International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

The Hungarian uprising of October 23, 1956 allowed the Romanian leadership to amply demonstrate its fidelity to the Soviet Union. Its repercussions were quickly felt in Romania. Convergence of interest with the Soviet Union and not just slavish obedience determined the stance adopted by the Romanian Communist Party leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and his colleagues. They had two main concerns: a successful revolt in Budapest against communist rule might spread to the 2–million strong Hungarian community in Transylvania, thus sparking an anti-communist rising in Romania; and a non-communist Hungary might lay claim to parts of Transylvania, which had been restored in its entirety to Romanian rule by Stalin in March 1945. On October 24 some 300 students from the Romanian Babeş and the Hungarian Bolyai universities in Cluj, spurred on by the events in Hungary, gathered at the Institute of Fine Arts to protest at the demanding timetable of classes, compulsory attendance at lectures, and criteria for awarding student bursaries. The leaders of the protest were arrested on the following day. Two students, Baláys Imre and Aristid Târnovan, were accused of the crime of public agitation and sentenced by a military tribunal to five years' imprisonment. In Timişoara a group of polytechnic students, Caius Muţiu, Teodor Stanca, Aurel Baghiu, and Ladislau Nagy, backed by Gheorghe Pop, a professor, ... log in or subscribe to read full text