and Romanian television interrupted its broad-
cast. It was the signal people had been waiting
for: in the afternoon and evening they poured
into the streets. Securitate and army units started
firing indiscriminately at them, killing and
wounding many. Defiantly, the crowds gathered
again in University Square on 22 December and
were ready to storm the Central Committee
Building. They sensed that the army was now
with them and that only isolated fanatics of the
Securitate were still resisting the overthrow of
Ceaus ̧escu. That morning the Ceaus ̧escus finally
fled from the roof of the building by helicopter,
a journey that ended with their summary trial and
execution on Christmas Day.
A Council of the Front for National Salvation
was formed, and Ion Iliescu, once Ceaus ̧escu’s
secretary for ideological issues, was chosen by
them as president. There was no democratic tra-
dition in Romania. The National Salvation Front
was dominated by reformist communists, who
disingenuously denied that they were bringing
forth the Communist Party in a new guise. Iliescu
won working-class support with concessions on
wages, and living conditions were rapidly
improved. He wanted to avoid plunging Romania
into hardship by trying to produce a Western-
style market-oriented economy. He also empha-
sised Romanian nationalism, especially by means
of the ‘Romanisation’ of Transylvania, whose
population was now evenly divided between
ethnic Hungarians and Romanians. The region
had been part of Hungary until 1918; it was then
handed to Romania, returned to Hungary by
Hitler in 1940 and then given back to Romania
by the Allies in 1945 – a football of international
diplomacy, which had shown little concern for the
protection of the minorities involved.
In May 1990, Iliescu won an overwhelming
victory in the presidential elections and the
National Salvation Front was no less triumphant
in the parliamentary elections. In June, claiming
that the Front was in danger, Iliescu let some
20,000 communist miners, who had been trans-
ported to Bucharest, loose on the democratic
opposition, and they beat up civilians indiscrimi-
nately ‘to restore order’. Violence also marked
dealings with the democratic opposition of the
Hungarian Democratic Union Party. Beset by
ethnic hatreds, by discrimination against minori-
ties and by the mob’s knee-jerk hostility to for-
eigners, Hungarians and Jews, the political future
of Romania, a country that has never known
democracy, looked bleak. The terrible legacy of
Ceaus ̧escu’s rule, including the neglected orphans
with AIDS and the shattered economy, remained
a heavy burden. The intimidation of the opposi-
tion during and after the election in May, and the
violence of the miners brought to Bucharest in
June 1990, revealed the true colours of the
National Salvation Front. A rapid drive towards a
market economy was launched by Prime Minister
Petre Roman. The consequences were dire –
falling production and soaring unemployment
and President Iliescu dismissed Roman. In the
early 1990s Romania retained links with its com-
munist past; President Iliescu therefore continued
to enjoy support. But there have been economic
reforms, though at a much slower pace than in
Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The fall in
output continued even in 1992 to about half the
level of 1989. In these dire conditions the people
fear radical remedies and cling to some of the old-
guard leadership.
Romania continued to be ruled by ex-
communists who brought the country close to
bankruptcy in spite of oil revenues and its rich
farming land. They were ousted only in November
1996 with the election of President Emil Constan-
tinescu. Romania then looked to the West and,
with the help of the International Monetary
1
THE IRON CURTAIN DISINTEGRATES 897
Eastern Europe, 2000
Population Purchasing Power
(millions) Parity per head (US$)
Romania 22.4 6,400
Bulgaria 7.9 5,600
Hungary 10.0 12,000
Czech Republic 10.3 13,800
Slovakia 5.4 11,000
Poland 38.6 9,000
Slovenia 2.0 17,300
Croatia 4.7 8,000
Bosnia 4.0 1,700
Serbia and 10.6 3,000
Montenegro
