Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Sage Publications, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Peace Research.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Introduction
This article has one general and one specific
purpose. It is based on a common-sense view
of development: that the quality of life of
ordinary people should be the ultimate goal
and yardstick of development policies; and
it tries to make this goal substantial by a
cohort approach. In that sense, it is a methodological study. But it is also motivated by
a real wish to know what did happen in
Romania's recent past, and what may come
to happen in its near future. The country
is not a randomly selected case, but a place
that I have become linked to, through
friendship and admiration as well as through
certain questions and doubts.
We shall survey Romania's development
in the 20th century through the eyes of the
cohorts born in 1900, in 1930, and in 1960
respectively. This means that we take all
children born in these years and follow their
history in childhood, school, adult life and
old age as far as official statistics and other
sources can take us. We have chosen the
cohort and not the nation as unit of study
because only the cohort's experiences parallel the life cycles of individuals, at the collective level. Social conditions and historical
events have unequal impacts on 5-year-old
children, 35-year-old parents, and 65-yearold retired people. Only by keeping a specific age group in mind do we come close to
experienced social reality.
In a static society, stratification by age
and study over time are unnecessary, since
all age groups sooner or later pass under
identical influences. In a changing society,
each generation has its particular history,
even when they coexist in time. When
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
282
Tord Hoivik
Anuarul Statistic in 1957, after 16 years' interruption, was followed by increasingly liberal policies in the late 1960s. But official
statistics are legally defined as state secrets
and can be released only by central government decisions.' It is evident that the statistics available to the economic planners
are much more detailed and cover a wider
range of phenomena than those the outsider
gets access to. Detailed national accounts,
disaggregated price and wage statistics, inter-sectoral matrices and complete family
budget surveys are some of the materials
prepared for internal use only.
Still, I do not believe official secrecy hides
anything important about social and economic conditions today. A growing sociological literature complements the aggregate
data, and newspaper reading and direct observation reveal both the main problems and
the achievements of socialist Romania. What
is hidden is 'only' the detailed apparatus of
decision-making, the internal structure of
the political elite, and the flow of information needed for day-to-day action.
The 1900 cohort: childhood and youth
The first cohort comprises almost 250 thousand children, who were born in a Romania
that was overwhelmingly rural and depressingly poor. More than 80?/o of the parents
that registered the birth of a child in 1900
were workers on the land, while only 6?/o
were artisans or industrial workers, and only
3?Jobelonged to white collar occupations.
Table I. Familybackgroundof 1900 cohort
Father's occupation
Peasant
Artisanor industrialworker
White-collarworker
Otheror undeclared
Total
81%
6%
3%
10%
100%
Still, industrial development was transforming the countryside. In the last decade
of the 19th century Romania had become
one of the granaries of Europe, supplying
the expanding cities in other European
countries with foodstuffs for their workers.
At the turn of the century, cereals constituted over 80 O/loof the country'sexports.2
The rapid expansion of grain production
for export had serious consequences for the
rural population. Throughout the 18th and
19th centuries there had been a steady transformation of forest and pasture into arable
land, but by 1900 there was little usable land
left. The new wheat fields brought large
cash incomes to the bigger landlords, but
they made the small peasant much more dependent on the cultivation of cereals to the
exclusion of animal husbandry and use of
the forests for fuel and timber.
The land was extremely unequally distributed, particularly in the plains, which were
most suited for grain production. At a rough
estimate the cultivable land was divided
equally between 4 thousand landlords on the
one hand, and about 900 thousand peasants
on the other. Population growth under these
conditions meant that landless families or
families with too little land for self-sufficiency were being created all the time; and they
of course had to rent land or work as hired
laborers in order to survive.
Observers of the rural situation around
1900 noted that rental terms were becoming
harsher. Instead of the 25 0/0 common a generation earlier, crop sharing agreements now
typically ran to a 50-50 division of the harvest between landlord and tenant. There
were great local variations, but a general
movement towards a cash economy was also
evident.
Duties of a feudal type, like labor, obligatory 'gifts', and dijma, became heavier at the
same time as their commutation to cash payment was progressing.
The peasantry, however, was as exploited
under the new regime as under the old.
While the agricultural surplus was squandered in Monte Carlo or invested in the Pra-
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
283
survivon
10o0%
(1960 cohort)
(1930 cohort)
so0%
(1900 cohort)
10
20
30
40
50
60
age
70
80
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
284
Tord Heivik
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
285
Price
750 g bread
100 g sugar
200 g vegetables
200 g fruit
80 g fats
150 g meat
100 g cheese
250 ml milk
7.5 lei
3 lei
1.5 lei
3 lei
3 lei
4 lei
5 lei
2 lei
Unqualified worker
Qualified worker
Office worker
Professional
Total
29
50-80
100-200
100-150
200-300
lei
lei
lei
lei
lei
Sources: Diet, BuletinulMuncii, 1940, pp. 430-431; Prices, AnuarulStatistic; Incomes, statistics and wage
agreements reported in BuletinAMuncii,
1938.
relief, since a larger population could be
supported on the same land, but a future
danger to the nutritional balance. Corngrowing became the staff of survival to the
peasants, particularly in the Old Kingdom,
and by the 20th century corn-meal, served
as a thick porridge, mamaliga, was the daily
staple in most of Romania.
Combined with milk, cheese, eggs, and
meat, which could add proteins, fats, and
vitamins to the carbohydrates, mamaliga
was a useful part of the diet. But only in the
hill and mountain villages, with abundant
pasture land and a sufficient number of animals, was that possible. On the plains, animals were too few, and their sales value too
high relative to the corn, for animal products to be daily food. The lowland peasant
was forced to eat a poorer diet than in the
past because he and his landlord participated
in a cash economy. Mamaliga, with some
beans or onions, became the daily food week
after week.4
The urban family faced the corresponding dilemma of relative prices on the market. As Table III shows, even a modest but
balanced diet was out of the reach of families in the lower income groups. And even if
the family earned, say, 200 lei daily, and
thus could afford to eat food of sufficiently
high standard, it would be hard to convince
a worker that he should spend his money on
meat and cheese when he could fill his stomach much more cheaply (Table III). There
were always other pressing needs, for rent
and fuel, clothes and shoes, and, not least,
escape. Spending more on quality food
meant spending less on other goods.
The outcome, both in city and countryside, was a diet based mostly on cheap carbohydrates - corn and potatoes - supplemented by the cheapest fruits and vegetables
when they were in season: cabbage, tomatoes, onion, pimentoes, prunes, and peaches.
Wheat bread, milk, eggs, cheese, butter, and
milk were what the middle and upper classes
ate.
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
286
Tord Hoivik
Infant mortality
urban
rural
Oltenia
Muntenia
Dobrogea
Moldova
Bessarabia
Bucovina
Transylvania
Banat
158
183
199
177
168
198
163
174
169
184
191
189
155
157
138
177
34
29
37
29
54
22
21
16
30
23
31
28
37
18
16
13
33%
32
39
26
54
21
22
18
74%
70
73
67
73
62
64
60
25%
29
26
29
23
32
31
35
Crisana-Maram
191
173
21
16
31
Romania
176
173
34
25
Pre-school mortality
rural
urban
Illiteracy
13-19 yrs
Rural nutrition
CC
PA
under the land reform in 1864. At the outbreak of World War I, /5 of the land was
still owned by a single family, Grigore and
Maria Perticari (nee Mavrogheni). Under
the land reform of 1921, veterans of the War
got a right to 3.5 hectares of land. This
would have to be taken from the Mavrogheni patrimony, but by declaring most of their
land as unproductive, pasture, fallow, or exposed to floods, the Perticaris lost only 216
hectares.
In 1938, the peasants owned 475 hectares
of the village land, while 750 hectares belonged to the widowed Maria Perticari.
Most of the families owned 1 to 3.5 hectares,
but some were landless, and a few others
had between 5 and 15 hectares, which was
a suitable family holding at the time. A complete and equal redistribution of the land
would have given each household just sufficient land to survive4.4 hectares. The
overpopulation of the village was therefore
relative to the existing property distribution, but population growth would soon
have made it an absolute one.
To supplement the income from their
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
287
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
288
Tord Hoivik
The concomitants of absolute power abuse, torture, and executions - were not
absent, but the number of persons killed
outright may have been relatively low. Mor-
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
from 32 to 13 ?0/o.9The
289
total
urban
Peasant
Artisan or industrial
worker
White-collar worker
Other or undeclared
(of which public
employees)
64%
11%
83%
11%
25%
21%
68%
7%
10%
( 11 %)
(32 %)
(4 %)
rural
Literacy of parents
Total
Urban
Rural
Father
Mother
86%
84%
63%
39%
67%
31%
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
290
Tord H0ivik
girls
boys
1.0
2.9
3.1
3.9
Urban
girls
boys
2.0
2.8
3.3
3.6
1907/08
1937/38
School year
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
291
1920121 48149
55/56
Source: AnuarulStatistic.
suburbs. Most of the change must have occurred after 1948, since rapid urbanization
did not start till then.
rigid Communist lines, and the Party's suppression of all independent forces, created
an insecure and oppressive social climate.
The 1930 cohort was too young to feel the
full impact of political oppression, however.
They had been teenagers when the Communists came to power and grew to political maturity under the new regime. For most
of them, socialism brought greater access to
education and urban life.
We have already looked at the cohort's
pre-war schooling. After the war, great efforts were made to eradicate illiteracy and
to train personnel for industry and administration. In the 1900 cohort, only 10 ?/o of the
men and 5 /o of the women went beyond
primary school; in the present cohort, the
percentages were twice as high. (This implies, however, the same sex inequality as
before.) The content of higher education
was also changed, with law in particular
being reduced in favor of technical subjects
(Table VII.)
The industrialization drive meant growth
of urban areas, both through migration and
through the incorporation of rural settlements in new and expanding cities. About
13?/o of the cohort, excluding Bessarabia,
was born in urban localities, but at the age
of 36, 43?/o were living in cities, towns, or
In 1953, the economic and political pressures of the preceding years were relaxed.
The demands on the peasants were reduced,
and consumer goods and services were given
higher priority in the national economy. The
real income of peasants increased rapidly
once the administrative squeeze was eased.
It took longer to satisfy urban demands,
since it took time to start up production of
consumer goods, but by 1957, both peasants
and workers enjoyed real incomes substantially above 1950 levels.15
If we divide the family expenditures into
three great categories - food, manufactured
goods, and services - we find that the Communists had greatest success in lowering the
costs of services. The cheapness of education,
medicine, housing, public transport, communications, and organized vacations is the
outstanding change in the price structure
brought by socialism.l6 The facilities may
be trowded, but they are not a drain on the
pocketbook. Instead of prices, it is rationing,
administrative allocation, or queues that regulate their distribution.
The other two categories posed constant
dilemmas. Industrialization was impossible
without food for the workers, but the pea-
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
292
Tord Hoivik
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
293
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
294
Tord Heivik
except Japan -
Ro-
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Looking backward
Returning to our definition of development,
what Romania has achieved in a generation
is impressive. Health, education, and the reduction of unemployment were the first
areas to be improved. Consumption levels
were kept static for almost a decade after
the revolution, partly to allow a very high
investment rate, partly as a result of the
violent reorganization of economic and political life undertaken by the new regime.
Now, they are moving steadily upwards, and
a degree of material comfort should be universal within a decade or two. Without a
comparable study of, say, Greece or Portugal, it is hard to say how much of this development is due to the Socialist character
of the state. But the difficulties imposed on
the country by the war and its aftermath,
when part of its resources was taken to rebuild the Soviet economy, imply that success was obtained under great initial handicaps.
I would therefore call Romania's development successful in terms of the passive or
consumption oriented values. The population does receive medical attention and education, and will receive more and more consumer goods. Inequality in access to these
goods is also being removed by the industrialization of the regions and of agriculture
itself.
But quality of life also means the realization of active values. I have already mentioned political activity. Neither in local, regional, nor national affairs does ultimate
power rest with the ordinary people. But
according to official ideology it does, hence
a set of formal representative institutions go
through the motions of democratic decisionmaking. One way to achieve political development, is to give them the substance of
power, and for the present this must be by
decision from above.
To a great extent, Romania's develop-
295
ment goal has been to catch up with Western Europe. Far too much attention is given
to physical outputs, far too little to social
institutions, as aims in themselves. After
many years of disregard, social life is fortunately now being dealt with as a serious
subject for study, but the aim seems rather
to solve social problems, than to develop
social creativity.
Intellectual creativity is to a great extent
accepted in the arts and humanities, excepting the most politically sensitive areas. Intellectual freedom is not guaranteed, however, and those who explore the boundaries
of the acceptable (which intellectuals have a
disposition to do) get unpleasant shocks
when cultural policies are tightened up.
What is ultimately more dangerous to Romania's development as a socialist society,
however, is the fear of letting Marxist theory
develop further. Expressionist plays and
textbooks of capitalist economics are signs
of a certain liberality, and people may enjoy
getting acquainted with them. But a Socialist
nation has more need of ideas for its own
future, and they cannot be imported from
the West. Without creative political economy, social theory and analytical modern
history, Romania as well as other Socialist
countries stand in danger of not developing
further in a socialist direction. And it is
hardly the artists that challenge Socialism,
but the production and management tools
taken - with a purely technical understanding - from the advanced Capitalist world.
NOTES
* Four persons contributed materially to our
opportunity for research in Romania: Prof. Mircea
Malita, Prof. Pavel Apostol, Mlle Claudia Dimitriu, and Johan Galtung. The Romanian Ministry
of Education and the Norwegian Research Council
for Science and the Humanities covered most of
the expenses. The staff at the central library of
the National Academy of Sciences in Bucuresti
was courteous and helpful. My deep thanks to all
of them.
This article forms part of the research project
Development indicators at the national level and
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
296
Tord Hoivik
SUMMARY
The paper surveys Romania's social development in the 20th century through the eyes of
two generations - born in 1900 and in 1930.
6. Roberts, op.cit., Ionescu, Ghita Communism Through statistical analysis the paper reveals
in Rumania 1944-1962 (London: Oxford U. P., the gradual transformation of the agrarian
1964), and Fischer-Galati, Stephen Twentieth Romania with predominance of rural economy
Century Rormania(New York and London: Co- during the first quarter of this century into
lumbia U. P., 1970) are the most important treatan agro-industrial Romania in the second
ments in English.
quarter of the century extended up to 1960
with
an improving correlation of agriculture
7. lonesco,Ghita, op.cit., pp. 167-69.
and industry (heavy and most essential con8. Quoted by Ionescu, op.cit., p. 201.
sumer goods). Important aspects studied here
9. Computed from census data, 1956 and 1966.
included comparative consumption patterns,
10. Bistriceanu, Gh. D. Sistemul asigurarilor and rural conditions in the Romania of 19201940 and 1950-1970 and social effects of the
sociale din Romania (Bucuresti: Editura Academ- First and Second
World Wars as well as revoica R.S.R., 1968), pp. 172-95.
lution. Finally, it throws some light on Roma11. Manuila, Sabin,'Asistenta nasterilor in Ro- nia's trends of
development towards the year
mania si influenta ei asupra mortalitatii infantile',
its
impact
2000
and
on the 1930 cohorts.
Cartea Romaneasca,Bucuresti, 1938.
This content downloaded from 79.119.96.130 on Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:14:20 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions