- Ştefan Voitec
Ştefan Voitec (1900—
December 5 ,1984 ) was aRomania n socialist and communist journalist, politician, and statesman ofCommunist Romania .Biography
Born in
Corabia , Voitec and was active in theSocialist Party of Romania , the Social Democratic Party (PSDR), and, after 1928, inConstantin Popovici 's "Unitary Socialist Party". [Tismăneanu, p.59-60] Trained as a schoolteacher, he also worked on PSDR newspapers, before retiring from political life duringWorld War II andIon Antonescu 's dictatorship ("seeRomania during World War II ").An advocate of between the PSDR and the
Romanian Communist Party (PCR), he was Minister of Education - appointed with communist backing inConstantin Sănătescu 's post-war government, and remaining in office through subsequent cabinets until the official disestablishment of theKingdom of Romania . His mandates were marked by an officially-endorsed Stalinist campaign in education, as well as by measures taken to remove and replace non-communist teachers and professors. In 1946-1947, he was a member of theGheorghe Tătărescu -led Romanian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, and, in fact, one of the signatories of the Peace Treaty with Romania.Together with
Lothar Rădăceanu , he led the wing of the PSDR that called for an alignment with PCR policies, causing the split withConstantin Titel Petrescu 's "Independent Socialist Party" in March 1946; the main PSDR was absorbed by the PCR in November 1947. [Frank; Tismăneanu, p.93-94]Together with
Constantin Ion Parhon ,Mihail Sadoveanu ,Gheorghe Stere , andIon Niculi , Voitec was a member of thePeople's Republic Presidium - created by Law No. 363 after the forced abdication of King Michael I onDecember 30 ,1947 . He served as Deputy Prime Minister inPetru Groza 's second cabinet, but was sidelined after falling out of favor with the Soviet leaderJoseph Stalin .Returning to prominence after 1953, he occupied important positions under
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej andNicolae Ceauşescu : again Deputy Prime Minister between 1956 and 1961 (in the cabinets ofChivu Stoica andIon Gheorghe Maurer ). Voitec was then Chairman of theGreat National Assembly (head of state) fromMarch 20 ,1961 to March, 1974, and one of its three acting Chairmen fromMarch 19 toMarch 24 ,1965 . In the latter capacity, he signed the decree that declared Romania to be a Socialist Republic.In 1980, Voitec was elected a full member of the
Romanian Academy . He died inBucharest while in office as one of the twelve Vice-Presidents of Romania.Notes
References
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03E0D61438F936A35751C1A962948260 Obituary] in "
The New York Times "
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/cochran/1946/11/eeurope.htm E.R. Frank, "The Kremlin in Eastern Europe (November 1946)"] atMarxists.org
*Vladimir Tismăneanu , "Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism",University of California Press , Berkeley, 2003 ISBN 0-520-23747-1External links
*ro icon [http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.romanian/tree/browse_frm/month/1994-12/c99d2de92ed54ce6?rnum=131&_done=%2Fgroup%2Fsoc.culture.romanian%2Fbrowse_frm%2Fmonth%2F1994-12%3F Stenograph of a Groza government meeting on September 23, 1946, calling for repressive measures against anti-communists]
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