Rural Romania within the Political Economy of the Golden Age
Dr. Georgeta Stoian Connor

Abstract
The research proposed here investigates the significant transformations of the Romanian countryside -- from communist-forced collectivization to a dramatic program of rural systematization, during the distinctive communist stage ruled by Nicolae Ceausescu, 1965-1989, the so-called golden age. Factor analysis revealed that Ceausescu, who evolved from a leader apparently committed to modernization and liberalization in 1965 to a regressive neo-Stalinist despot by 1989, was the moral author of some radical campaigns with negative consequences on agricultural practice and rural life. It can be concluded that rural Romania was profoundly changed by the communist rule and Soviet domination, agricultural policy functioning as the heavy artillery of the Communist Party against the Romanian peasants.

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