| THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE JIU VALLEY MINERS’ STRIKES (6.08.07) |
| (2007-08-06) |
| Last updated: 2007-08-07 17:00 EET |
In 1974 Ceausescu decided that Romania had accomplished socialism stage and it was high time the country moved on to the consolidation of the communist society. That decision was as part of the Romanian Communist Party’s programme of implementation of the many-sided socialist society and Romania’s advancement towards communism”, a genuine chart of Ceausescu - style communism. Economically, Romania’s advancement towards communism meant a multifarious crisis, unprecedented in Romania’s history. The food crisis was approaching its peak at the time, generating social dissatisfaction across the country. The crisis culminated in the 80s, but we can say it all started in 1977, when the miners from the Jiu Valley went on strike against a series of legal changes that worked against them.
On August 1977, about 30-35,000 miners from Lupeni in Jiu Valley, were listening to one of the strike’s leaders, brigade head Constantin Dobre talking, alongside engineer Jurca. The miner’s protest gained momentum, fuelled by the fact that Ceausescu ignored the miners. The miner’s slogans were urging to follow the example of the 1956 anti-Communist revolution in neighbouring Hungary. The miners demanded a reduced, 6-hour working day, changing the retirement age for miners and pensions for temporary work inability. Ceausescu sent Ilie Verdet in the Jiu Valley, who was like a prime minister. Verdet was accompanied by a local delegation and they tried to make a speech in a bid to ease the tension. But Verdet was taken hostage, and the strikers demanded Ceausescu’s presence in person, who soon turned up on the scene.
Ceausescu promised he would try to comply with the miners’ claims and pledged no one would be hurt in the wake of the strike. But not only did he fail to keep his promise, but he also ordered repressions. The strikers were interrogated and beaten. Engineer Jurca died under mysterious circumstances after he was confined to home arrest and Constantin Dobre was evacuated from the Jiu Valley.
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2025-04-03
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