\n
\n<\/p>\n
In Bessarabia,
\nthe historical region that was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1944, the
\nopposition to the Soviet regime had its own national traits. Oppressed, both
\nideologically and nationally, the Romanians living in Bessarabia developed
\ntheir own forms of culture, aimed at resisting ideologization and denationalization
\nthrough cultural opposition. Though apparently abiding by the official rules,
\npeople of culture developed their own subversive means of escaping the
\npolitical and ideological canons. The cultural opposition in the Moldavian
\nSoviet Socialist Republic was dominated by writers. They were those who set the
\ntone for the rebellion against the regime’s cultural confinement. And the venue
\nfor expressing cultural divergences was the institutionalized framework of the
\nWriters’ Union, starting mid 1950s, after Stalin’s death. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Andrei Cusco is
\na professor with the History Faculty of the Moldova State University in Chisinau.
\nHe told us that the period after Stalin’s death fostered lots of tensions among
\nthe writers in Bessarabia:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It’s
\nabout the period right after the Khrushchev Thaw. Starting with this period, we
\ncan talk about some relative autonomy, both at institutional and personal
\nlevel, granted to some representatives of the intellectual circles in the
\nMoldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. They appeared along with a change in the
\nregime’s dynamics, as the open and rather tough forms of repression that used
\nto characterize the Stalinist period turned into less defined such forms. We
\nare talking about a continuum of pressure and collaboration, or, better said,
\nabout resistance and opposition.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Writers’
\nUnion had been reformed after 1945, replacing everything that Romanian culture
\nused to stand for. The friction following Stalin’s death concentrated around
\ntwo poles of power, as Andrei Cusco told us:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In
\nthe second half of the 1940s, the power relations within the Writers’ Union had
\na strong political connotation, based primarily on geography. Therefore, we are
\ntalking about the opposition between the so called Trans-Dniester faction, of
\nthe writers from the former autonomous Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic on
\nthe left bank of the River Dniester, and the so-called Bessarabians. This
\ngeographic opposition was doubled by a political one, which opposed the
\ncommunist, party-member writers to those with no affiliation to the Communist
\nParty.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The clashing
\ngroups of writers had clearly different formative traditions and equally clear
\npolitical options. According to Andrei Cusco, the alliance between two
\ngenerations of pro-Romania writers led to the formation of cultural opposition:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nWriters’ Union in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was dominated by two
\ngenerations who were fighting for dominance and preeminence, and that went on
\nalso throughout the 1970s. There is a very interesting inter-generational
\ndynamics here. It’s the generation of the 1960s, made up of a group of younger,
\nrising artists, born in the late 1920s and early 1930s, formed in the Soviet
\ninstitutions. They were, apparently, the people of the regime. That’s a
\ndifference that would count. Although both groups would frequently fight over
\nliterary styles or how to define socialist realism, they allied against the
\ngroup of Trans-Dniester writers who initially had a dominant position within
\nthe Union, as they were close to the political and party power. In a way, this
\nsecond generation of the 1960s was somehow trained by the previous generation,
\nof the Thaw, who benefited from the symbolic capital associated with Romanian
\nculture. Those writers of the 1960s assimilated the Soviet slogans in a
\nsuperficial manner, but at the same time managed to develop a sort of critical
\nthinking.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The cultural
\nopposition in Bessarabia was formed in mid 1960s following a decisive moment. Here
\nis Andrei Cusco once more:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nturning point was the 3rd Congress of the Moldovan Writers, which
\nwas held in 1965. It marked a clear development and a shift in the power
\ndynamics within the Writers’ Union. That congress, which occurred in the early
\ntimes of Brezhnev’s rule, is usually seen as a climax of the anti-regime
\nopposition, staged by the local intellectuals. It somehow marked an establishment
\nof the 1960s generation. Those people were the first to write their works in
\nthe standard Romanian language. As of 1957, the so-called Moldovan language
\nbecame standard Romanian, but written in the Cyrillic alphabet, and that was
\nthe last linguistic reform in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The
\nliterary quality of those works was clearly higher than that of most of their
\npredecessors’ and they were in line with the liberal tendencies that had become
\nvisible all across the Soviet Union. I would mention here some of the
\nrepresentatives of this generation: Grigore Vieru, Ion Druta, Aureliu Busuioc
\nand Pavel Botu. The 3rd Congress of the Writers’ Union was the first
\nclear manifestation of a nationally-aware agenda and the first such event to be
\nheld in the Romanian language after WWII in Bessarabia.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The cultural
\nopposition in Bessarabia was a silent, though tenacious battle to defend the
\nnational spirit. It eventually won, but its legacy still needs time to be
\nproperly integrated. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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