Editing Nicolae Ceaușescu (section)

==Early life==
[[File:008.Portret Nicolae Ceausescu. (1936).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Arrested in 1936 when he was 18 years old, Ceaușescu was imprisoned for two years at [[Doftana Prison]] for Communist activities.]]
Ceaușescu was born in the small village of [[Scornicești]], [[Olt County]], being the third of nine children of a poor peasant family (see [[Ceaușescu family]]). Based on his birth certificate, he was born on {{OldStyleDate|23 January|1918|5 February}},<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gandul.ro/stiri/unul-dintre-cele-mai-bine-pazite-secrete-inainte-de-1989-data-reala-a-nasterii-lui-nicolae-ceausescu-foto-13786598|title=Unul dintre cele mai bine păzite secrete înainte de 1989: data reală a nașterii lui Nicolae Ceaușescu. Foto|date=27 January 2015|access-date=14 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://jurnalul.ro/special-jurnalul/ceausescu-intre-legenda-si-adevar-data-nasterii-si-alegerea-numelui-de-botez-576781.html |title=Ceaușescu, între legendă și adevăr: data nașterii și alegerea numelui de botez |work=[[Jurnalul Național]] |access-date=8 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141049/http://jurnalul.ro/special-jurnalul/ceausescu-intre-legenda-si-adevar-data-nasterii-si-alegerea-numelui-de-botez-576781.html |archive-date=12 June 2018  }}</ref> rather than the official {{OldStyleDate|26 January|1918|8 February|}}—his birth was registered with a three-day delay, which later led to confusion. According to the information recorded in his autobiography, Nicolae Ceaușescu was born on 26 January 1918.<ref name=":2">{{cite web | url=  https://infocultural.eu/cataloagele-scolare-si-autobiografia-lui-nicolae-ceausescu-facute-publice-de-arhivele-nationale | title=  Cataloagele școlare și autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceaușescu, făcute publice de Arhivele Naționale | publisher=Info Cultural| language=Romanian |trans-title=  Nicolae Ceaușescu's school catalogs and autobiography, made public by the National Archives  | date=26 January 2022| access-date=6 March 2022}}</ref> His father Andruță (1886–1969) owned {{convert|3|ha}} of agricultural land and a few sheep, and Nicolae supplemented his large family's income through tailoring.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Gruia|first=Cătălin|title=The Man They Killed on Christmas Day|publisher=Createspace Independent Pub|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4922-8259-4|location=United Kingdom|page=42}}</ref> He studied at the village school until the age of 11, when he left for [[Bucharest]]. The Olt County Service of National Archives holds excerpts from the catalogs of Scornicești Primary School, which certifies that Nicolae A. Ceaușescu passed the first grade with an average of 8.26 and the second grade with an average of 8.18, ranking third, in a class in which 25 students were enrolled.<ref name=":2" /> Journalist Cătălin Gruia claimed in 2007 that he ran away from his supposedly extremely religious, abusive and strict father. He initially lived with his sister, Niculina Rusescu.
[[File:001.Nicolae Ceausescu la varsta de 15 ani in 1933.jpg|left|thumb|267x267px|Ceaușescu, at age 15, detained in [[Doftana (Prahova)|Doftana]], 1933]]

He became an [[apprentice]] [[shoemaker]],<ref name=":0" /> working in the workshop of Alexandru Săndulescu, a shoemaker who was an active member in the then-illegal Communist Party.<ref name=":0" /> Ceaușescu was soon involved in the Communist Party activities (becoming a member in early 1932), but as a teenager he was given only small tasks.<ref name=":0" /> He was first arrested in 1933, at the age of 15, for street fighting during a strike and again, in 1934, first for collecting signatures on a petition protesting against the trial of railway workers and twice more for other similar activities. By the mid-1930s, he had been in missions in Bucharest, [[Craiova]], [[Câmpulung]] and [[Râmnicu Vâlcea]], being arrested several times.<ref name="Gruia43">Gruia, p. 43</ref>

The profile file from the secret police, [[Siguranța Statului]], named him "a dangerous Communist agitator" and "distributor of Communist and antifascist propaganda materials".<ref name="Gruia43"/> For these charges, he was convicted on 6 June 1936 by the Brașov Tribunal to 2 years in prison, an additional 6 months for [[contempt of court]], and one year of forced residence in Scornicești.<ref name="Gruia43"/> He spent most of his sentence in [[Doftana Prison]].<ref name="Gruia43"/> While out of jail in 1939, he met [[Elena Ceaușescu|Elena Petrescu]], whom he married in 1946 and who would play an increasing role in his political life over the years.

[[File:1944soviet1.png|thumb|Ceaușescu and other Communists at a public meeting in [[Colentina, Bucharest|Colentina]], welcoming the Red Army as it entered Bucharest on 30 August 1944|left]]
Soon after being freed, he was arrested again and sentenced for "conspiracy against social order", spending the time during the war in prisons and [[Internment|internment camp]]s: [[Jilava Prison|Jilava]] (1940), [[Caransebeș]] (1942), [[Văcărești, Bucharest|Văcărești]] (1943), and Târgu Jiu (1943).<ref name="Gruia43" />

In 1943, he was transferred to [[Târgu Jiu]] [[Internment|internment camp]], where he shared a cell with [[Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej]], becoming his [[Protege|protégé]].

Enticed with substantial bribes, the camp authorities gave the Communist prisoners much freedom in running their cell block, provided they did not attempt to break out of prison.<ref>Behr, Edward ''Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite'', New York: Villard Books, 1991 pp. 180–181.</ref> At Târgu Jiu, Gheorghiu-Dej ran "[[Self-criticism (Marxism–Leninism)|self-criticism]] sessions" where various Party members had to confess before the other Party members to misunderstanding the teachings of [[Karl Marx]], [[Friedrich Engels]], [[Vladimir Lenin]], and [[Joseph Stalin]] as interpreted by Gheorghiu-Dej; journalist [[Edward Behr (journalist)|Edward Behr]] claimed that Ceaușescu's role in these "self-criticism sessions" was that of the enforcer, the young man allegedly beating those Party members who refused to go with or were insufficiently enthusiastic about the "self-criticism" sessions.<ref name="Behr, Edward pages 181-186">Behr, Edward ''Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite'', New York: Villard Books, 1991 pp. 181–186.</ref> These "self-criticism sessions" not only helped to cement Gheorghiu-Dej's control over the Party, but also endeared his protégé Ceaușescu to him.<ref name="Behr, Edward pages 181-186" /> It was Ceaușescu's time at Târgu Jiu that marked the beginning of his rise to power. After [[World War II]], when Romania was beginning to fall under [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] influence, Ceaușescu served as secretary of the [[Union of Communist Youth]] (1944–1945).<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 July 2017 |title=Pagina de istorie: Ascensiunea şi decăderea unui dictator |url=https://www.rfi.ro/politica-96599-pagina-de-istorie-nicolae-ceausescu-ascensiunea-decaderea-dictator |access-date=4 July 2023 |website=RFI România: Actualitate, informaţii, ştiri în direct |language=ro |archive-date=4 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230704220035/https://www.rfi.ro/politica-96599-pagina-de-istorie-nicolae-ceausescu-ascensiunea-decaderea-dictator |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:Ceausescu-Comisar-1954.jpg|left|thumb|Ceaușescu giving a speech in 1954]]
After the Communists seized power in Romania in 1947, and under the patronage of Gheorghiu-Dej, Ceaușescu was elected a member of the [[Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of Romania)|Great National Assembly]], the new legislative body of communist Romania.

In May 1948, Ceaușescu was appointed Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, and in March 1949 he was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister.<ref>{{Cite web |title=10 lucruri de ştiut despre... Nicolae Ceauşescu |url=https://historia.ro/sectiune/portret/10-lucruri-de-stiut-despre-nicolae-ceausescu-579544.html |access-date=4 July 2023 |website=historia.ro |language=ro}}</ref> From the Ministry of Agriculture and with no military experience, he was made Deputy Minister in charge of the armed forces, holding the rank of Major General. Later, promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, he became First Deputy to the defence ministry and head of the Army's Higher Political Directorate.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Catalan |first=Alexandru |date=25 October 2020 |title=Cum a devenit Nicolae Ceaușescu general-maior al Armatei Române |url=https://www.impact.ro/cum-a-devenit-nicolae-ceausescu-general-maior-al-armatei-romane-100085.html |access-date=4 July 2023 |website=IMPACT.ro |language=ro}}</ref> Ceaușescu studied at the Soviet [[Frunze Military Academy]] in Moscow for two consecutive months in both 1951 and 1952.<ref name=":3" />

In 1952, Gheorghiu-Dej brought him onto the [[Central Committee]] months after the party's "Muscovite faction" led by [[Ana Pauker]] had been purged. In the late 1940s-early 1950s, the Party had been divided into the "home communists" headed by Gheorghiu-Dej who remained inside Romania prior to 1944 and the "Muscovites" who had gone into exile in the Soviet Union. With the partial exception of Poland, where the [[Polish October]] crisis of 1956 brought to power the previously imprisoned "home communist" [[Władysław Gomułka]], Romania was the only Eastern European nation where the "home communists" triumphed over the "Muscovites". In the rest of the Soviet bloc, there were a series of purges in this period that led to the "home communists" being executed or imprisoned. Like his patron Gheorghiu-Dej, Ceaușescu was a "home communist" who benefited from the fall of the "Muscovites" in 1952. In 1954, Ceaușescu became a full member of the Politburo, effectively granting him one of the highest positions of power in the country.

=== Role in the collectivisation process ===
A high-ranking official in the agricultural and defence ministries, Ceaușescu had an important role in the forced collectivisation, according to own [[Romanian Communist Party#Romanian Workers' Party (1948–1965)|Romanian Workers' Party]] data, between 1949 and 1952 there were over 80,000 arrests of peasants and 30,000 ended with prison sentences.<ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |date=29 May 2009 |title=Muzeul Sighet: Sala 18 - Colectivizarea. Rezistenţă şi represiune |url=https://www.memorialsighet.ro/sala-18-colectivizarea-rezistenta-si-represiune/ |access-date=4 July 2023 |website=Memorialul Victimelor Comunismului şi al Rezistenţei |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=15 December 2007 |title=ZIUA |url=http://www.ziua.net/display.php?data=2007-12-14&id=230718 |access-date=4 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215131405/http://www.ziua.net/display.php?data=2007-12-14&id=230718 |archive-date=15 December 2007 }}</ref> One example is the uprising of [[Vadu Roșca]] (Vrancea county) which opposed the state programme of expropriation of private holdings, when military units opened fire on the rebelling peasants, killing 9 and wounding 48. Ceaușescu personally led the investigation which resulted in 18 peasants being imprisoned for "rebellion" and "conspiring against social order".<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 September 2010 |title=Eroi printre noi / Niţu Stan, căpetenia anticomuniştilor din Vadu Roşca |url=https://adevarul.ro/stiri-locale/focsani/eroi-printre-noi-nitu-stan-capetenia-1183739.html |access-date=4 July 2023 |website=adevarul.ro |language=ro}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Martirii din Vadu Rosca |url=https://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-arhiva-1217021-martirii-din-vadu-rosca.htm |access-date=4 July 2023 |website=www.hotnews.ro |date=4 August 2005 |language=ro}}</ref><ref name=":4" />