Iosif ChiÈ™inevschi (born Jakob Roitman; 26 December 1905–1963) was a
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n
communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
politician. The leading
ideologue of the
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...
(PCR) from 1944 to 1957, he served as head of its
Agitprop
Agitprop (; from , portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the Soviet Union where it referred to popular media, such as literatu ...
Department from 1948 to 1952 and was in charge of
propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
and culture from 1952 to 1955. He has been described as "
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
's right-hand man in Romania".
Biography
Early life
Chișinevschi was born to a poor
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family in
Bălți
Bălți () is a city in Moldova. It is the second-largest city in terms of population, area and economic importance, after Chișinău. The city holds the status of municipiu. Sometimes called "the northern capital", it is a major industrial, cu ...
, in the
Bessarabia Governorate
The Bessarabia Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its administrative centre in Kishinev (Chișinău). It consisted of an area of and a population of 1,935,412 inhabitants. The Bessarabia Governorate bordered t ...
of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
(present-day
Moldova
Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...
). Largely self-taught and a high-school
dropout, he joined the PCR in 1928. Arrested that year (since the PCR had been banned in 1924), he went to the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
upon his release in 1930. He attended the
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
's
International Lenin School (his only ideological training) and was a participant at the Vth PCR Congress, held in
Gorikovo near
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
in December 1931. The Comintern delegates to the congress,
Béla Kun and
Dmitry Manuilsky, sponsored his election to the PCR central committee. He had personal connections within the Soviet secret police, of which he was an agent (which he remained through the 1950s), infiltrating the PCR hierarchy's upper ranks.
Chișinevschi came back to Romania with instructions from Moscow, helping to reorganize the
Agitprop
Agitprop (; from , portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the Soviet Union where it referred to popular media, such as literatu ...
Department, the PCR's propaganda nucleus. During the party's years of
underground activity, he helped orient it toward
Bolshevism
Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined p ...
(specifically
Stalinism
Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
). He shunned real intellectual problems and the debates of the
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
left, instead idolizing
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
. He was most influenced by the latter's ''The Problems of Leninism'', a sort of thumbnail sketch of revolutionary theory; once he had read the ''History of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...
(Bolsheviks) Short Course'', with its blatant falsifications, he looked no further than Stalin for ideological guidance. A devoted Comintern man, he was unconcerned with Romania's cultural and political history and context.
Arrested again in 1933, he was freed in 1936 and integrated into the secretariat of the Central Committee, becoming head of the
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
party organization.
[Tismăneanu 2003, p. 159.]
In power
Reconfirmed as a member of the PCR Central Committee in 1940, he was arrested that year, spending
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in the
CaransebeÅŸ penitentiary and the
Târgu Jiu
Târgu Jiu (, is the capital city, capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathian Mountains, Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu (river), Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the ...
camp, where he was among the closest associates of
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (; 8 November 1901 – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian politician. He was the first Socialist Republic of Romania, Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party ...
, especially after 1942. Having navigated for several years between the party's Gheorghiu-Dej and
Ștefan Foriș, he participated in the staging of a plot that resulted in the latter's elimination and assassination,
accusing him of being a collaborator of the
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...
's secret police,
Siguranța Statului. Joining the Politburo after August 23, 1944, he participated in the anti-intelligentsia campaign, also publishing several articles and brochures under the pen name of Stănciulescu the following year. Between 1952 and 1954, he was intimately involved in the shadowy machinations that led to the downfall of
Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker (born Hannah Rabinsohn; 13 February 1893 – 3 June 1960) was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's List of Romanian Foreign Ministers, foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Ana Pauker became the world' ...
, the execution of
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (; 4 November 1900 – 17 April 1954) was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania (PCR), also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he ...
, and the trial of
Vasile Luca.
Despite his Jewish ethnicity, Chișinevschi frantically distanced himself from his origins and helped persecute Jews. For instance, on January 14, 1953, he wrote: "The Jewish communities have always been a nest of thieves, of spies. The communities have always had
Filderman and from the exploitation and robbing of poor people, to acts of criminal espionage, these have been part of their agenda. This is why I think we have to proceed firmly. The devil take them—they will eventually be quiet; otherwise they will damage us, and not only us, but the entire camp of peace".
Chişinevschi, known among party members as Ioșka, was a consummate intriguer and opportunist, sycophantically subservient to his superiors, vindictive, and despotic toward his subordinates. He was the patron of an entire group of crude, narrow-minded and aggressive apparatchiks who dominated Romania's spiritual life during the years of unrestrained Stalinism. As a committed Stalinist, he was unconditionally devoted to the USSR and identified his own destiny with that of the "homeland of socialism". He participated in all the important meetings with Soviet representatives and delegates from other Eastern European countries, also coordinating the party's international relations and supervising cadre policy.
Downfall
For Chișinevschi, one's attitude toward the USSR was his most important criterion of Leninist orthodoxy. Thus, when the Soviets changed course at the
20th Party Congress (which Chișinevschi attended), he zealously changed course and immediately began spreading insidious critical allusions about his old friend Gheorghiu-Dej, hoping to cover up his own past crimes and abuses. At the March 1956 plenary, he and
Miron Constantinescu
Miron Constantinescu (13 December 1917 – 18 July 1974) was a Romanian communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR, known as PMR for a period of his lifetime), as well as a Marxist sociologist, historian, academic ...
called for a liberalisation, something that Gheorghiu-Dej categorically rejected. He did not make his proposal out of genuinely reformist sentiments, but rather because "his enduring opportunism, his unsurpassed chameleon-type of political conduct materialized in his will to associate himself with the group that was most probable to win the battle". As "a true follower of Moscow's line, whatever its twist or turn, he grasped an opportunity to undermine Gheorghiu-Dej and re-compose for himself the image of a fighter for intra-party democracy". Thinking that "a critical re-assessment of the Stalinist purges in Romania was inevitable", he aligned himself in opposition to Gheorghiu-Dej.
Probably encouraged by
Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
, Chișinevschi and Constantinescu sought allies on the Politburo to topple Gheorghiu-Dej by majority vote; they drew
Constantin Pîrvulescu, president of the party control commission to their side, but failed to capture
Alexandru MoghioroÈ™, who informed Gheorghiu-Dej of the conspiracy.
After this, despite renewed professions of faith in Gheorghiu-Dej, Chişinevschi had no chance of political survival, as the former surpassed him in ability and duplicity. During the June 28–29 and July 1–3, 1957 plenum of the Central Committee, the Chişinevschi-Constantinescu "factionalist group" (invented by Gheorghiu-Dej for propaganda purposes) was purged from the Politburo. In June 1960, the Third Congress of the Romanian Workers' Party (as the PCR was then called) did not re-elect him to the Central Committee.
In late 1956, knowing about his dissent from Gheorghiu-Dej's line that March, the leaders of the
Bucharest student movement of 1956
The Polish October, events in Poland which led to the elimination of that country's Stalinism, Stalinist leadership and the rise to power of Władysław Gomułka on 19 October 1956 provoked unrest among university students in Eastern bloc countrie ...
saw Chișinevschi, then vice president of the Council of Ministers, as a potential interlocutor, but he rebuffed their calls for dialogue.
At the November 30–December 5, 1961 central committee plenum, his former comrades cruelly humiliated him: Gheorghiu-Dej,
Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...
,
Ion Gheorghe Maurer
Ion Gheorghe Maurer (; 23 September 1902 – 8 February 2000) was a Romanian communist politician and lawyer, and the 49th Prime Minister of Romania. He is the longest serving Prime Minister in the history of Romania (having served for 12 ...
,
Leonte Răutu,
Petre Borilă, Moghioroș,
Alexandru Sencovici,
Valter Roman
Valter or Walter Roman (October 9, 1913 – November 11, 1983), born Ernst or ErnÅ‘ Neuländer, was a Romanian communist activist and soldier. During his lifetime, Roman was active inside the Romanian, Czechoslovakian, French, and Spanish ...
did not hesitate to accuse the man formerly celebrated as the "brain of the party", now the director of the ''
Casa Scînteii'' printing works. It was here that Gheorghiu-Dej, absolving himself of responsibility, denounced the alleged Pauker-Luca-Georgescu and Chișinevschi-Constantinescu factions as being responsible for Romania's worst Stalinist excesses. When Chișinevschi died of cancer in 1963, no obituary appeared in Romania. In April 1968, Ceaușescu relished the opportunity to denounce him (along with Gheorghiu-Dej and
Alexandru Drăghici) for Pătrășcanu's execution.
Family
After Chișinevschi's first wife died, he married
Liuba Chișinevschi (1911–1981), a party member from 1930 and an activist during its underground years (whose last name he took). In 1946, she helped her husband secure the job of food-procurement officer for the
Soviet army of occupation in Romania. From 1952 to 1954, she was on the Central Committee. In addition, she served as vice president of the Trade Union Confederation and of the
Great National Assembly, and as deputy chair of the party's control commission (1955–1960). His eldest son, Milea, emigrated to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, while two other sons, Andrei and Gheorghe,
left for Israel, where the latter died in the late 1980s. A fourth son, Iuri (b. 1945), still lived in Romania as of 2006.
[Final Report.]
References
Final Report of the Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania, p. 649
*
Cristina Arvatu,
Fără nici un sprijin din partea tovarășilor (Without Any Help from the Comrades)", in ''
Jurnalul Național'', October 4, 2005
*
Vladimir Tismăneanu''Gheorghiu-Dej and the Romanian Workers' Party: From De-Sovietization to the Emergence of National Communism'' (Working Paper No.37) Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) or Wilson Center is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topi ...
,
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, 2002 (PDF)
*
Vladimir Tismăneanu, ''Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism'',
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
,
Berkeley, 2003,
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chisinevschi, Iosif
1905 births
1963 deaths
People from Bălți
People from Beletsky Uyezd
Bessarabian Jews
Moldovan Jews
Jewish Romanian politicians
Romanian Communist Party politicians
Deputy prime ministers of Romania
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania)
Romanian Comintern people
Romanian expatriates in the Soviet Union
Romanian propagandists
Jewish socialists
International Lenin School alumni
Deaths from cancer in Romania
Collaborators with the Soviet Union