On this day 36 years ago: the Romanian Revolution
In December 1989 Romania went through a revolution that led to the fall of the communist regime
Mihai Pelin, 22.12.2025, 14:00
In 1989, the communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe, based on terror, deceit and propaganda, started to collapse one after another. The domino effect that caused the Eastern regimes to disappear in less than 11 months, was triggered by reforms proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union.
Communist Romania was not at all eager to listen to the new advice from Moscow, at a time when it was going through one of the most difficult periods in history: a serious economic crisis compounded by repressive terror. Romanians were struggling with hunger and cold. Bread was rationed, as were milk, oil and meat.
The first sparks of an uprising occurred during the Brașov workers’ riots of 1987, but the movement was quickly stifled by the repressive arm of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR). The dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu planned to stay in power, despite his age and the major changes taking place in the Eastern Bloc. His main goal was to stop the spread of potential reformist movements by all means possible.
During preparations for Ceaușescu’s visit to Iran, the political police, officially called the State Security Department and known as the “Securitate” ordered the arrest of the Hungarian ethnic Protestant pastor László Tőkés on December 16, for sermons he had delivered against the regime. This was one of the key moments of the Revolution. The residents of Timișoara were the first to rise against this decision, and it was there, in western Romania, that the first protests against the communist regime broke out, to later spread to all the cities of the country, including Bucharest.
After returning from Tehran, Nicolae Ceaușescu organised a large public gathering at the Communist Party’s headquarters. But things spiralled out of control, and the anti-communist Revolution culminated, on December 22, with the flight from power of the dictators Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu.
Three days later, a summary trial was held by a military court. This remains a particularly controversial event to this day, as the 1989 Revolution has been widely discussed by historians, journalists and political scientists. Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were sentenced to death by the authorities, and executed in Târgoviște on December 25. This was to be the last execution in Romania’s recent history.
Over 1,000 people died and several thousand were wounded in the clashes that took place in the only country in Eastern Europe where the regime change was violent. Many historians believe that, although it started out as a grassroots anti-communist movement, the uprising was quickly hijacked by members of the old Romanian Communist Party, who quickly grabbed power. After these tragic events, Romania began a lengthy transition to a democratic system and a free market economy, dubbed “the post-December period.” (AMP)
