The July Theses, translated and annotated

Below the reader will find the translation of a text initially titled "Proposals of measures for the improvement of political-ideological activity, of Marxist-Leninist education of party members, of all working people", written by the General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party (also known as PCR), Nicolae Ceaușescu, and presented on the 6th of July, 1971 before the Party's Executive Committee, after his return from a visit to some of the East Asian communist countries, the most notable of which being North Korea. As a sign of political change in a minor communist country, the Theses do bear some historical value; they may also be used by the reader as a template for correctly identifying similar rhetoric and patterns of expression in recent texts or speeches.

As a result of the profound transformations which have come to pass in the years after the liberation¹, of the victory of the socialist system, of the vast political-educational activity² realized by the party, in our country important results have been obtained³ in widening the cultural horizon, in lifting the political and ideological standard, in shaping the socialist conscience of those who work. This is expressed by the fact that our entire people, all the working people, without distinction of nationality, steadfastly forge the party's internal and external politics, that they deem to be their own politics, viewing it as the guarantee of their wellbeing and happiness. The supreme goal of the politics of our party was and is the growth of the material and spiritual wellbeing of masses, ensuring the conditions for the plenary affirmation of personality, building the new man, profoundly devoted to socialism and communism. The political-educational activity constitutes an inseparable component of the work to build the new social system, an outstanding pursuit of our party and state⁴.

With all the great successes⁵ obtained until now, in political-ideological and cultural-educational work there still continue to persist a series of lacks, deficiencies and shortcomings, whose elimination constitutes an imperious necessity for the progress⁶ of our society.

Taking into account the requirements of the current stage of the socialist construction, the great objectives that stand before the party and the people in forging the multilaterally-developed⁷ socialist society, it is necessary for measures to be taken to raise the level of revolutionary combativity and of the militant, partinic⁸ spirit of the entire activity political, ideological and of communist education of masses⁹, operated by the party organs and organizations, by mass and collective organizations, by state organisms, by propaganda, ideological and cultural-artistic institutions.

1. -- Decisive in the achievement of these objectives is the continuous heightening of the party's directive role in all the fields of political-educational activity, the increase of responsibility and exigency of party organs and organizations in guiding the entire work of mass education, performed through all the means of political influence and through the factors of culturalization that our society has at its disposal.

For this purpose party leadership and control will be strengthened to orient the political-educational activity towards the wide mass promotion of our party's ideology, its Marxist-Leninist politics, to heighten combativity against the influences of bourgeois ideology, of retrograde mentalities¹⁰, foreign to the principles of communist ethics and party spirit. Special emphasis will be put on presenting the great achievements obtained by the Romanian people -- maker of socialism, emphasizing the chief role of the working class, which fulfils with fairness its historical mission in erecting socialism, the cultivation of respect towards work, towards the producers of material goods in our society.

An essential task of the political-educational work performed by our party is the education of all those who work in the spirit of socialist patriotism, of love and boundless devotion towards the motherland, of the decision to not spare anything for the defense of our revolutionary achievements, of the country's independence and sovereignty, for the continuous strengthening and flourishing of socialist Romania. In the process of building the multilaterally-developed socialist society it is necessary to continue acting for the even more powerful consolidation¹¹ of unity and brotherhood between Romanian, Magyar, German, Serbian and other working people, who, animated by the same interests and aspirations, achieve together all the country's material and spiritual values, take part with spiritedness in the struggle for the flourishing of the common homeland -- the Socialist Republic of Romania. It is the duty of party organizations to firmly fight against any tendency and form of expression of nationalism. Political work must act unflinchingly against any manifestation of indiscipline, of violation of the norms of social cohabitation, in the direction of the development of respect towards collective belongings, towards the country's laws, to strengthen socialist lawfulness and public order.

The direction and organization of the entire political-educational activity fall directly to counties'¹² party bureaux and committees, to party organs at all levels, to activists who work in the field of propaganda, to all the communists.

In realizing all these tasks, an important role must be fulfilled by -- under the party's direction -- the syndicates, youth and women's organizations, all the mass and collective organizations in our homeland.

2. -- The Propaganda Section of the Central Committee¹³ will¹⁴ present proposals for the improvement of the organisation of party education, of the forms of political and ideological preparation of party specialists¹⁵ and members, in order to develop the[ir] partinic, revolutionary spirit, to rise the level of party work. Measures will be taken for the improvement of education plans and curricula at the Ștefan Gheorghiu¹⁶ party Academy and the inter-county party Schools, in order to ensure the preparation of cadres with the fundamental problems of party work, of the science of political leadership. Will be ensured¹⁷ the inclusion¹⁸ in perfectioning courses of a larger number of activists from different fields of activity. The recruitment of lower and higher students¹⁹ for party schools will be made among party, state and mass organization activists, especially those that come from the working class and have a long experience in production.

3. -- Will be extended and activated the forms of mass political work: the activity of agitators, of satirical gazettes²⁰, of artistic²¹ agitation brigades, of different forms of visual agitation at workplaces, for the popularization and generalization of positive experience, of achievements and advanced attitudes, as well as for the active fight against the states of negative things²². Party organisations will be oriented to strengthen the direct political-educational work, from person to person, with every party member, with every citizen.

A special attention must the party organs give to the education of party and state members in the spirit of the profoundly humanist politics of our party, a politics pervaded with human care, in the spirit of serving with abnegation the general interests of society, of the people²³ -- a fundamental duty and principal criterion for the appreciation of cadres, of every communist.

Party organs must develop in²⁴ our cadres the preoccupation with ensuring the conditions for the ever wider participation of masses in elaborating and achieving party and state politics, in the entire economic, social, ideological and cultural life -- an eloquent expression of the profound democratism of our socialist arrangement.

4. -- Will have to rise the role of party gatherings in debating the main life problems of working collectives, in increasing combativeness and political vigilance of party members, in lifting the critical and auto-critical spirit, in promoting the firm position against negative phenomena, against unsuitable attitudes towards work and the collective had, of disinterest towards the requirements of working people, against manifestations of indolence and superficiality. It is the duty of party organizations to form the mass opinion in the fight against abuses and dishonesty, dilapidations and all antisocial manifestations.

One of the main objectives of political work, especially among the young, is the firm fight against tendencies of parasitism, of easy, workless life, the cultivation of responsibility and of the duty to work for the homeland, the people, for the socialist society. The fulfillment of a useful work for society is an honor and an obligation for all citizens²⁵.

5. -- Is necessary the creation of a large mass current for the participation of all citizens and especially the young in actions of patriotic work -- on construction sites, in the industry, in agriculture, in the management of localities. The party organs and organizations, mass and public organizations, the local organs of state power are directly responsible of organizing those actions²⁶.

6. -- Will need to be intensified the activity of education and political preparation in schools and faculties²⁷. For this purpose, the Ministry of Education will take measures for the improvement of educational plans and curricula, giving special attention to the improvement in the teaching of social sciences. Will need to be lifted the spirit of responsibility and the role of teachers in the political-ideological shaping of lower and higher students. Will be taken measures for the strengthening of the educational directions in the Ministry of Education²⁸, ensuring their integration with party activists, their direct guidance from the Propaganda Section of the C.C. of P.C.R. The C.C. Secretariat of P.C.R., the county and town bureaux of party committees answer for the guidance of the entire political activity within schools and faculties, of the content pertaining to the teaching of social sciences. The educational plans and the curricula of social sciences will be approved by the Secretariat of C.C. of P.C.R. A third of the curricula of summer courses for teacher preparation will be dedicated to political information²⁹ and to debates on ideological and educational problems.

7. -- Will be taken measures for the intensification of the activity of political education performed by the U.T.C. organizations³⁰ and students' associations. The principal role in the entire activity of U.T.C. must be had by the working youth. Must be actioned to promote among the entire youth the conception about the world and life of the working class, for the cultivation of the working class' and the communist party's revolutionary traditions³¹, for the education socialist, patriotic, through work of the young generation. The research center for youth's problems is to orient its activity towards these requirements of youth education.

A special attention will need to be given to cultural-educational and entertainment³² activities among the youth and especially among lower and higher students, combating the manifestations of cosmopolitanism, different artistic fashions borrowed from the capitalist world. Will be forbidden the serving of alcoholic beverages in all the entertainment premises for the youth.

Will be enlarged and intensified the atheist propaganda³³, the organization of mass actions for the disproof of mysticism, of retrograde concepts, for the education of the entire youth in the spirit of our materialist-dialectic philosophy.

8. -- Will be grown the role of the Academy of social and political sciences in debating the current ideological problems of our social-political life, of the cultural activity and artistic creation, in elevating the ideological combativity against foreign influences, in the powerful affirmation of the materialist-dialectic philosophy and of our party's politics.

9. -- It is necessary to grow the role of the press in the widespread propagation of the ideological positions of our party, of our ethical social cohabitation principles, in the firm fight against the influences of bourgeois ideology and of retrograde mentalities of any kind. The press will have to cultivate more the advanced figure of the worker, of the producer of material goods devoted body and soul to the cause of socialism, the flourishing of the homeland. Will be ensured the firm political orientation, especially of the cultural-artistic publications, in the direction of promoting militant socialist art and literature and of combating the tendencies to tear apart creation from our social realities, from the general public of the working people³⁴.

Through forms and varied styles of expression, the art must serve the people, the homeland, the socialist society.

10. -- Will have to be increased the educational role of all the radio and television shows. Shows will be addressed in greater measure to the large masses of audience³⁵, especially to workers and peasants, ensuring therewith of their more frequent presence in broadcasts³⁶. Will be made a more rigorous selection of artistic productions broadcasted by the radiotelevision, promoting mostly movies, plays, musical shows from the national repertoire and especially from the new, socialist repertoire. Will be ensured a rational balance in the repertoire politics, so that there will be judiciously represented valuable creations from socialist countries, as well as representative works from the heritage of universal culture which possess a profound social character and a progressive, advanced philosophical position. Will be eliminated from broadcasts the productions which cultivate ideas and principles foreign to our philosophy and morals, the spirit of violence, the bourgeois life style, harmful mentalities for the youth's education.

Satire and humour shows will need to be directed against the negative phenomena in the society³⁷, from the positions of our party's politics, removing the productions that are in bad taste and harmful or confusing from an ideological point of view.

The radio and television will stimulate the creation of revolutionary, patriotic and worker's songs, as well as their distribution to the masses, organizing for this purpose creation and interpretation contests, special shows, etc.

11. -- Will be taken measures for a better orientation of editorial activity, so that book production responds in greater measure to the requirements of communist education. Will be exercised a more rigorous control, to avoid the publishing of literary works that do not answer to the requirements of the political-educational activity of our party, of books that promote ideas and conceptions harmful to the interests of the socialist construction.

12. -- In the orientation of the repertoires of public performance institutions³⁸, will be emphasized the promotion of original creation with militant, revolutionary character. Will be given also extension to valuable works from the current artistic creation of socialist countries; will be ensured a more rigorous selection of the works from the classical and contemporary international repertoire.

Will be acted³⁹ more perseveringly for the development of Romanian creations of opera, operetta and ballet with themes springing from the battle of our people for socialism. County and municipal party committees answer for the just orientation of the repertoires of professional artistic institutions of performance, as well as those of cultural houses and community homes.

13. -- Will be taken measures for the better balancing of the movies programmed in our cinemas, limiting the projection of police and adventure movies, forbidding movies which cultivate violence and vulgarity⁴⁰, which propagate the bourgeois life style.

14. -- An especially important role in the political-ideological orientation of cultural-educational activity, in ensuring a content pervaded by the spirit of the politics of our party of the entire literary-artistic creation is played by party organisations, by all the communists who perform their activity in this area.

Party members who are part of party and state leadership organs, as well as all those who activate in ideological institutions, of political education, of teaching, culture and art, in the entire sphere of our cultural life, must manifest a grand spirit of partinic exigency, of combativeness and Marxist-Leninist principledness. They must be an example in this respect, through their day to day activity as well as their own literary-artistic creations.

15. -- The Ministry of Interior Commerce, the Ministry of Tourism, as well as local party and state organs will watch that in places of public alimentation will be broadcast especially the musical creation of our country, making therewith a careful selection of foreign repertoire, in order to remove the music that expresses decadent currents.

16. -- It is necessary for measures to be taken to improve the activity of the Propaganda Section of the Central Committee of P.C.R., with an eye to the firm realization, at a higher level, of the duties that it bears. The Board of ideology and the Board of culture and press of the Central Committee will have to perform a more intense activity, to debate exactingly the problems of ideological, political and cultural activity, seeing to the just orientation of the entire activity performed in the respective fields.

17. -- In order to debate the problems of political-educational work, a conference will be convened at the party's Central Committee with the secretaries of county party committees who answer for propaganda problems, with cadres responsible in the field of ideological activity, with leaders of creation unions and of some cultural institutions.

In the autumn of this year, a plenum of the C.C. of P.C.R. will analyze the problems pertaining to ideological, political-educational and cultural-artistic activity. In order to prepare the plenum, there will be organized debates throughout the party organs and organizations, in the institutions and organizations with educational character, as well as in the press.

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Acting in the direction of the proposed measures, it is necessary that the party organs and organizations ensure the orientation of the entire political-ideological and cultural-educational activity in the spirit of Marxist-Leninist traditions, of proletarian internationalism, of solidarity of the working people of our country with all the peoples who forge the new socialist arrangement, with the international communist and working movement, with the working class, with the peoples who fight for national emancipation, for the defense of their independence and national sovereignty⁴¹, with all the contemporary forces that rise against imperialism, for social progress and peace.

Our party considers that fulfilling the tasks both national as well as international, constitutes an inseparable dialectical unit, their harmonious blending being a fundamental duty of every communist.

The entire ideological, political-educational, cultural-artistic activity that takes place in our country must have as a basis the general Marxist-Leninist line of the Romanian Communist Party, the programme elaborated by the 10th party Congress, must ensure their assimilation and bringing into life by our entire people. The improvement of political-educational activity must lead to the intensification of communists' participation, of all the working people, of the entire party and nation at forging the multilaterally-developed socialist society, a work that requires both improving the grade of material civilization of Romania⁴², as well as forming a new man, with a heightened socialist conscience.

I bring for approval by the Executive Committee these proposals of measures, seeing to their publication and the organization of their bringing to life.

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The proposals of measures have been unanimously approved by the Executive Committee of the C.C. of P.C.R. during the meeting on July 6, 1971.⁴³