BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GHEORGHIU-DEJ

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R013900330005-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 28, 2006
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: October 17, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

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FOiN NQ. 51-4"
FEB 1952
CLASSIFICATION SECRET/CONTROL - U. S. OFFICIALS ONLY
SECURITY INFORMATION
INFORMATION REPORT REPORT
CD NO.
COUNTRY Rumania
SUBJECT
Biographical Sketch of Gheorghiu-Dej
DATE DISTR. 17 October 1952
NO; OF PAGES 6
C P I P V. NO. OF ENC LS,
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFEN5O
OF THE UNITED, STATES, WITHIN THE MEANING OF TITLE 18, SECTIONS 793
AND 794, Of THE U.S. CODE, AS AMENDED- ITS TRANSMISSION OR REVE-
LATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT BY.AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON 15
PROHIBITED BY LAW, THE REPRODUCTION OF., THIS FORM 1.5j!ROH[BITEO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
This report is a biographical sketch of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, his
origin, early life, political career, relations with Moscow, personal
life, and some comments on other leading figures in the Rumanian
Communist Party,
1. The struggle for power between Ana Pauker and Gheorghiu-Dej and their
respective cliques had been going on for a long time. Each accused the
other of corruption, deviation from the line of the Moscow Politburo
and the Cominform, encouragement of Rumanian elements hostile to the
Soviet Union, and so forth R The Kremlin knew well the cleverneos and
intellectual capacity of Ana Pauker and her'services in furthering
Communism in Rumania, but it also did not overlook the facts that
Gheorghiu-DeJ was the unquestioned leader of the Rumanian Workers'
Party, possessed its confidence, and that hd had much greater experience
and familiarity with the practical field of Communist agitation in
Rumania and was as capable of carrying it on with success. In addition,
it was known. in Moscow that Ana Pauker was unpopular in Rumania# in fast
she was hated by the working class. Her Jewish origin played a part not
to be underrated in this respect.
2, After much backing and filing, the kremlin was apparently convinced
that the retention of Ana Fauker could only be forced upon the Rumanian
Communist Party by Moscow's support, An open warning followed in the
dismissal of Vasil.e Luca from the post of Finance Minister, Luca be?
longed to the Pauker clique, He was accused of everything with which a
boas of the regime could be charged.. Any observer could now predict
that further attacks against the Pauker circle would follow, The method
was the well known old one; a new make-up of the Rumanian Politburo was
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4.
5.
announced, in which Ana Pr:uker's name was omitted. After a few more days
came the main attack: the appointment of Gheorghiu-Dej as Prime Minister.
Petru Groza, who had only served until now to smother and conceal the
struggle between Pauker and Gheorghiu6De,j, was finally shoved aside and
as payment for his 3ubmis>iereness he received the unimportant post of
president of the National Assembly.
Gheorghiu-Dej was born on B November 19011 at Barlad, Moldavia, of a
working class farmily. His father, Tanase Gheorghiu, worked in the local
small industries. The extreme poverty of his parents' home strongly
influenced the development of young Gheorghiu's character and his later
attitude to the labor problem. He had to go to work at the age of U.
At 15 he was an 6lectrici?an apprentice with the Steaua-Romana at
Moinesti, Moldavia. His training as an electrician was completed in the
oil industry at Campina.
In 1917 Gheorghiu was a wi.~tness to the rebellion of the Russian soldiers
on the Moldavian front. The soldier committees which were established
impressed him strongly. His revolutionary opinions were reinforced by
the frequent strikes at that time among the workers in the oil industry.
He took an active part therein and distinguished himself as an organizer
of groups to fight the strike=breakers.
In 1921 he was in Galati, working in the street railway shops. Organi-
zation of the Communist Party in Rumania began in this year. In 1923
he was called to military service. He served with the 3 Pioneer Regiment
at Focsani. Here he became: a top-name "Bolshevist." He was imprisoned
several times as punishment for revolutionary activities during his
period of servi.ce.
6. After completing his term of military service Gheorghiu worked for the
Galati Street Railway Comp ?.y. The Rumanian labor unions at that time
were led b,,~ sensible elements, who- tried to keep the workers out of the
"c"lass ware" Gheorghi.u, however, proposed leading the workers to better
pay by the revolutionary road. For this he was summarily dismissed.
Shortly thereafter he found. employment, with the large Gotz & Company saw
works in Galati, and "later he worked again in the street railway shops.
The Fourth Congress of the Rumanian Labor Party, in 1928, proposed to ef-
fect a unicxa with the Bolshevists, but this was not accomplished because
the later congress of the labor union at Timisoara in 1929 voted to
exclude the Communist syndicate. This left the latter no alternative
but to proceed illegally. The more radical workers in the railway shops
organized an extensive underground activity. Gheorghiu was a member of
the syndical committee, In. this capacity he came into closer association
with the Communist party organization and became a Party member. His
task was to organize a party cell in the railway workshops. Later, the
larger responsibility of local organizer of the party was transferred to
him. In 1931 he was sent to Bucharest as a delegate to the national
conference of the so-called. "Dead. Opposition.".
8. In August 1931 Gheorghiu wa.s transferred from the workshops at Galati to
those at Dej as disciplinary punishment for his agitation activities.
This is how he acquired his name-suffix "Dej." At Dej he immediately
organized a local section of the Red AMR (Workers' Aid Organization of the
Labor Union). At the general meeting of the railway workers of Dej, he
offered a manifesto for a program that accorded with the Communist Party
line. Its main point was a. stimulation of strike activity as a means of
forwarding the workers' rebellion.
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In 1932, at a meeting of Communist orkers in the industrial centers,
Gheorghiu-Dej was made eee:retary of the Organization Committee. In the
summer of 1932 a syndi..cal.confer-ence was held at Galati under his
leadership, at which Communist infiltration of the labor unions was
resolved upon. About this time an open letter of Gheorghiu-Dej's was
published in the bulletin of the "Action Committee ?for Peace." It was
an analysis of the supposed. war preparations of the Western Powers
against the Soviet, Union.
10. Following the party conference. of 1932 Gheorghiu-Dej was secretary of
the Central Corms ittee and -e member of the General Council of the Communist
syndicate. Both regional ct,ion committees, at Cluj and Galati, were
under, his personal control. He organized a mass demonstration in the
railroad workshop at. Dej, immediately following which the shops were
closed arid most of the workers dismissed or transferred to shops in. other
parts of the country. theorghiu-Dej was arrested and held, first at
Iasi and then at Bucharest,. Released from arrest in the autumn of
1932, he went as a delegate', of the Communist syndicate to the International
Labor Conference in Berii_n.
11. Then came the first great. mass demonstrations in. the railroad shops at
Grivita and Bucharest, Gheorghiu.`De j organized. The goal was
recognition of the shop labor -committees and a 20 percent raise in pay.
When these demands were not realized., there followed strikes and the
occupation of the shops by the workers. The government tried to arrange
a _compr?omi.se, but .found, i t m .lf compelled to declare a state of emergency.
an 14 February 1933 two days after the strike had been put down by the
army, Gheorghiu-?Dej was arrested. He and some hundred strikers were
brought before a military court. During the trial Gheorghiu-De j de-
clared that, these strikes were organized and led by the Communist Party.
He was sentenced to 12 years' hard l..abor.
12. He was in the prisons of Vw caresti,, Craiova, Ocnele-Mari and Alud. In
1937 he was at the Doft,ana prison, where he met other well known
Communists like Vasil.e:' L :r Alexandra Moghioros and Chivu Stoica. In
1938. he was recognized as :a: Ipoliti al prisoner", which meant that he
could receive visitors and b,,)oks, and could work in the prison shops.
The Doftana, prison was destroyed by an earthquake on the night of 9-10
November 1940, and the prl'.E-oners were transferred to Caransebes. Here
Gheor.?ghiu?=-Dej met. An.a P.auker.
13. Gheorghiu-De j, with othe~? Corn}:unists, was employed in the Targu-Jiu labor
camp in September. 1943. He, was in the camp hospital in the spring of
1944 and there met, Emil Bc i aras, who later became Defense Minister, but
at that time had been engaged in organizing Communist Party armed fighting
groups.
14. In mid-August 1944, after 11 years' imprisonment, Gheorghiu-Dej escaped
from the labor camp. After the Rumanian collapse of 23 August 1944, he
began to stir 'p the people against the newly established democratic
government.
15. From 4 November 1944 Gheorghiu-Dej held the post of Minister of Commtni-
cations in the new ;o+rernm nt. His appointment was arranged by the Soviet
Government, on the ground that, it was necessary to the security of their
troops in Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria. The last government in Rumania,
retaining some trace of autonomy, that of General Radescu, was over-
thrown by the Cowmuilats on 6 March 1945.
The National Conference of the Runia.nian Communist Party took place in
October 1945. Here Gheorgliiu-Dej was named General Secretary of the
Party and President of the Government. Economic Council. During his first
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visit to Moscow, in January 194.5, he had consolidated his personal
political position with the Soviet powers and was commissioned by them
to do everything he could to accelerate Rumanian economic concessions to
the Soviet Union. When Gheorghe Tatarescu, theoliberal dissident, pro-
posed a smaller council for carrying out the economic plan, the Communists
seized the opportunity to make Gheor. ghiu-De j the instrument for the
economic sovietization of `,bue countryr.
17. In his capacity as Mi_nistezr of CcLmraaani ations Gheorghiu-Dej was won over
by the big industrialist Nicolas Malaxa to his railroad building program,
which for Malaxa was coupled with large croarsmissions. For this he was
laden with gifts by Malaxa,, including considerable sums of money and a
beautiful villa in Buchar east.. A month after his appointment as Communi-
cations Minister he gave the Malaxa works orders to the amount of two milli-
ards of lei. A a result of this deal substantial sums came into the
treasury of the Con :nunist .Ceret:r?al Committee. Shortly thereafter
Gheorghiu-Dej became Minister of Public Works, and in December 1945,
Minister of Economy in the new government of Petro Groza. Gheorghiu-
Dej's economic line from the beginning was that prescribed in advance
by the Kremlin-. a l~ ara ems-,rat of the country through industrialization.
This was s:_khowri in his 1owspaper blieh `.t, wh Dej
was, born in 1901 or 190, h ~r3,' r f year, w. t~h no m .;; A,A
indicated, is uis-!uaally ,! VCfl in G i. " d . _s., t a~3xP31:d *:1 ^ tr ? 32.x: 0
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