NAȚIONALIZAREA ÎNTREPRINDERILOR INDUSTRIALE ÎN REGIUNEA MOLDOVEI ȘI DRUMUL SPRE ECONOMIA PLANIFICATĂ
THE NATIONALIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL-BASED ENTERPRISES IN THE REGION OF MOLDAVIA AND THE PATHWAY TO PLANNED ECONOMY

Summary/Abstract: 1948 is the year which brings along an important shift in terms of Romania’s political and social system. On the last day of the year 1947, the Republic was proclaimed, in February the Communist Party merged with the Socialists through assimilation and in April a new Constitution was voted to authorize all these changes. Following all these alterations the only political party on the scene focused on the system of property. In its Marxist-Leninist approach the party was against any form of private economic initiative. Thus, through a well organized and secret action, Romanian Communists nationalized “the primary means of production” in a single day, on June 11, 1948. The process reveals a different way to tackle the problem in comparison to other communist States in Eastern Europe, where the economy was gradually transferred to State administration the action taking place over several years. Even some democratic countries, such as France or Italy have resorted to nationalizations after World War II. However, in their case, the measure had been taken on purely economic and not ideological grounds. The analysis of confiscation actions which involved transferring financial and industrial establishments in the region of Moldavia to State ownership, without any kind of compensation outlines the mechanism of the new regime which managed successfully to carry out its objectives due to its highly popularized ideology, a thorough preparation on the part of the central structures associated with a high level of negligence among local structures. Industrial enterprises nationalization did not face serious opposition in Moldova, perhaps due to the fact that the traces of the war were still present. With the nationalization process of production, commercial and financial units the path towards planned economy had been irreversibly traced.

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