Silviu Brucan
Encyclopedia
Silviu Brucan was a Romania
n communist
politician. Though he disagreed with Nicolae Ceauşescu
's policies, he never gave up his communist beliefs and did not oppose communist ideology. After the Romanian Revolution, a political analyst and author of books on Communism and Eastern Europe
.
to Jewish
parents, his father being the owner of a wool business which went bankrupt during the Great Depression
. He attended the German-language Evangelische Schule and the Saint Sava National College
. He subsequently worked as a journalist in media linked to the Romanian Communist Party
(PCR), which he joined age 19.
In September 1944, upon Romania's exit from the Axis camp
and the onset of Soviet occupation
, he was named the general secretary of Scînteia
(the deputy editor in chief to Leonte Răutu), the official newspaper of the PCR, and, in this capacity, supported the prison sentences of Iuliu Maniu
, Gheorghe I. Brătianu
and Corneliu Coposu
(see Tămădău Affair
). He also supported the repression of anti-Communist
journalists, such as Radu Gyr
and Pamfil Şeicaru, asking for the death penalty for the latter. During this period, Brucan's wife, the Stalinist
Alexandra Sidorovici, became a public prosecutor of the People's Tribunals
, an office which allowed her to ask for death sentences for many enemies of the Communist regime
; the sister of Teofil Sidorovici, she was a member of the nomenklatura
after the Communist government
's establishment. For a short while (1948–1949), Brucan was Professor of Journalism at the University of Bucharest
.
A close collaborator of Communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
, Brucan, with Sorin Toma and Mihail Roller, was among the prominent Party ideologues of the group coordinated by Răutu after the late 1940s and into the 1950s. He was an ambassador
of Romania to the United States
in 1955, using his experience as the basis of a book he co-authored with Sidorovici (a virulent attack on American institutions), and to the United Nations
(between 1959 and 1962), as well as the head of Romanian Television
.
, he considered renouncing his political career and focus on an office at the University, before being persuaded by Emil Bodnăraş
to remain an activist. He was a professor of Scientific Socialism
at the Bucharest Faculty of Medicine
. According to Brucan himself, he faced a period of financial insecurity, and began work as a translator in order to cover his expenses. He also sent several works, subject to censorship
at home, to be published in the United States; they showed his move towards reformism
, which he advocated to be applied inside the Eastern bloc
.
In 1987, after sending an anti-Ceauşescu declaration to the foreign press (to the BBC
, the International Herald Tribune
, and United Press International
), a relatively mild criticism for the violent repression of the Braşov Rebellion
, he was sentenced to house arrest
. At the time, Brucan had won the approval of Soviet authorities, which had by then already engaged in Perestroika
policies, and had been extended informal protection by the Soviet embassy in Bucharest (allowing him a relevant degree of freedom).
With help from Iulian Vlad, the chief of the Securitate
, he was issued with a passport
, and in 1988, despite being expelled from the PCR, spent six months in the United States, where he was in contact with the United States Department of State
(headed by George P. Shultz
). Brucan also claimed to have been invited to Moscow
by Soviet
politicians Mikhail Gorbachev
and Anatoly Dobrynin
, who endorsed criticism of Ceauşescu and a Romanian version of Glasnost
; based on the personal testimonies of Gorbachev's advisers, the scholar Vladimir Tismăneanu
has disputed Brucan's account in its entirety.
, Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Grigore Răceanu
, Corneliu Mănescu
, and Constantin Pîrvulescu
), he signed the open letter
known as Scrisoarea celor şase - "The Letter of the Six
".
The document, which was immediately broadcast on Radio Free Europe
and Voice of America
, was a left-wing critique of Ceauşescu's policies, and it led to the swift arrest and interrogation of the signatories by the Securitate, and then to their internal exile
and house arrest at various locations. The Securitate depicted Brucan as one of several "hostile, inveterate, elements" and "the agent of foreign imperialist
secret services". Although lacking in actual popular support, the letter was argued to be the among most important and influential acts of opposition during its period, and a notorious break with the tradition of strict obedience and party discipline.
Brucan was sent to a location on the outskirts of Bucharest, in Dămăroaia — the reason for his subsequent colloquial moniker, "The Oracle
of Dămăroaia". Despite increased pressure, most contributors to the protest refused to withdraw their statement. Brucan later accused Apostol of having given in to pressures.
, joining the Provisional Council of FSN and its Executive Committee. As a member of the Council, he was also involved in selecting Roman for the office of Premier.
According to the testimony of Petre Roman
, Brucan was among those who insisted that Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu
be executed and according to Dumitru Mazilu, he wanted that the 10-point programme read on national TV on December 22 to include a clause saying that Romania will honour its obligations under the Warsaw Pact
.
While in early January, Brucan assured that the FSN has no intention of turning into a political party, but just supporting some candidates, only three weeks later, he supported the transformation of FSN into a political party, arguing that without the FSN, there would be a "political vacuum" which the new political parties would be unable to fill.
In February 1990, Brucan resigned from the FSN, claiming that he has accomplished his mission, to restore stability in Romania and to put the country on a course toward multi-party elections.
He did not wish to run in the 1990 elections, being just the adviser of President Iliescu. Nevertheless, he later issued a vocal criticism of President
Ion Iliescu
. In 1990, Brucan made a forecast which became well-known in Romania: he contended that Romanians would need 20 years to become accustomed to democracy.
In the eve of the election day, Brucan argued that the 1989 Revolution was not anti-communist, being only against Ceauşescu, not against the communism of the 1950s and 1960s, saying that Iliescu made a "monumental" mistake in "conceding to the crowd" and banning the Romanian Communist Party.
.
In 1998, he was brought to court by Vasile Lupu, a leader of the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party
(PNŢCD) and a deputy
for Iaşi County
. Speaking on his show, Brucan had called Lupu "astute to the square" and "trained Securitate informant
", indicating that "any good-faithed National Peasantist who still views himself as a party colleague with Vasile Lupu is self-excluding himself from the PNŢCD". In 2002, courts decided in Lupu's favor, and Brucan was found guilty of calumny
; he was required to pay Lupu the sum of 30 million lei
as compensation.
At the age of 90, Brucan underwent a seven-hour stomach operation on September 4, 2006. Despite an initial good recovery from surgery, his condition suddenly worsened on September 13 and he died the following day due to cardiac arrest
.
criticized Brucan, arguing that, despite his renunciation of Communism, Brucan had continued to support authoritarianism
in public life and to display a taste for intrigue, and that he had attempted to transform the FSN into a "big party", virtually replacing the PCR. Tismăneanu pointed out Brucan's post-1990 opposition to the Mircea Răceanu
, who had been imprisoned on dubious charges espionage
under Ceauşescu, and who was later rehabilitated
by Romanian courts. He has also contended that memoirs authored by Brucan showed little remorse for his early involvement in support of political repression.
According to Victor Neumann
, Brucan's role in the Bucharest episode of the 1989 Revolution had indirectly helped the original and virtually unrelated revolt in Timişoara
, especially by preventing a more violent repression against it. He also argued that Brucan's group of inner-Party dissidents was, in the eyes of the public at large, the only "credible alternative" at the time, and cited Brucan's own statement: "The train had arrived in the station and we were the only ones who could get on it. What were we to say, that we will not get on? We did it". Overall, Neumann contended, Silviu Brucan's political and diplomatic expertise, as well as his adaptability, had made him the "ideologist of political transformations in 1989 Romania", and had contributed to the supremacy of left-wing discourse in the years following the Revolution (in regard to the latter point, he cited Brucan arguments, which challenged the existence right-wing
themes in the ideological makeup of the 1989 movement).
} "Pedeapsa trebue să fie maximă!" ("The Penalty Must be the Maximum One!"), article of November 10, 1947, republished by Adevărul
} "Una este «reţea» şi alta este «urmărit»" ("An «Informant Network» and «Under Surveillance» Are Entirely Different Things") - his last column in Ziarul Financiar, August 28, 2006
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
politician. Though he disagreed with Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
's policies, he never gave up his communist beliefs and did not oppose communist ideology. After the Romanian Revolution, a political analyst and author of books on Communism and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
Early activism
Silviu Brucan was born in BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
to Jewish
History of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
parents, his father being the owner of a wool business which went bankrupt during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. He attended the German-language Evangelische Schule and the Saint Sava National College
Saint Sava National College
The Saint Sava National College is the oldest and one of the most prestigious high schools in Bucharest, Romania....
. He subsequently worked as a journalist in media linked to the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
(PCR), which he joined age 19.
In September 1944, upon Romania's exit from the Axis camp
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
and the onset of Soviet occupation
Soviet occupation of Romania
The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...
, he was named the general secretary of Scînteia
Scînteia
Scînteia was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history...
(the deputy editor in chief to Leonte Răutu), the official newspaper of the PCR, and, in this capacity, supported the prison sentences of Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician. A leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, he served as Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933, and, with Ion Mihalache, co-founded the National Peasants'...
, Gheorghe I. Brătianu
Gheorghe I. Bratianu
Gheorghe I. Brătianu was a Romanian politician and historian. A member of the Brătianu family and initially affiliated with the National Liberal Party, he broke away from the movement to create and lead the National Liberal Party-Brătianu.Born in Ruginoasa, Baia County to Ion I.C...
and Corneliu Coposu
Corneliu Coposu
-Early life:Coposu was born in Bobota, Sălaj County to the Romanian Greek-Catholic archpriest Valentin Coposu and his wife Aurelia Coposu...
(see Tămădău Affair
Tamadau Affair
The Tămădău Affair was an incident that took place in Romania in the summer of 1947, the source of a political scandal and show trial.It was provoked when an important number of National Peasants' Party leaders, including party vice president Ion Mihalache, had been offered a chance to flee...
). He also supported the repression of anti-Communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
journalists, such as Radu Gyr
Radu Gyr
Radu Gyr was a Romanian poet, essayist, playwright and journalist....
and Pamfil Şeicaru, asking for the death penalty for the latter. During this period, Brucan's wife, the Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
Alexandra Sidorovici, became a public prosecutor of the People's Tribunals
Romanian People's Tribunals
The two Romanian People's Tribunals , the Bucharest People's Tribunal and the Northern Transylvania People's Tribunal were set up by the post-World War II government of Romania, overseen by the Allied Control Commission to try suspected war criminals, in line with Article 14 of the Armistice...
, an office which allowed her to ask for death sentences for many enemies of the Communist regime
Enemy of the people
The term enemy of the people is a fluid designation of political or class opponents of the group using the term. The term implies that the "enemies" in question are acting against society as a whole. It is similar to the notion of "enemy of the state". The term originated in Roman times as ,...
; the sister of Teofil Sidorovici, she was a member of the nomenklatura
Nomenklatura
The nomenklatura were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in all spheres of those countries' activity: government, industry, agriculture, education, etc., whose positions were granted only with approval by the...
after the Communist government
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
's establishment. For a short while (1948–1949), Brucan was Professor of Journalism at the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
.
A close collaborator of Communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
, Brucan, with Sorin Toma and Mihail Roller, was among the prominent Party ideologues of the group coordinated by Răutu after the late 1940s and into the 1950s. He was an ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
of Romania to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1955, using his experience as the basis of a book he co-authored with Sidorovici (a virulent attack on American institutions), and to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
(between 1959 and 1962), as well as the head of Romanian Television
Televiziunea Româna
Televiziunea Română , more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Românǎ de Televiziune ; acronym: SRTV. SRTV is the national state-owned public service television broadcaster of Romania...
.
Conflict with Ceauşescu
Progressively from the 1960s, Brucan became an opponent of the new PCR leadership around Ceauşescu. Initially, upon news that Ceauşescu had been appointed general secretaryGeneral secretary
-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...
, he considered renouncing his political career and focus on an office at the University, before being persuaded by Emil Bodnăraş
Emil Bodnaras
Emil Bodnăraş was an influential Romanian Communist politician, an army officer, and a Soviet agent...
to remain an activist. He was a professor of Scientific Socialism
Scientific Socialism
Scientific socialism is the term used by Friedrich Engels to describe the social-political-economic theory first pioneered by Karl Marx. The purported reason why this socialism is "scientific socialism" is because its theories are held to an empirical standard, observations are essential to its...
at the Bucharest Faculty of Medicine
Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy
Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy is a state-run health sciences University in Bucharest, Romania. It is the largest institution of its kind in Romania with over 2.865 employees, 1.654 teachers and over 4.800 students...
. According to Brucan himself, he faced a period of financial insecurity, and began work as a translator in order to cover his expenses. He also sent several works, subject to censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
at home, to be published in the United States; they showed his move towards reformism
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
, which he advocated to be applied inside the Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
.
In 1987, after sending an anti-Ceauşescu declaration to the foreign press (to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
, and United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
), a relatively mild criticism for the violent repression of the Braşov Rebellion
Brasov Rebellion
The 1987 Rebellion of Braşov was a revolt against Nicolae Ceauşescu's economic policies in Communist Romania.- Prelude :Beginning in late 1986, the seeds of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 were sown, as workers throughout this Soviet Bloc country mobilized in protest of communist leader Nicolae...
, he was sentenced to house arrest
House arrest
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
. At the time, Brucan had won the approval of Soviet authorities, which had by then already engaged in Perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
policies, and had been extended informal protection by the Soviet embassy in Bucharest (allowing him a relevant degree of freedom).
With help from Iulian Vlad, the chief of the Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
, he was issued with a passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
, and in 1988, despite being expelled from the PCR, spent six months in the United States, where he was in contact with the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
(headed by George P. Shultz
George P. Shultz
George Pratt Shultz is an American economist, statesman, and businessman. He served as the United States Secretary of Labor from 1969 to 1970, as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1972 to 1974, and as the U.S. Secretary of State from 1982 to 1989...
). Brucan also claimed to have been invited to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
by Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
politicians Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
and Anatoly Dobrynin
Anatoly Dobrynin
Anatoly Fyodorovich Dobrynin was a Russian statesman and a former Soviet diplomat and politician. He was Soviet Ambassador to the United States, serving from 1962 to 1986 and most notably during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was appointed by Nikita Khrushchev....
, who endorsed criticism of Ceauşescu and a Romanian version of Glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
; based on the personal testimonies of Gorbachev's advisers, the scholar Vladimir Tismăneanu
Vladimir Tismaneanu
Vladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
has disputed Brucan's account in its entirety.
Letter of the Six
In March 1989, together with five other Communist dignitaries (Gheorghe ApostolGheorghe Apostol
Gheorghe Apostol was a Romanian politician, deputy Prime Minister of Romania and a former leader of the Communist Party, noted for his rivalry with Nicolae Ceauşescu.-Early life:...
, Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Grigore Răceanu
Grigore Raceanu
Grigore Ion Răceanu was a Romanian communist politician and opponent of Nicolae Ceauşescu.Born in Cojocna, Cluj County, he became a train driver for Căile Ferate Române. He was also a trade union leader, being one of the organizers of the strikes of Cluj in 1929-1933. He became a member of the...
, Corneliu Mănescu
Corneliu Manescu
Corneliu Mănescu was a Romanian diplomat born in Ploieşti. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania from 1961 to 1972 and as President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1967 to 1968....
, and Constantin Pîrvulescu
Constantin Pîrvulescu
Constantin Pîrvulescu was a Romanian communist politician, one of the founders of the Romanian Communist Party , and, eventually, an active opponent of Communist Romania's leader Nicolae Ceauşescu...
), he signed the open letter
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
known as Scrisoarea celor şase - "The Letter of the Six
Letter of the Six
In March 1989, Silviu Brucan, together with five other Communist dignitaries , signed the open letter known as Scrisoarea celor şase - "The Letter of the Six"....
".
The document, which was immediately broadcast on Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
and Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
, was a left-wing critique of Ceauşescu's policies, and it led to the swift arrest and interrogation of the signatories by the Securitate, and then to their internal exile
Internal Exile
Internal Exile was Fish's second solo album after leaving Marillion in 1988. The album, released 28 October 1991, was inspired by the singer's past, his own personal problems and his troubled experiences with his previous record label EMI.The album's music reflects Fish's indulgence in the vast...
and house arrest at various locations. The Securitate depicted Brucan as one of several "hostile, inveterate, elements" and "the agent of foreign imperialist
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
secret services". Although lacking in actual popular support, the letter was argued to be the among most important and influential acts of opposition during its period, and a notorious break with the tradition of strict obedience and party discipline.
Brucan was sent to a location on the outskirts of Bucharest, in Dămăroaia — the reason for his subsequent colloquial moniker, "The Oracle
Oracle
In Classical Antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination....
of Dămăroaia". Despite increased pressure, most contributors to the protest refused to withdraw their statement. Brucan later accused Apostol of having given in to pressures.
During and after the Revolution
Brucan was part of the National Salvation Front (FSN) during the 1989 RevolutionRomanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, joining the Provisional Council of FSN and its Executive Committee. As a member of the Council, he was also involved in selecting Roman for the office of Premier.
According to the testimony of Petre Roman
Petre Roman
Petre Roman is a Romanian politician and a former Prime Minister of Romania. He served from 1989 to 1991, when his government was overthrown by the intervention of the miners led by Miron Cozma. Roman is a member of the Club of Madrid, grouping 66 democratic former heads of state and government...
, Brucan was among those who insisted that Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu
Elena Ceausescu
Elena Ceaușescu was the wife of Romania's Communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu, and Deputy Prime Minister of Romania.-Background:She was born Elena Petrescu into a peasant family in Petrești commune, Dâmboviţa County, in the informal region of Wallachia. Her family was supported by her father's job...
be executed and according to Dumitru Mazilu, he wanted that the 10-point programme read on national TV on December 22 to include a clause saying that Romania will honour its obligations under the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
.
While in early January, Brucan assured that the FSN has no intention of turning into a political party, but just supporting some candidates, only three weeks later, he supported the transformation of FSN into a political party, arguing that without the FSN, there would be a "political vacuum" which the new political parties would be unable to fill.
In February 1990, Brucan resigned from the FSN, claiming that he has accomplished his mission, to restore stability in Romania and to put the country on a course toward multi-party elections.
He did not wish to run in the 1990 elections, being just the adviser of President Iliescu. Nevertheless, he later issued a vocal criticism of President
President of Romania
The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . An individual may serve two terms...
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu served as President of Romania from 1990 until 1996, and from 2000 until 2004. From 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 until his retirement in 2008, Iliescu was a Senator for the Social Democratic Party , whose honorary president he remains....
. In 1990, Brucan made a forecast which became well-known in Romania: he contended that Romanians would need 20 years to become accustomed to democracy.
In the eve of the election day, Brucan argued that the 1989 Revolution was not anti-communist, being only against Ceauşescu, not against the communism of the 1950s and 1960s, saying that Iliescu made a "monumental" mistake in "conceding to the crowd" and banning the Romanian Communist Party.
Final years
From the late 1990s, Brucan hosted a news commentary program on the ProTV network (Profeţii despre trecut - "Foretellings on the Past"), initially together with Lucian Mândruţă. During his final years, he was also a columnist for Ziarul FinanciarZiarul Financiar
Ziarul Financiar is a daily financial newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania. Aside from business information, it features sections focusing on careers and properties, as well as a special Sunday newspaper...
.
In 1998, he was brought to court by Vasile Lupu, a leader of the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party
Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party (Romania)
The Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party is a Romanian Christian-Democratic party...
(PNŢCD) and a deputy
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
for Iaşi County
Iasi County
Iași is a county of Romania, in Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași.-Demographics:As of 1 July 2007, Iași County had a population of 825,100, making it the second most populous county in Romania after Bucharest, with a population density of 150/km².*Romanians - 98.1%*Roma -...
. Speaking on his show, Brucan had called Lupu "astute to the square" and "trained Securitate informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
", indicating that "any good-faithed National Peasantist who still views himself as a party colleague with Vasile Lupu is self-excluding himself from the PNŢCD". In 2002, courts decided in Lupu's favor, and Brucan was found guilty of calumny
Slander and libel
Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, traducement, slander , and libel —is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image...
; he was required to pay Lupu the sum of 30 million lei
Romanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
as compensation.
At the age of 90, Brucan underwent a seven-hour stomach operation on September 4, 2006. Despite an initial good recovery from surgery, his condition suddenly worsened on September 13 and he died the following day due to cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
.
Legacy
Writing in 2006, Vladimir TismăneanuVladimir Tismaneanu
Vladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
criticized Brucan, arguing that, despite his renunciation of Communism, Brucan had continued to support authoritarianism
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
in public life and to display a taste for intrigue, and that he had attempted to transform the FSN into a "big party", virtually replacing the PCR. Tismăneanu pointed out Brucan's post-1990 opposition to the Mircea Răceanu
Mircea Raceanu
-Early life:He was the son of two Transylvanian members of the underground Romanian Communist Party in the 1930s: a Romanian worker named Ileana Pop and a Jewish carpenter named Andrei Bernat, who was killed by Fascists during World War II. Mircea was born in Văcăreşti prison, where his mother was...
, who had been imprisoned on dubious charges espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
under Ceauşescu, and who was later rehabilitated
Political rehabilitation
Political rehabilitation is the process by which a member of a political organization or government who has fallen into disgrace, is restored to public life. It is usually applied to leaders or other prominent individuals who regain their prominence after a period in which they have no influence or...
by Romanian courts. He has also contended that memoirs authored by Brucan showed little remorse for his early involvement in support of political repression.
According to Victor Neumann
Victor Neumann
Victor Neumann is a Romanian historian, political analyst, and professor at the West University in Timişoara. He is a well-known specialist in the recent cultural and intellectual histories of Eastern and Central Europe...
, Brucan's role in the Bucharest episode of the 1989 Revolution had indirectly helped the original and virtually unrelated revolt in Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
, especially by preventing a more violent repression against it. He also argued that Brucan's group of inner-Party dissidents was, in the eyes of the public at large, the only "credible alternative" at the time, and cited Brucan's own statement: "The train had arrived in the station and we were the only ones who could get on it. What were we to say, that we will not get on? We did it". Overall, Neumann contended, Silviu Brucan's political and diplomatic expertise, as well as his adaptability, had made him the "ideologist of political transformations in 1989 Romania", and had contributed to the supremacy of left-wing discourse in the years following the Revolution (in regard to the latter point, he cited Brucan arguments, which challenged the existence right-wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
themes in the ideological makeup of the 1989 movement).
English
- The dissolution of power; a sociology of international relations and politics, Knopf (1971) ISBN 0-394-46741-8
- The Dialectic of World Politics (1978) ISBN 0-02-904680-7
- The post-BrezhnevLeonid BrezhnevLeonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
era: an insider's view, Praeger (1983) ISBN 0-03-069409-4 - World Socialism at the Crossroads: An Insider's View, Praeger (1987) ISBN 0-275-92782-2
- Pluralism and social conflict: a social analysis of the communist world, Praeger (1990) ISBN 0-275-93475-6
- The wasted generation : memoirs of the Romanian journey from capitalism to socialism and back, Westview Press (1993) ISBN 0-8133-1833-5
- Social Change in Russia and Eastern Europe, Praeger/Greenwood (1998) ISBN 0-275-96322-5
Romanian
- Originile politicii americane Bucharest, Editura Ştiinţifică, 1968 - (Origins of the American policy)
- Democratizarea relaţiilor internaţionale: premise şi realităţi, Bucharest, Editura Politică, 1975 - (The democratization of international relations: premisses and realities)
- Dialectica politicii internaţionale, Cluj-Napoca, Editura Dacia, 1985 - (The dialectic of world politics)
- Pluralism şi conflict social. O analiză socială a lumii comuniste, Bucharest, Editura Enciclopedică, 1990 - (Pluralism and social conflict. A social analysis of the communist world)
- Piaţă şi democraţie, Bucharest, Editura Ştiinţifică, 1990 - (Market and democracy)
- Îndreptar-dicţionar de politologie, Bucharest, Nemira, 1993 - (Handbook-dictionary of politology)
- Stâlpii noii puteri in România, Bucharest, Nemira, 1996 - (The bases of the new power structure in Romania)
- Lumea după războiul rece. Locul României şi viitorul ei, Bucharest, Editura România Liberă, 1996 - (The World after the Cold War. Romania's place and her future)
- O biografie între două revoluţii: De la capitalism la socialism şi retur, Bucharest, Nemira, 1998 - (A biography between two revolutions: from capitalism to socialism and back)
- România în derivă, Bucharest, Nemira, 2000 - (Romania adrift)
- Profeţii despre trecut şi despre viitor, Iaşi, Polirom, 2004 ISBN 973-681-692-3 - (Prophecies about the past and the future)
- Secolul XXI. Viitorul Uniunii Europene. Războaiele in secolul XXI, Iaşi, Polirom, 2005 ISBN 973-46-0119-9 - (The 21st century. The future of the European Union. Wars in the 21st century)
External links
Silviu Brucan Obituary The Washington Post Biography at Polirom.ro- Silviu Brucan,
} "Pedeapsa trebue să fie maximă!" ("The Penalty Must be the Maximum One!"), article of November 10, 1947, republished by Adevărul
Adevarul
Adevărul is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in 1871 and reestablished in 1888, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Romanian Kingdom's existence, adopting an independent pro-democratic position, advocating land reform and universal suffrage...
} "Una este «reţea» şi alta este «urmărit»" ("An «Informant Network» and «Under Surveillance» Are Entirely Different Things") - his last column in Ziarul Financiar, August 28, 2006