Word: dej
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Bear Twist. Rumanians have always hated the Russians anyway, but Gheorghiu-Dej chafed particularly under the raw-material-supplying role assigned his country by the Soviets' version of the Common Market, Comecon. He had no intention of letting Rumania be a combination "market garden" and "gas station." Instead, he talked the Soviets into supplying iron ore and machinery for the construction of a huge steel complex at Galati...
...Dej next became bold enough to make overtures to the West. Without waiting for the Soviets, he expanded Galati by signing a $42 million contract for a steel plant with a British-French combine. The Sino-Soviet split gave Dej another chance to twist the bear's tail. Rumania's Premier Ion Maurer winged off to Peking last year and agreed to boost trade with the Chinese Communists by 10% . He stopped off in the Soviet Union on the way back and kindly volunteered to "mediate" Sino-Soviet differences, while back in Bucharest, Russian bookstores were being closed...
Slight Thaw. Rumanian foreign policy favors Soviet-style peaceful coexistence, but Dej himself was as much a Stalinist as Mao. A onetime shoemaker's apprentice, he used Stalin's backing to oust Ana Pauker, the Communist Amazon, in 1952. His regime, despite some slight thawing, maintains just about the greyest, grimmest police state in Europe. Not until last year were 10,000 of his 12,000 political prisoners released...
...failing health for the past two years, Dej is survived by the cadre of Communists who have been major designers of his nationalist policies and will probably continue them. Most likely to take over is Nicolae Ceausescu, No. 2 man in the hierarchy. Other candidates include Premier Maurer, former Premier Chivu Stoica, and Union Boss Gheorghe Apostol...
Died. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, 63, President and Communist leader of Rumania, the self-educated son of a metalworker, who joined the Reds in 1929, went to jail three years later for leading a rail strike, was freed by the Soviet Army in 1944, and came to power when King Michael was ousted in 1947, ruling ever since; of pneumonia; in Bucharest (see THE WORLD...