„Din acest moment, guvernul n-a mai fost guvern!” Primul cabinet Manea Mănescu, punct de cotitură în istoria regimului socialist din România, 28 martie 1974 – 18 martie 1975
„The cabinet became an empty shell from that moment onwards!” The first Manea Mănescu ministry, a turning point of the Romanian state socialist regime (28 March 1974 – 17 March 1975)

Summary/Abstract: The appointment of the first Manea Mănescu’s cabinet in March 1974 offers an excellent glimpse into the mechanisms of socialist power. Nicolae Ceaușescu’s management style and the political context might be helpful to understanding the true meaning of this key moment in Romanian socialism. This article aims to answer questions such as: why did Nicolae Ceaușescu finally approve in March 1974 Ion Gheorghe Maurer’s resignation, who had been holding the position since 1961? Why was Mănescu fit for the job? What did the decision-making process imply? The second part of the article deals with the structure of this cabinet and summarizes its policies. The post-factum assessments in the memoires of members of the socialist nomenklatura are crossed referenced with documents from the archive of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP). The meetings of the Romanian Communist Party’s decision bodies reveal Nicolae Ceaușescu’s thoughts and those around him on how the state should work in socialism and the relationship between the state and the communist party should be.

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