Segregating the ‘Proletariat’ from the Communist Elites

Segregating the ‘Proletariat’ from the Communist Elites
Bucharest citizens wave Romanian flags as they stage an anti-communist demonstration at the Republic Square on Dec. 21, 1989, shortly before the fall of the communist regime. Photo credit should read AFP/Getty Images
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An American politician visiting Romania in the late 1970s wondered why there were few farmhouses on the green agricultural land, unlike in rural America.
The uncomfortable-looking translator did not answer his question for fear of retribution; if she told the visitor that the farmers had been forcibly removed from their lands and moved into villages with crowded homes, or into high-rise cinder block apartments in the city, she would have been severely reprimanded.