Romania's participation in the Agricultural Conference in Moscow, 2–3 February 1960

Abstract

Investigating the origins of Romania's detachment from the Soviet Union, this article focuses on Romania's participation in two bloc economic gatherings: the Agricultural Conference held on 2–3 February 1960 in Moscow and the seventh session of the CMEA Permanent Commission on Scientific–Technical Collaboration in the Field of Agriculture and Forestry, held in Sofia (Bulgaria) on 12–14 May 1960. Drawing on recently declassified documents from the archive of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, the study argues that Romania's opposition to the rest of the bloc – the USSR included – could be traced as early as February–May 1960 and that this opposition was triggered by the Romanian leaders' perceptions of threats to Romania's interests.

Acknowledgement

Research for this article was supported by a grant from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-1056.

Notes

Elena Dragomir, born in 1978 in Romania, studied history in Romania and Finland. She is a Researcher at the University ‘Valahia’ of Targoviste, Romania, and a PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She specializes on Cold War studies, especially on Communist Romania's foreign policy.

1 The Communist Party had several names in Romania: The Socialist Communist Party (1921–1922), the Communist Party of Romania (1922–1943), the Romanian Communist Party (1943–1948), the Romanian Workers' Party (1948–1965), the Romanian Communist Party (1965–1989).

2 Vladimir Tismăneanu, Stalinism for all seasons: A political history of Romanian communism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), 167.

3 Mioara Anton, Ieşirea din cerc. Politica externă a regimului Gheorghiu-Dej (Bucureşti: INST, 2007), 17–31.

4 Cezar Stanciu, Devotaţi Kremlinului. Alinierea politicii externe româneşti la cea sovietică în anii '50 (Targovişte: Cetatea de Scaun, 2008), 8–25.

5 Maria Mureşan, “Romania's Integration in Comecon. The Analysis of a Failure”, in The Romanian Economic Journal, Year XI, no. 30, (4) 2008, 27–58; Dennis Deletant, “Taunting the Bear: Romania and the Warsaw Pact, 1963–89”, in Cold War History, Vol. 7, No. 4, November 2007, 496; Constantin Moraru, Politica externă a României, 1958–1964 (Enciclopedică: Bucureşti, 2009), 36.

6 Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1901–1965): Secretary general of the CC of the RCP/ RWP (1945–1954); First vice-president of the Council of Ministers (1948–1952); President of the Council of Ministers (1952–1955); First Secretary of the CC of the RWP (1955–1965); President of State Council (1961–1965).

7 Vladimir Tismaneanu, Gheorghiu-Dej and the Romanian Workers' Party: From De-Sovietization to the Emergence of National Communism, CWIHP Working Paper Series, no 37, May 2002, 31–46; Mihai Retegan, In the shadow of the Praque spring. Romanian foreign policy and the crisis in Czechoslovakia, 1968 (Iasi-Oxford-Portland: The Center for the Romanian studies, 2000), 19–22, 35–42; Florin Constantiniu, O istorie sinceră a poporului român (Bucureşti: Univers Enciclopedic, 2008), 485–488; Dennis Deletant, Communist terror in Romania, Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police State 1948–1965 (London: Hurst&Co., 1999), 281.

8 Horia Socianu, “The foreign policy of Romania in the sixties”, in James A. Kuhlman (ed.), The foreign policies of Eastern Europe: domestic and international determinants (Leyden: Sijthoff, 1978), 167–173; Tismăneanu, 2003, 179.

9 Florian Banu and Liviu Ţăranu, “Studiu introductiv”, in Florian Banu and Liviu Ţăranu, Aprilie 1964. ‘Primăvara de la Bucureşti’. Cum s-a adoptat ‘Declaraţia de independenţă’ a României. Documente (Bucureşti: Enciclopedică, 2004), VII-L.

10 Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans: twentieth century, Vol. II (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 374; Adam Zwass, The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance: the thorny path from political to economic integration (Armonk, Sharpe, 1989), 198; Tismăneanu, 2003, 179–182.

11 Liviu Ţăranu, România în Consiliul de Ajutor Economic Reciproc, 1949–1965 (Bucureşti: Enciclopedică, 2007), 134–137; Cezar Stanciu, Frăţia socialistă: Politica RPR faţă de ţările lagărului socialist, 1948–1964 (Târgovişte, Cetatea de Scaun, 2009), 237–249; Mihai Croitor, România şi conflictul sovieto-chinez, 1956–1971 (Cluj-Napoca:Mega, 2009), 214.

12 Moraru, 37–38.

13 Ţăranu, 137–139; Stanciu, 2009, 237; Dan Cătănuş, “Divergenţele româno-sovietice din CAER şi consecinţele lor asupra politicii externe a României, 1962–1963, I”, in Arhivele Totalitarismului, No 1-2/2005, 73–74.

14 Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries, A history of Eastern Europe; crisis and change, (Routledge, 1998), 553–554.

15 Ţăranu, 66–187.

16 Alexandru Bârlădeanu's discourse in the Agricultural Conference, 3 February 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 6/1960, volume III, 186–187.

17 Report of M. Stancu (president of the Romanian Permanent Commission on Agriculture and Forestry), 28 January 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 18/1960, volume I, 39–40.

18 The letter of N.S. Khrushchev addressed to Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, 14 November 1959, annotated by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 6/1960, volume I, 14–21.

19 The Czechoslovak Project for the gradual deepening of the international division of labour between the countries of the socialist camp, January 1960, annotated by Gheorghiu-Dej, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 18/1960, Vol. I, 20–38.

20 The minutes of the 8 January 1960 Politburo meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 9/1960, 16–17.

21 List of participants to the 1960 Agricultural Conference, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 7/1960, 2, 11.

22 Antonin Novotny (first secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, president of the republic), V. Krutina (Secretary of the CC), Otokar Simunek (member of the CC, deputy of the president of Czechoslovakia, president of the State Planning Committee).

23 W. Gomulka (first secretary of the Polish United Workers Party), Josef Cyrankiewicz (prim minister and member in the Polish Politburo), Edward Ochab (party secretary and Politburo member), Edmund Pszczolkowski (head of the agricultural section of the Central Committee).

24 N.S. Khrushchev's letter to Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, 13 January 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 6/1960, volume I, 24–25; Reports, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 6/1960, volume I, 26–280; vol. II, 1–172; vol. III, 1–168.

25 V.V. Matskevich, Report about the continuous burst (avânt, in Romanian) of the USSR's agriculture and about satisfying the state's needs with agricultural products, Moscow, January 1960, annotated by Gheorghiu-Dej, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 6/1960, volume I, 74–124 (The Russian language version of the document in ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 6/1960, volume I, 24–73).

26 N.S. Khrushchev (first secretary of the CC of the CPSU, prim minister), A.N. Kosygin (vice-president of the Council of Ministers, president of the Planning State Committee), V.V. Matskevich (minister of agriculture), T.D. Lisenko (academician).

27 Quotation marks in original. In the Romanian archive documents the term specialisation is usually in quotation marks.

28 The minutes of the Agricultural Conference, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 7/1960, 1–220 (The Russian language version of the minutes in ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 8/1960, 1–171); Report regarding the main problems raised by the representatives of the communist and workers parties at the Moscow meeting on agriculture, 14 February1960; N.S. Khrushchev's speech at the Agricultural Conference, 2 February 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 6/1960, Volume, III, 228–258.

29 Report regarding the main problems raised by the representatives of the communist and workers parties at the Moscow meeting on agriculture, 14 February 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 6/1960, Volume, III, 228–253.

30 The present and future situation of Romania's agriculture, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 6/1960, Vol. III, 208–225.

31 Protocol no 2 of the 22 January 1960 Politburo meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 3/1960, 1–2.

32 Later, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej argued in different party meetings that the absence from his speech of any reference to specialisation was intended as a hint for the others regarding Romania's position towards specialisation. The minutes of the 8 February 1960 Politburo meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File 9/1960, 13.

33 Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's speech at the Agricultural Conference, 2 February 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 7/1960, 89–105.

34 The minutes of the 8 February 1960 Politburo meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File 9/1960, 11–26.

35 Alexandru Bârlădeanu's discourse at the Moscow Meeting, 3 February 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 6/1960, volume III, 186–190.

36 The minutes of the 8 February 1960 Politburo meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File 9/1960, 5–26.

37 Alexandru Bârlădeanu's discourse, 3 February 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 6/1960, volume III, 186–190.

38 The minutes of the Plenary Session of the CC of the RWP from 17–18 May 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 28/1960, 5–18.

39 The minutes of the Agricultural Conference,2–3 February 1960, Moscow, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 7/1960, 8–9.

40 I could not find any record of this informal talk.

41 [Report regarding] The meeting of the Secretariat of the Agricultural Conference, 3 February 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 18/1960, volume I, 57–62.

42 Communiqué, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 18/1960, volume I, 68–71.

43 The minutes of the 8 February 1960 Politburo meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File 9/1960, 10–19, 25–26.

44 Report regarding the meeting of the Secretariat of the Agricultural Conference, 3 February 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 18/1960, volume I, 60.

45 The minutes of the 8 February 1960 Politburo meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File 9/1960, 18–19, 25–26.

46 The minutes of the meeting of the Bucharest members of the CC of the RWP, 17 February,1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no. 11/1960, 1–5.

47 Note regarding the content of the Report about the Agricultural Conference, 4 March 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 18/1960, Vol. I, 72–73.

48 Circular Latter sent to regions, 26 March 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 18/ 1960, Vol. I, 74.

49 Report on the Agricultural Conference, 23 March 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 18/ 1960, Vol. I, 75–123.

50 Note, 25 March 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 18/ 1960, Vol. I, 124–125.

51 The minutes of the plenary session of the CC of the RWP from 26 April 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 24/1960, 5–9; 35–45.

52 The minutes of the Plenary Session of the CC of the RWP from 17–18 May 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 28/1960, 6–8.

53 The minutes of the 16 May 1960 [Politburo] Meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 26/1960, 19–46.

54 Synthesis regarding the points of view of the participants in the meeting of the Session of the Permanent Commission on Agriculture, Sofia, 12–14 May 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 26/1960, 47–54.

55 The minutes of the 16 May 1960 [Politburo] Meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 26/1960, 19–46.

56 The Protocol of the Session of the Permanent Commission on Agriculture held in Sofia on 12–14 May 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 26/1960, 1–18.

57 The minutes of the 16 May 1960 [Politburo] Meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 26/1960, 19–46.

58 The minutes of the Plenary Session of the CC of the RWP from 17–18 May 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 28/1960, 5–18.

59 The Communiqué of the 17–18 May 1960 Plenum, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 28/1960, 60.

60 The minutes of the 26–27 February 1963 Politburo meeting, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no. 4/1963, 67.

61 The minutes of the Plenary Session of the CC of the RWP from 17–18 May 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 28/1960, 5–18.

62 Especially in 1963 the Romanian leaders argued in their talks with Soviet representatives that Romania's opposition to bloc specialisation benefited from the support of the entire Romanian population. See, for instance, Note regarding the discussions [of the Romanian Politburo members] with I.V. Andropov, 3 April 1963, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 18/1963, 2–25, published in Mihai Retegan, Război politic în blocul communist. Relaţii româno-sovietice în anii 1960. Documente (Bucureşti: Rao, 2002), 192–217.

63 Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's Report presented at the Third Congress of the RWP, 20 June 1960, in Congresul al III-lea al Partidului Muncitoresc Român, 20–25 Iunie 1960 (Bucureşti: Editura Politică, 1960), 7, 14–94.

64 Gheorghiu-Dej's speech at the June 1962 CMEA meeting in Moscow, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, file no 29/1962, 255–272; The minutes of the talks held in Bucharest between the delegations of the CC of the RWP and CC of the CPSU on 24–25 June 1963, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign relations, File 16U/1963, 42–116.

65 The resolution of the Third Congress of the RWP from 20–25 June 1960; Gheorghiu-Dej's speech from 25 June 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Office, File no 85/1960, 1–12.

66 Khrushchev's speech held on 21 June 1960 at the Third Congress of the RWP, in Congresul al III-lea al Partidului Muncitorec Român, 20–25 Iunie 1960 (Bucureşti: Editura Politică, 1960), 193–228.

67 Dong Wang, The Quarrelling Brothers: New Chinese Archives and a Reappraisal of the Sino-Soviet Split, 1959–1962, CWIHP Working Paper Series, No 49, 37–39.

68 Alfred D. Low, The Sino-Soviet dispute: an analysis of the polemics (Rutherford, Fairleigh Dickinson, 1976), 109–110.

69 The minutes of the 3–10 March 1964 discussions between the delegations of the CC of the RWP and of the CC of the Chinese Communist Party, Beijing, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File 29/1964, 1–124, published in Romulus Ioan Budura (coordinator), Relatiile Romano-Chineze, 1954–1975, Documente (Bucuresti: ANR, 2008), 129, 139; See also, Lavinia Betea, “Convorbiri neterminate cu Corneliu Mănescu”, in Lavinia Betea, Partea lor de adevăr (Bucureşti: Compania, 2008), 482–484.

70 Romulus Ioan Budura, “Studiu introductiv”, in Budura, 10; Yan Mingfu, ‘Peng Zhen at the Bucharest Conference’, in Peng Zhen – in memoriam, Beijing, 1998, published in Budura, 551.

71 Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's speech at the Meeting of the Communist and Workers Parties, Bucharest, 24 June 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 35/1960, Vol. II, 217–219.

72 Report regarding Romania's participation in the meeting of the Working Group of the CMEA Commission on Agriculture and Forestry from September 1960, 17 December 1960, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 4/1960, 3–6.

73 Note regarding Romania's participation in the meeting of the Working Group of the CMEA Commission on Agriculture and Forestry from September 1960, 12 December 1960, annotated by Gheorghiu-Dej, ANIC, CC of RCP, Foreign Relations, File no 4/1960, 8–10.