Opposing communism: The 1956 student movement in Timisoara

Snitar, Corina (2019) Opposing communism: The 1956 student movement in Timisoara. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

If there is a rich literature on the Polish and Hungarian uprisings in 1956, little attention has been paid to the consequences of these revolts in Romania generally and in the city of Timișoara particularly. The thesis aims to contribute to historical knowledge of what happened in Timișoara where a group of students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering succeeded in gathering around 2000 students in the city to a meeting on 30 October 1956. In front of the deputy Minister of Education, Coriolan Drăgulescu, the Minister of Labour, Petre Lupu, and the alternate member of the Central Committee, Ilie Verdeț, the students asked for explanations about what was happening in Hungary and demanded solutions to their own problems related to the limited number of scholarships, lack of places in cheap student accommodation and the poor quality of food in the student canteens. They also called for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Romanian territory, an increase in workers' wages and an adjustment to the quotas of agricultural products that peasants were required to deliver to the state. Their claims were written in a Manifesto prepared beforehand by the initiators. That same evening, the organisers and those who had spoken at the meeting were arrested and the rest of the participants were taken in for interrogation. Finally, the organisers were imprisoned for three years and after that, in forced labour camps for up to five years.

Based on archival research and oral history, my research investigates the motivation behind the students' decision to protest. The thesis shows how the Hungarian revolt was a catalyst in an already tense social situation in a country where everyday life was marked by generalised poverty. It shows how the fate of the students was caught up in the political goals of the Romanian leadership. It presents details about the trajectory of the events from the moment when the initiators decided to organise the meeting until after their arrest, and it analyses the reaction of the Romanian Communists to the students' initiative, that ranged from initial uncertainty to determination to crush any form of opposition and keep the situation under control. Finally, it examines the methods of repression through interrogation and detention, followed by the professional and social exclusion of the protesters, and traces their impact on the students' lives.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Due to copyright issues the full text of the electronic version of this thesis is unavailable for viewing. Access to the print version is available. Funding for this research has been made available by the University of Glasgow, Centre for Research in Central and East European Studies and BASEES.
• Keywords: opposition, dissent, communism.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Central and East European Studies
• Supervisor's Name: Swain, Professor Geoffrey and Cox, Professor Terence
• Date of Award: 2019
• Depositing User: Ms CORINA SNITAR
• Unique ID: glathesis:2019-74400
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 11 Sep 2019 10:21
• Last Modified: 17 Sep 2021 07:27
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.74400
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/74400