Nicolae Ceaușescu

Nicolae Ceaușescu (born January 26, 1918, in the village of Scorniceşti, Olt District) was a Romanian communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's last Communist leader. He was also the country's head of state from 1967 to 1989.

Early years
The son of a peasant, Ceauşescu became active in the revolutionary working-class movement in 1932. He joined the Union of Communist Youth (UCY) in 1933 and shortly thereafter became a member of its central committee. In 1936 he joined the Romanian Communist Party (RCP), that fought for peace and anti-fascism. He was persecuted for his revolutionary activities. In 1939 and 1940, Ceauşescu served as secretary of the Bucharest city committee of the UCY and was a member of the Central Commission on Work Among Youth of the Central Committee of the RCP. He was arrested in 1940 by Ion Antonescu's fascist military dictatorship and remained in prison until 1944. There, he shared cell with Gheorghe Gheorghi-Dej, that shortly after became the President of Romania after the Socialist Republic of Romania was etablished in 1947.

Carreer
Ceauşescu served as secretary of the Central Committee of the UCY in 1944 and 1945. In 1945, at the National Conference of the RCP, he was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee. In 1945 and 1946 he served as secretary of the party committee of the first city district of Bucharest, and from 1946 to 1948 he was secretary first of the Dobruja regional party committee and then of the Oltenit̡a regional party committee. Ceauşescu served as deputy minister of agriculture from 1948 to 1950 and as deputy minister of national defense from 1950 to 1954. He became a member of the Central Committee of the RCP in 1952.

Ceauşescu was elected a candidate member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP in 1954, and he became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP in 1955. He was elected first secretary of the Central Committee in March 1965 and general secretary of the Central Committee in July 1965. He served as a member of the Executive Committee and of the Permanent Presidium of the RCP from 1965 to 1974.

Ceauşescu became general secretary of the RCP in 1965, a member of the Political Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the RCP in 1974, and chairman of the State Council of the SRR (and then also de facto head of state) in December 1967. He became president of the SRR in March 1974. He became chairman of the National Council of the Democracy and Socialist Unity Front in 1968 (from 1968 to 1980 he was chairman of the Socialist Unity Front).

Ceauşescu was named a Hero of Socialist Labor of the Republic in 1964 and a Hero of the SRR in 1971 and was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1978. In 1983, he got the Order of St. Olav in Norway by King Olav.

Revolution
At December 16, 1989, a big uprising against his regime started in the streets of Bucharest. Many of them were members of the Romanian Communist Party that didn't support his regime. The Romanian Armed Forces joined the rebels that fought against Ceauşescu.

At December 21, Ceauşescu had his last speech. It was a usual speech that Ceauşescu held. Ceauşescu promised to give higher salaries to the people, but few really believed him.

At December 22, Nicolae and his wife Elena Ceauşescu had to flee Romania by helicopter. They failed and was arrested and later executed at December 25.

In the period from December 22-26, a council of military officers ruled the country. At December 26, they were replaced with Ion Illuescu, the leader of the revolution. Illuescu was a social democrat. He won Romania's first election in 1990, and sat untill 1996.

After Ceauşescu, capitalist rulers have followed similar policies to those of Ceauşescu, and because of this Romania is still one of the poorest countries in Europe.