ABSTRACT
Romanian propaganda claimed that the country had long been embarked on modernization and structural reorganization, and portrayed Nicolae Ceausescu as the dynamic, innovative proponent of a thorough restructuring and democratization process encompassing all spheres of Romanian society. Ceausescu's pretended "Gorbachevization" of the Romanian system while putting his stakes on the Kremlin conservatives had a tradition in postwar Romanian policy. Indirectly admitting to criticism of the Romanian model of "multilaterally developed socialism" from other countries of the bloc, particularly the Soviet Union, Ceausescu typically used an offensive posture as a defense. The Romanian reports also ignored the list of remedies that Gorbachev proposed for the Soviet malaise: glasnost, greater autonomy for enterprises, the rejuvenation of the cadre, and criticism of leading party figures. "Socialism," the official Romanian reasoning went, embraced "a society that is always open to improvement along its own economic, political, and ideological lines."
