Chivu Stoica

Template:Short description Template:Infobox officeholder Chivu Stoica (the family name being Chivu;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="portalul">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:OldStyleDateNY 1918 – 18 February 1975) was a leading Romanian Communist politician, who served as President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) of the Socialist Republic of Romania.

Early life

Stoica was born in Smeeni, Buzău County, the sixth child of a ploughman.<ref name="Chiciuc">Template:In lang Paula Mihailov Chiciuc, "Din înaltul ordin al partidului" Template:Webarchive, Jurnalul Național, July 18, 2006</ref> At age 12, after 5 years of elementary school, he left home, and started working as an apprentice at Căile Ferate Române, the state railway corporation. In 1921, he moved to Bucharest, where he worked as a boilermaker at the Vulcan, Lemaître, and Malaxa companies.<ref name="Chiciuc"/> He joined the National Peasants' Party (PNȚ), serving as secretary for the Blue Sector of Bucharest until 1929.<ref name="Erou"/> At the Malaxa works, he met Gheorghe Vasilichi, who recruited him into the Communist Party (PCR)<ref name="Chiciuc"/> in 1931.<ref name="Erou"/>

Career

File:IICCR DA023 Craiova prison Dej Stoica Vasilichi Doncea Petrescu Rozemberg.jpg

Defendants of the Grivița strike of 1933 trials in the Craiova Prison yard. Top row, from the left: Gheorghe Vasilichi, Dumitru Petrescu, Constantin Doncea, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. Stoica is on the bottom row, to the right

In spring 1931, Stoica started working for the Grivița Railway Yards, where he met Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Vasile Luca, and Constantin Doncea; together, they started organizing a strike.<ref name="Chiciuc"/> On 20 August 1934, he was sentenced to 15 years of prison for his role in the Grivița Strike of 1933.<ref>Template:In lang Stelian Tănase, Dej – omul resentimentului Template:Webarchive, from Magazin Istoric</ref> He spent time at the Aiud, Doftana, Târgu Ocna, Văcărești, and Caransebeș prisons.<ref name="Erou"/><ref name="Iancu"/> In 1935–1936 he was at Ocnele Mari Prison, together with Gheorghiu-Dej.<ref name="Oane">Template:Citation</ref> In 1940, his sentence was reduced to 9 years of hard labor. Later, the War Council of the 1st Army Corps pardoned him, but he was interned in the Târgu Jiu camp.<ref name="Iancu">Template:Cite news</ref> At the internment camp, he was close to Gheorghiu-Dej, who may have wanted Stoica to be his successor as General Secretary.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B0118-0010-073, Berlin, VI. SED-Parteitag, 4.Tag.jpg

Stoica giving a speech in Berlin, 18 January 1963

He was a member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers' Party from 1945 to 1975, and a member of the Politburo. He was Prime Minister of Romania between 1955 and 1961 and President of the State Council of Romania (de facto head of state) from 1965 until 1967.

Stoica was awarded the Order of the Crown of Romania in the rank of Grand Officer (1947), the Order of the Star of the Romanian People's Republic, 1st class (1948, 1958), the Template:Ill, 1st class (1959), the title of Hero of Socialist Labour and the Hammer and Sickle Gold Medal (1958), the Template:Ill, 1st class (1959), the Template:Ill, 1st class (1966), and the title of Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania (1973).<ref name="Iasi">Template:Cite news</ref>

Death

He died aged 66 at his residence in the exclusive Primăverii neighborhood of Bucharest.<ref name="Iancu"/> His death, by a Holland & Holland hunting rifle bullet to the head, was ruled a suicide.<ref name="Betea-1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Betea-2"/><ref name="Iancu"/>

Family

Stoica had three wives. With the first one he had a daughter, Cornelia.<ref name="Erou"/><ref name="VT2015">Template:Cite news</ref> His second wife was Ecaterina Micu-Chivu (née Klein), a communist activist who worked after 1947 for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Romanian–Soviet Institute, and the Red Cross, and was a professor at Politehnica University until 1955. The couple had a daughter, Ana; they also adopted a son, but later revoked the adoption.<ref name="Erou">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="portalul"/><ref name="VT2015"/> His third wife was Maria Chivu (née Manolescu), an engineer and a party and union activist.<ref name="Erou"/><ref name="VT2015"/><ref name="Betea-2">Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Template:Cite web