ABSTRACT

Nicolae Ceausescu is a communist modernizer whose policies fall squarely within the parameters of modernization policy as practiced in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe since the establishment of communist regimes there. The development of heavy industry represented only one of the main elements of communist modernization in Romania as well as in the rest of the communist world. Romania was indeed well suited to Stalinist modernization through industrialization. The driving force of the industrialization program carried everything before it during the Ceausescu era, forcing all other economic activity to conform to the needs of industry. Communist rulers are emphatic about the need to acquire and utilize the newest technological innovations, and Ceausescu and his predecessors are no exception. Throughout the entire history of communist-ruled Romania the leadership has conducted a policy of enhancing the domestic capacity in this area and also acquiring foreign technology through barter, transfer, or espionage.