Rumania Mother of the Fatherland

By John Greenwald

She is Rumania's First Lady, but her true role is more akin to royal consort and heir apparent to her husband President Nicolae Ceausescu. In his grim dictatorship, she increasingly appears to be the power behind the throne. Already Elena Ceausescu, 67, is the object of a personality cult that rivals that of the 68-year-old President. Her birthday, like his, is a national holiday, her portrait waves in street parades, and the Rumanian media resound with her praise. She is variously hailed as the "woman-hero," the "party's torch," the "guiding spirit behind science and culture" and even "mother of the fatherland."

Elena Ceausescu's rise to political prominence has been extraordinary. Her official titles only hint at the full extent of the influence she wields. As a member of the Permanent Bureau of the Political Executive Committee, she is part of the country's top decision-making body. As a First Deputy Premier, she supervises the secret police, determines promotions within the party, and has launched or supported programs ranging from the banning of abortions to a crackdown on press freedom. Her overall power is formidable. Says Doran Tudoran, a Rumanian poet now living in the U.S.: "Elena is very strong. She probably decides much more than the President. Over the past decade, the most important decrees by the Rumanian Council have come from desk No. 2, where Elena Ceausescu sits."

Nicolae Ceausescu has headed the country since 1965, but is in failing health, reportedly suffering from cancer of the prostate. Under his rule, Rumania (pop. 23 million) has sometimes steered a diplomatic course independent of Moscow. The country, for example, refused to participate in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, does not allow the military organization to hold maneuvers on its soil, and refused to endorse the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

But at the same time, Ceausescu has rigidly adhered to Stalinist-era central planning. A program celebrated as "20 Years of Light" has actually plunged the country into economic darkness. To cut in half a foreign debt that passed the $12 billion mark in 1982, Rumania has exported so much of its farm output that its own people are often forced to do without staples such as eggs and beef. To conserve scarce energy supplies, Ceausescu has barred private cars from Bucharest streets, urged citizens to use 40-watt light bulbs and farmers to replace tractors with horses or oxen. Says a Western diplomat in Bucharest: "The Rumanians are going backward, at least to the 19th century --maybe to the 18th."

Ironically, for a Soviet bloc country, Rumania relies on good relations with the U.S. to bolster its economy. Last month President Reagan extended the trade status of most-favored nation to Rumania for the eleventh straight year, after Bucharest agreed to allow more than 1,000 people to emigrate. The regime will thus be able to continue exporting to the U.S. without paying extra duties. Reagan granted the extension despite misgivings about alleged Rumanian human rights abuses, which range from torture and long-term political imprisonment to religious persecution.

Rumania has been hard hit by the disaster at the Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April. After the accident spread radioactive fallout across Eastern Europe, the European Community banned imports of crops and livestock from the region for three weeks. The embargo slashed the Bucharest regime's foreign-exchange earnings and forced the cash-short country to miss several million dollars in debt payments to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other Western lenders.

Elena is believed to be behind many oppressive government decisions. Father Gheorghe Calciu, 61, a Rumanian Orthodox priest who was allowed to emigrate to the U.S. last year after 21 years in Rumanian prisons, contends that the First Lady has launched a determined campaign against religion. Father Calciu says more than 60 Orthodox churches have been demolished since 1977 as part of a drive to renovate urban centers by replacing architectural treasures and other traditional structures with monumental government buildings. Many Baptist churches and several Jewish synagogues have been razed.

Elena has launched an aggressive drive to boost Rumania's population. Under the program, designed to raise the national birthrate from 15 per 1,000 inhabitants to 20 or more, mothers receive $125 for each child after their first. Families are urged to follow the Ceausescus' example by having three children. Abortion is illegal except in certain highly restricted cases, and those convicted of performing the operation may be sent to jail. To enforce the law gynecological wards are watched by police representatives, who must approve obstetric operations.

Like her husband, who is the son of peasants, Elena has provincial roots. The daughter of an innkeeper in the hamlet of Petresti, she joined the Communist Party in 1937 at the age of 18. She met Nicolae two years later, when she was elected queen of the parade at a May Day celebration. As Nicolae climbed the political ladder, Elena rose as well. When her husband assumed party leadership, she was quickly named director of the Bucharest Central Institute of Chemical Research, and today she is also chairman of the National Council for Science and Technology. Yet her technical background and competence are widely questioned in academic circles.

In recent months Elena has played an increasingly active role in meetings with foreign leaders. When the First Couple visited Belgrade last December, Yugoslav journalists noted that Elena figured prominently in official discussions. The Rumanian press highlighted her role in the talks.

Elena clearly sees herself as Nicolae's successor. While the couple's son Nicu, about 35, was at one time viewed as the heir apparent, he appears to be far more interested in parties and the good life than in a political career. Without her husband's protection, however, Elena might find it hard to stay in power. "She is infinitely more hated than the President," says Tudoran. "She is much crueler, and her decisions are more dictatorial." Given the dubious regard in which she is held, Elena, if she does inherit Nicolae's mantle, may find it resting uneasily on her shoulders.

With reporting by Kenneth W. Banta/Bucharest and Rodman Griffin/New York