Ceausescu and the Inevitability of the People’s Will

Romania isn’t a country that crosses my mind often, but when it does, I remember one thing with startling clarity: in 1989, they executed their president, Nicolae Ceausescu, and his wife, Elena, in a very publicised toppling of the government.

This happened after, and because of, years of censorship, surveillance, food shortages and the brutal crushing of anyone who opposed him, and was part of the broader unravelling of communist rule across Eastern Europe during the revolutions of 1989.

I’m going to tell this story as accurately and succinctly as I can, but I implore you to do your own further reading.

On 21 December of that year, the president held a rally, bussed citizens in, blared fake applause through the speakers and promised his people that, despite appearances, the government would make their lives better.

One moment, Ceausescu was delivering a speech to 100 000 people in Bucharest; the next, the mood shifted, the crowd grew agitated and then it erupted into loud boos and furious chants. As it turned out, gathering this many people who do not like you in one place would be a fatal mistake.

As the crowd turned into a mob that wanted him dead, Ceausescu and his wife evacuated the balcony they were standing on, made it to the roof of the central committee building of the Romanian Communist Party, and fled in a helicopter; hoping to make it safely to another Romanian city, Târgoviste, where they could regroup with loyalist military forces.

This didn’t happen.

A new government was quickly formed in Bucharest, and the couple’s military protection turned on them before abandoning them. Soon after, they were captured, detained and given an impromptu two-hour trial where the outcome was already decided.

Instead of an impeachment or some other ceremonial handover of power, the first couple was sentenced to death by firing squad and charged with the crimes of genocide, undermining the national economy, abuse of power, the illegal gathering of wealth, and undermining the national sovereignty and the constitutional order.

On Christmas Day 1989 Nicolae and Elena were executed. In the aftermath, Romanians worked hard to rebuild their country, eventually heading on the path to democracy and joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Euroean Union.

The first time I heard this story, I had chills. I watched a documentary about it and there’s quite a bit of footage from the fateful rally and the trial of the Ceausescus.

Every time someone says the world is going to sh*t, and the end times are near, I look back at our history and see that being in flux is deeply embedded in our DNA.

You cannot stifle humans, keep them in a cage or bully them for too long. Change is always on the horizon.

When I look back and see the power of the sheer will and determination that we possess innately, I am truly invigorated and inspired.

It can be so easy to believe that whatever you do, you can’t change the world or the systems that run it. It might often feel like we are just tiny specs of dust in the grander scheme of things, but that is entirely untrue.

The tragedy of the Ceausescus lies in the fact that they, too, believed the fallacy that the system they were at the helm of was more powerful than the will of the people.

Another takeaway is that this revolution in Romania did not happen all at once. Revolution is in our everyday defiance, in our questioning, in our demand for accountability and transparency. It is in our refusal to conform, submit or be afraid. It is in our resilience and survival in a brutal world.

Ceausescu made the mistake of not listening to the people of his country. When striking workers downed tools, the regime threatened job losses. When activists spoke out against the power imbalance in the country, they were gunned down in the street.

As citizens of the world, we are often expected to just accept things as they are. If you complain, you are the problem. But the fall of Romania’s first couple is a reminder that we, the people, the poor, the sick, the marginalised, the abused, the mistreated, the starved, the forgotten, the artists, the parents, the children, the rich, the entrepreneurs, the lady down the street, your Grade 3 teacher, that guy you hate …we hold the power.

The only thing that makes us weak is that we take the time to divide ourselves along arbitrary lines. It’s easy to think that evil people always get their way, but maybe evil people are just more organised.

Maybe we could learn a thing or two about banding together, supporting each other, speaking up, thinking long term, etc. When enough of us come together, they’ll have no choice but to listen or flee.

– Anne Hambuda is a writer, social commentator and poet. Follow her online or email her at
annehambuda@gmail.com for more

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