' school in Iași. From 1929 to 1931, he attended
Politehnica University of Bucharest
Politehnica University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea Politehnica din București) is a technical university in Bucharest, Romania. 200 years of activity have been celebrated lately, as the university was founded in 1818. From 1933 to 1937, he attended the Political Economy section of the
University of Iași
The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mih ...
Law faculty, receiving his doctorate in 1940, having worked as university assistant under
Gheorghe Zane
Gheorghe Zane (April 11, 1897 – May 22, 1978) was a Romanian economist and historian.
Born in Galați, he attended Vasile Alecsandri National College before enrolling in the law faculty of the University of Iași. He graduated from that instit ...
for the preceding three years. Generally thought to have joined the banned
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that wo ...
(PCR) in 1943, other sources place the date at 1935. In either case, the student environment at Iași had drawn him into communist circles by 1933. Between 1934 and 1936 he headed the communist-inspired student organization "United Centers", worked on the leftist newspaper ''Manifest'', and was an active member of the Antifascist League, the Tighina Antifascist Committee and '' Amicii URSS''. In 1936, he was also in the leadership of the Iași section of the Student Democratic Front.
The June 1940
Soviet occupation
During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...
of Bessarabia found him on vacation there; he chose to remain and become a Soviet citizen. In September 1940 he began working at the Institute for Scientific Research in
Chișinău
Chișinău ( , , ), also known as Kishinev (russian: Кишинёв, r=Kishinjóv ), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the middle of the ...
, forced to flee in June 1941 following the province's recapture by Romania. Ending up in the
Karaganda
Karaganda or Qaraghandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandy, ; russian: Караганда, ) is the capital of Karaganda Region in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty (Alma-Ata), Astan ...
area, for nearly two years he was a teacher, school director, miner and party activist on a
kolkhoz
A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...
, until being sent to
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
in 1943 to resume his studies. An active member of the Romanian communist exile circle in the Soviet Union during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, he worked in the Romanian-language division of
Radio Moscow
Radio Moscow ( rus, Pадио Москва, r=Radio Moskva), also known as Radio Moscow World Service, was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1993. It was reorganized with a new name ...
(1943–1945); contributed to
TASS
The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...
and to ''Graiul liber'', the newspaper of Romanian prisoners in the Soviet Union (1943–1946); and was a teacher at the Romanian section of the anti-fascist school for prisoners (1944–1946), heading it in 1945. A member of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
" Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspape ...
, he undertook the latter task as a party employee, helping indoctrinate Romanian prisoners. He also studied political economy at the Plekhanov Moscow Institute of the National Economy from 1943 to 1946 on a scholarship from the Chișinău institute. He taught there as well during his last year of study, but did not graduate because he left the country. He was brought back to Romania in June 1946 at the PCR's request, officially joining the party after recommendations from
Leonte Răutu
Leonte Răutu (until 1945 Lev Nikolayevich (Nicolaievici) Oigenstein; February 28, 1910 – 1993) was a Bessarabian-born Romanian communist activist and propagandist. He was chief ideologist of the Romanian Communist Party ("Workers' Party") ...
and
Mihail Roller
Mihail Roller (, first name also Mihai, also known as Rolea or Rollea; Mihai Stoian"Mihail Roller între 'nemuritorii' de ieri și de azi" '' România Literară'', 32/1999 6 May 1908 – 21 June 1958) was a Romanian communist activist, historian ...
. From June to November 1946, he worked as instructor and assistant director at the central committee's economic section, beginning a rise that was aided by his start in an important position and his educated background.
Years in power
His return to Romania saw him beginning to hold influential positions in economic ministries. In 1946, he was chosen economic expert on the government committee participating in the negotiation of the
Paris Peace Treaties
The Paris Peace Treaties (french: Traités de Paris) were signed on 10 February 1947 following the end of World War II in 1945.
The Paris Peace Conference lasted from 29 July until 15 October 1946. The victorious wartime Allied powers (princ ...
. In December 1946 he became secretary general at the National Economy Ministry, serving until the following August, when he was transferred to the Industry and Commerce Ministry in an equivalent position, remaining until March 1948. He was thus part of the group that enacted the 1947 monetary reform. Following the establishment of a
Communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
, he was, together with
Gheorghe Gaston Marin
Gheorghe Gaston Marin (April 14, 1918, Chișineu-Criș – February 25, 2010, Bucharest) was a Romanian communist politician who had many roles under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceaușescu. He was born Gheorghe Grossmann in Pădureni, Arad ...
, a creator of the planned economy imposed on the country, serving successively during 1948 as deputy Industry and then Commerce Minister. Top posts in foreign trade and planning came: Minister of Foreign Trade (1948–1954), vice president (1954) and president (1955–1956) of the State Planning Committee, deputy prime minister for economic issues (1955–1965 and 1967–1969) and first deputy prime minister (1965–1967). As Romania's representative at the
Comecon
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (, ; English abbreviation COMECON, CMEA, CEMA, or CAME) was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc#List of s ...
between 1955 and 1966, he frustrated Soviet plans for creating a supranational economic area, earning him the enmity of
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
. During the same period, he also represented Romania at the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE or UNECE) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to promote economic cooperation and ...
. Meanwhile, he began opening the economy to the West, signing economic and commercial agreements with France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium as early as 1959, later promoting ties to West Germany and Italy. In 1964, he helped conceive a foreign policy declaration of active neutrality within the communist bloc, wherein Romania was no longer subservient to the Soviet Union but neither embraced the militant outlook of China under
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...
.
He was a member of the
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life.
According to its byl ...
despite not having written any noteworthy scientific publications, elected in 1955 alongside high-ranking party members
Ion Gheorghe Maurer
Ion Gheorghe Iosif Maurer (23 September 1902 – 8 February 2000) was a Romanian communist politician and lawyer, and the 49th Prime Minister of Romania. He is the longest serving Prime Minister in the history of Romania (having served for ...
and Lothar Rădăceanu, and served as its vice president from 1990 to 1994. He was also an honorary member of the
Academy of Sciences of Moldova
The Academy of Sciences of Moldova ( ro, Academia de Științe a Moldovei), established in 1961, is the main scientific organization of Moldova and coordinates research in all areas of science and technology. Ion Tighineanu has been the head of t ...
. Starting in 1949, he taught for many years at the
Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies
The Bucharest University of Economic Studies ( ro, Academia de Studii Economice din București, abbreviated ''ASE'') is a public university in Bucharest, Romania. Founded in 1913 as the ''Academy of Higher-level Commercial and Industrial Studies' ...
, later heading its Political Economy department He first won a legislative seat in 1946, entering the Assembly of Deputies; he then sat in the
Great National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to:
* Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania
* Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of ...
from 1948 to 1975, successively representing the Prahova,
Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...
and
Constanța
Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...
areas. Bârlădeanu was in the party leadership for nearly fifteen years, sitting on the central committee from 1955 to 1969, and was one of the party's ideologues. An alternate member of the politburo under
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (; 8 November 1901 – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian communist politician and electrician. He was the first Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Part ...
from 1962 to 1965, followed by a stint as full member (March–July 1965), he joined the political executive committee (CPEx) and the permanent presidium at the ninth party congress in July 1965 under Gheorghiu-Dej's new successor,
Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...
. From 1960 to 1962, he was president of the
Romanian Football Federation
Romanian Football Federation (), also known by its acronym FRF, is the governing body of football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated to FIFA and UEFA since 1923 and 1955 respectively. The Federation ...
. As such, he sidelined the national football team from competition, withdrawing it from the
1962 FIFA World Cup qualification
A total of 56 teams entered the 1962 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Chile, as the hosts, and Brazil, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for com ...
on the grounds that it would lose anyway and had no need to participate in capitalist propaganda.
Banishment and return to public life
He entered into conflict with
Elena Ceaușescu
Elena Ceaușescu (; ; 7 January 1916 – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician who was the wife of Nicolae Ceaușescu, General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party and leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania. She was also ...
as head of the national council for scientific research, which he began heading at the end of 1967, resigning from all his posts in December 1968, although he remained on the central committee and the CPEx until the following August. This forced retirement saw colorless apparatchiks appointed in his stead to supervise scientific and technological research, further solidifying Elena's rise to the apex of political power. With economic experts like him long sidelined, by the late 1970s, the dictator's wife was far more influential than any civil or military official; of her, Bârlădeanu wrote that "hateful vindictiveness, stupidity, nastiness, insensitivity and brazenness" were her "most obvious" negative qualities. In later years, he and Paul Niculescu-Mizil helped create the myth of a "patriotic faction" within the party where a radical break was marked between early Stalinism and post-1960 developments; Bârlădeanu in particular fostered the image of a benign Gheorghiu-Dej in contrast to Ceaușescu. During the two decades after his fall from grace, he ran into trouble with the authorities twice: once in the 1970s for publishing an article in ''
Contemporanul
''Contemporanul'' (The Contemporary) is a Romanian literary magazine published in Iaşi, Romania from 1881 to 1891. It was sponsored by the socialist circle of the city.
A new magazine ''Contimporanul
''Contimporanul'' (antiquated spelling o ...
'' without approval, and once in the 1980s for discussing with
Gheorghe Apostol
Gheorghe Apostol (16 May 1913 – 21 August 2010) was a Romanian politician, deputy Prime Minister of Romania and a former leader of the Communist Party (PCR), noted for his rivalry with Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Early life
Apostol was born near T ...
how Ceaușescu might be removed from the leadership. He also encountered difficulties while selling expensive goods, confiscated during the nationalization process, that he had acquired. In March 1989, he was a signatory of the Letter of the Six, terrified of Ceaușescu's approach to the command economy; the regime responded by placing him under house arrest, while accusing him of being a spy and a speculator and removing him from the party.
Following the fall of the regime at the end of that year, he was awarded important posts and honors as an elder statesman of the National Salvation Front (FSN), and as part of its council belonged to a group who had fallen foul of Ceaușescu. Among the positions he held was the Senate Presidency, from June 1990 to October 1992, having been elected in May for a Bucharest seat. While in this office, he spoke in January 1991 in commemoration of
Bucharest pogrom
Between 21 and 23 January 1941, a rebellion of the Iron Guard paramilitary organization, whose members were known as Legionnaires, occurred in Bucharest, National Legionary State, Romania. As their privileges were being gradually removed by t ...
and several months later delivered a message for the 50th anniversary of the Iași pogrom, in spite of a widespread climate of anti-Semitism at the time.Radu Ioanid, "Romania", in David S. Wyman and Charles H. Rosenzveig, ''The World Reacts to the Holocaust'', p.247-48. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1996, That year also saw open conflict between him and
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Petre Roman
Petre Roman (; born 22 July 1946) is a Romanian engineer and politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 1989 to 1991, when his government was overthrown by the intervention of the miners led by Miron Cozma. He was the first prime ministe ...
and the latter's ally
Adrian Severin
Adrian Severin (born 28 March 1954) is a Romanian politician and former Member of the European Parliament.
Adrian Severin started his politics career under the Communist rule, as Instructor (''lector'') at Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy, the univers ...
over the speed of price liberalization and economic privatization, with Bârlădeanu, at the forefront of the FSN's more cautious wing, unsuccessfully pushing for a slower pace. Lavinia Betea "Război între Senat și Guvern: Bârlădeanu versus Petre Roman" ''Jurnalul Național'', 9 February 2011; accessed April 3, 2012 Additionally, in 1990–1991, he was co-president of the committee charged with writing a new constitution, and was for a time honorary director of the FSN's newspaper ''Azi''. In 1991, he quit (or was removed from) the FSN and withdrew from politics altogether in 1993. In 1995, eulogizing
Corneliu Coposu
Corneliu (Cornel) Coposu () (20 May 1914 – 11 November 1995) was a Christian Democratic and liberal conservative Romanian politician, the founder of the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party ( ro, Partidul Național Țărănesc Creșt ...
, he publicly declared that, although the two men belonged to the same generation, it was the latter who had chosen the right path.Biografiile nomenklaturii , at the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile site; accessed April 3, 2012 He died in Bucharest in 1997.
His first wife was Russian. She was followed by the actress Marcela Rusu, and then by Mihaela, a researcher at the Academy's Institute of Linguistics. He had a son who emigrated to France prior to 1989 and a daughter. Lavinia Betea "Cei din urmă ajunși primii" ''Jurnalul Național'', 22 January 2007; accessed April 4, 2012 Bârlădeanu‘s awards included Commander of the Order of the Crown (1947) and the Order of the Star of the Romanian People’s Republic, second class (1959).Dobre ''et al.'', p. 93