Silviu Brucan
Silviu Brucan (born Saul Bruckner; 18 January 1916 – 14 September 2006) was a Romanian communist politician. He became a critic of the dictatorship of
Early life
He was born in
In 1929 came the
As a social outcast (his father had been indicted for
Early activism
Brucan joined the left-wing movement at the age of 18. He was attracted by the opinions found in leftist and antifascist weekly newspapers such as
In 1935, the moderate left-wing
He subsequently worked as a journalist, first writing a fashionable social column at
In late 1938, he was conscripted, serving at a border guard unit at the frontier with Bulgaria, where he was acquainted with both komitadji extremists who attacked Romanian outposts, the Aromanian colonists in Southern Dobruja, and the Middle Eastern smugglers who illegally crossed the border with hashish or opium.[10][11]
During World War II, Brucan lived in the attic of a house in a quiet area in Cotroceni, working as an illegal press worker for the Communist Party's newspaper Scînteia.[12] In 1943, he was arrested by a police agent who accidentally noticed him on Buzești Street, recalling his face from a photograph of a fellow Communist who had been previously arrested. However, as the police could not find any incriminating evidence, he was released a few days later.[13]
After the 23 August 1944 coup
In September 1944, upon Romania's exit from the
As long as the other newspapers still were published, Scînteia competed with them for the readers and Brucan, with the rest of the editors, tried to make a professional newspaper.[16] However, Brucan recounts that as party newspapers and independent newspapers were forcibly closed, one by one, by the new communist authorities, the Scînteia journalists became office clerks working 9 to 5 and writing ideological editorials for the indoctrination of the workers, who were "full of hope for a glorious future".[17]
As editor of Scînteia, he supported the prison sentences of
During this period, Brucan's wife, the
For a short while (1948–1949), Brucan was Professor of Journalism at the University of Bucharest, although he never graduated from college.[2]
A close collaborator of Communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej,[2][19] Brucan, along with Sorin Toma and Mihail Roller, was among the prominent party ideologues of the group that was co-ordinated by Leonte Răutu after the late 1940s and into the 1950s.[19][21]
Ambassador to the United States
A loyal Soviet agent, Brucan was ambassador of Romania to the United States in 1955. He used the experience as the basis of a book that he co-authored with Sidorovici (a virulent attack on American institutions).[19] He was the Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations between 1959 and 1962 as well as the head of Televiziunea Română.[14][22]
Conflict with Ceaușescu
According to his declarations after the fall of Ceaușescu, Brucan became an opponent of the new leadership around Ceaușescu progressively from the 1960s. Initially, upon news that Ceaușescu had been appointed
In 1987, after sending an anti-Ceaușescu declaration to the foreign press (to the
With the help from
The fact that Ceaușescu allowed Brucan freedom of movement shows that Ceaușescu was not subjecting him to the same restrictions as to common dissidents, especially because of the interest about the safety of Brucan by both the Soviet Union (by making sure that the Pravda correspondent in Bucharest would keep close contact with him) and the governments of Great Britain and the United States by inviting him as a special guest in their countries.[27]
Letter of the Six
In March 1989, together with five other Communist dignitaries (Gheorghe Apostol, Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Grigore Răceanu, Corneliu Mănescu and Constantin Pîrvulescu), he signed the open letter known as Scrisoarea celor șase("The Letter of the Six").[2][14][19][28][29]
The document, which was immediately broadcast on
Brucan was sent to a location on the outskirts of Bucharest, in
During and after the Revolution
Brucan was part of the
He was a member of the council (together with
When it was decided that the 10-point programme be read on national television on 22 December, according to Dumitru Mazilu, Brucan wanted it to include a clause that Romania would honour its obligations under the Soviet-controlled Warsaw Pact.[33]
In early January, Brucan made an assurance that the FSN had no intention of turning into a political party but would support some candidates.[35] However, only three weeks later, he supported the transformation of the FSN into a political party,[19] arguing that otherwise, there would be a "political vacuum" that the new political parties would be unable to fill.[36]
After public allegations, Brucan resigned from the FSN in February 1990, claiming that he had accomplished his mission to restore stability in Romania and to put the country on a course toward multi-party elections.[33] His prediction that the FSN would win the elections by more than 90%, supported the already-wide suspicions of falsified ballots.
Early that year, he had been the host of investor
He did not wish to run in the 1990 elections[36] but to be "just the adviser" of now-President Iliescu.[38] Nevertheless, he later issued a vocal criticism of President Iliescu.[2][14][24]
In 1990, Brucan contended that Romanians would need 20 years to become accustomed to democracy. That claim became well known in Romania.[2]
On the eve of the day of the first free post-communist elections (20 May 1990), Brucan argued that the 1989 Revolution was not anticommunist but only against Ceauşescu, not the communism of the 1950s and 1960s. He said that Iliescu made a "monumental" mistake in "conceding to the crowd" and banning the Romanian Communist Party.[38]
As a supporter and activist of Soviet autopoiesis,[39] Brucan also had important contributions to transatlantic geopolitics and the emergence of Eurasianism as a geopolitical concept.
Later life
From the late 1990s, Brucan hosted a news commentary program on the
In 1998, he was brought to court by
At the age of 90, Brucan underwent a seven-hour stomach operation on 4 September 2006.[2] Despite an initial good recovery from surgery, his condition suddenly worsened on 13 September, and he died the following day of cardiac arrest.[2] Following his wishes, he was cremated at the Vitan-Bârzești Crematorium.[40]
Legacy
Writing in 2006, Vladimir Tismăneanu criticized Brucan, arguing that, despite his renunciation of Communism, Brucan had continued to support authoritarianism in public life and to display a taste for intrigue, and that he had attempted to transform the FSN into a "big party", virtually replacing the PCR.[19][41] (The claim that FSN was leftist is dubious at best.[42][43])Tismăneanu pointed out Brucan's post-1990 opposition to Mircea Răceanu, who had been imprisoned for espionage under Ceauşescu, and who was later rehabilitated by Romanian courts.[19] He has also contended that memoirs authored by Brucan showed little remorse, if not at all, for his early involvement in support of political repression.[44]
According to Victor Neumann, Brucan's role in the Bucharest episode of the 1989 Revolution had apparently helped indirectly the original and virtually unrelated revolt in Timișoara, especially by preventing a more violent repression against it, but it was never explained.[45] He also argued that Brucan's group of former inner-Party dissidents was, in the eyes of the uninformed public at large, the only "credible alternative" at the time,[46] and cited Brucan's own statement: "The train had arrived in the station and we were the only ones who could get on it. What were we to say, that we will not get on? We did it".[47] Overall, Neumann contended, Silviu Brucan's political and diplomatic expertise, as well as his adaptability, had made this old Stalinist the "ideologist of political transformations in 1989 Romania",[48] and had contributed to the supremacy of left-wing discourse in the years following the Revolution[49] (in regard to the latter point, he cited Brucan arguments, which challenged the existence of the right-wing themes in the ideological makeup of the 1989 movement).[50]
Works
English
- The Dissolution of Power: A Sociology of International Relations and Politics. New York: OCLC 1067333438.
- The Dialectic of World Politics. New York: OCLC 3607660.
- The Post-Brezhnev Era: An Insider's View. OCLC 1039191538.
- World Socialism at the Crossroads: An Insider's View. New York: Praeger. 1987. OCLC 15628321.
- Pluralism and Social Conflict: A Social Analysis of the Communist World. New York: Praeger. 1990. OCLC 551634116.
- The Wasted Generation: Memoirs of the Romanian Journey from Capitalism to Socialism and Back. Boulder: OCLC 1311140117.
- Social Change in Russia and Eastern Europe: From Party Hacks to Nouveaux Riches. Westport: Praeger. 1998. OCLC 38550880.
Romanian
- OCLC 895479662.
- Originile politicii americane Bucharest, Editura Științifică, 1968 – (Origins of the American policy)
- Democratizarea relațiilor internaționale: premise și realități, Bucharest, Editura Politică, 1975 – (The democratization of international relations: premisses and realities)
- Dialectica politicii internaționale, Cluj-Napoca, Editura Dacia, 1985 – (The dialectic of world politics)
- Pluralism și conflict social. O analiză socială a lumii comuniste, Bucharest, Editura Enciclopedică, 1990 – (Pluralism and social conflict. A social analysis of the communist world)
- Piață și democrație, Bucharest, Editura Științifică, 1990 – (Market and democracy)
- Îndreptar-dicționar de politologie, Bucharest, Nemira, 1993 – (Handbook-dictionary of politology)
- Stâlpii noii puteri în România, Bucharest, Nemira, 1996 – (The bases of the new power structure in Romania)
- Lumea după războiul rece. Locul României și viitorul ei, Bucharest, Editura România Liberă, 1996 – (The World after the Cold War. Romania's place and her future)
- O biografie între două revoluții: De la capitalism la socialism și retur, Bucharest, Nemira, 1998 – (A biography between two revolutions: from capitalism to socialism and back)
- România în derivă, Bucharest, Nemira, 2000 – (Romania adrift)
- Profeții despre trecut și despre viitor, Iași, ISBN 973-681-692-3– (Prophecies about the past and the future)
- Secolul XXI. Viitorul Uniunii Europene. Războaiele in secolul XXI, Iași, Polirom, 2005 ISBN 973-46-0119-9– (The 21st century. The future of the European Union. Wars in the 21st century)
Notes
- ^ a b Brucan, p.7
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Politologul Silviu Brucan a decedat la vârsta de 90 de ani". Gardianul (in Romanian). 16 September 2006. Archived from the original on 14 February 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Brucan, p.8
- ^ "Silviu Brucan, 90, Opponent of Ceausescu, Dies". The New York Times. Associated Press. 16 September 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ a b Brucan, p.9
- ^ a b Brucan, p.11
- ^ a b Brucan, p.12
- ^ a b Brucan, p.13
- ^ Brucan, p.14
- ^ Brucan, p.14-15
- OCLC 42214742.
- ^ Brucan, p.31
- ^ Brucan, p.31-32
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Hrițcu, Mirona (5 February 2005). "Silviu Brucan e gata să-și ingroape profeția". Cotidianul (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 4 March 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.212, 304, 309
- ^ Brucan, p.35
- ^ Brucan, p.35-36
- ^ a b c d e f g h Gherguț, Ondine (15 February 2002). "Brucan, condamnat în procesul cu Vasile Lupu". Evenimentul Zilei (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Tismăneanu, Vladimir (29 September 2006). "Dubioasa convertire a lui Silviu Brucan". Revista 22 (in Romanian) (864). Archived from the original on 9 March 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ OCLC 24069514.
- ^ Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.212, 304
- ^ Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.263, 309
- ^ Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.309-310
- ^ a b Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.310
- ^ Cioroianu, p.487
- ^ Cioroianu, p.487; Neumann, p.183
- ^ a b Deletant, p.278
- ^ a b Tănăsescu, D. (1998). "Dosare de cadre. Fișete desferecate". Magazin Istoric (40). Archived from the original on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ Cioroianu, p.487; Neumann, p.180; Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.262-263, 310
- ^ Neumann, p.180; Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.262-263
- ^ a b c Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.263
- ^ Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.292
- ^ a b c Bohlen, Celestine (5 February 1990). "Upheaval in the East: Romania; A Veteran Leader Resigns in Bucharest". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ a b c Deletant, p.371
- ^ Haberman, Clyde (2 January 1990). "Upheaval in the East: Bucharest; NEW RULING GROUP IN RUMANIA TO VIE IN APRIL ELECTIONS". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ a b "Romania's Front to fight elections", Guardian, January 24, 1990, Page 24
- ^ "Silviu Brucan, gazda lui George Soros la GDS (Grupul pentru Dialog Social) in ianuarie 1990. FOTO-DOCUMENTE de Emanuel Parvu". NapocaNews.ro - Știri și Atitudini. Din 2008 (in Romanian). 24 August 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ a b "Romania revolution 'not against communism'", Guardian, May 19, 1990, Page 24
- ^ Brucan, Silviu (1994). "Russia - Geopolitics and Geostrategy" (PDF). Sfera Politicii (in Romanian). 3 (14): 6. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
- ^ "Aristide Buhoiu a fost răpus de cancer". Curentul (in Romanian). September 17, 2006. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
- ^ Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.52
- ISBN 978-606-8437-84-2. apud Cistelecan, Alex (29 May 2017). "Materialismul evanescent". revistavatra.org (in Romanian). Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- ^ Pleșu, Andrei; Pătrășconiu, Cristian (31 August 2010). "Orice doctrină devine periculoasă când se transformă în ideologie". Revista 22 PLUS (in Romanian) (301). Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.46, 52
- ^ Neumann, p.180
- ^ Neumann, p.184-185, 189
- ^ Brucan, in Neumann, p.185
- ^ Neumann, p.189
- ^ Neumann, p.183, 189
- ^ Neumann, p.183
References
- Adrian Cioroianu, Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc ("On the Shoulders of Marx. An Incursion into the History of Romanian Communism"), Editura Curtea Veche, Bucharest, 2005
- Iaşi, 2001
- ISBN 0-520-23747-1)
- Silviu Brucan, The Wasted Generation: Memoirs of the Romanian Journey from Capitalism to Socialism and Back, Westview Press, 1993, Online[dead link][ISBN missing]
- Dennis Deletant, Ceauşescu and the Securitate: Coercion and Dissent in Romania, 1965-1989, M.E. Sharpe, London, 1995, ISBN 1-56324-633-3.
External links
- Silviu Brucan Obituary The Washington Post
- (in Romanian) Biography at Polirom.ro
- Silviu Brucan,
- (in Romanian) "Pedeapsa trebue să fie maximă!" ("The Penalty Must be the Maximum One!"), article of November 10, 1947, republished by Adevărul
- (in Romanian) "Una este «reţea» şi alta este «urmărit»" ("An «Informant Network» and «Under Surveillance» Are Entirely Different Things") - his last column in Ziarul Financiar, August 28, 2006