Chivu Stoica

Chivu Stoica (the family name being Chivu;[1][2] 8 August 1908 – 18 February 1975) was a leading Romanian Communist politician, who served as 48th Prime Minister of Romania.

Chivu Stoica
President of the State Council
In office 24 March 1965 – 9 December 1967
Prime Minister	Ion Gheorghe Maurer
Preceded by	Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Succeeded by	Nicolae Ceaușescu
President of the Council of Ministers
In office 21 October 1955 – 21 March 1961
President	Petru Groza Ion Gheorghe Maurer
Preceded by	Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Succeeded by	Ion Gheorghe Maurer
First Vice President of the Council of Ministers
In office 20 August 1954 – 4 October 1955
Prime Minister	Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Minister of Industry^[a]
In office 15 April 1948 – 31 May 1952
Prime Minister	Petru Groza
Succeeded by	Carol Loncear
Personal details
Born	(1908-08-08)8 August 1908 Smeeni, Buzău County, Kingdom of Romania
Died	18 February 1975(1975-02-18) (aged 66) Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania
Political party	Romanian Communist Party
a. ^ Minister of Metallurgy and Chemical Industries from 23 November 1949

Early life

Stoica was born in Smeeni, Buzău County, the sixth child of a ploughman.[3] At age 12 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. There he met Gheorghe Vasilichi, who recruited him into the Communist Party.[3]

Career

Stoica giving a speech in Berlin, 18 January 1963

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.[3] On August 20, 1934, he was sentenced to 15 years of prison for his role in the Grivița Strike of 1933.[4] At Târgu Jiu prison, he was close to Gheorghiu-Dej, who may have wanted Stoica to be his successor as General Secretary.

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

In his later years, Stoica fell out of favour with Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena.

Death

His death, by a hunting rifle bullet to the head, was ruled a suicide.[5]

Family

His first wife was Ecaterina (b. Klein),[2] and his second one was Maria (b. Manolescu), an engineer, with whom he had a daughter.[6]

References

1. Tismăneanu, Vladimir. "Balta fetidă a minciunii: Nepmanul Ponta intre bolșevism și peronism" (in Romanian). Retrieved June 12, 2014.
2. "Dosarele de cadre ale Ceaușeștilor" (in Romanian). December 18, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
3. (in Romanian) Paula Mihailov Chiciuc, "Din înaltul ordin al partidului" Archived 2014-03-02 at the Wayback Machine, Jurnalul Național, July 18, 2006
4. (in Romanian) Stelian Tănase, Dej – omul resentimentului Archived 2007-10-10 at the Wayback Machine, from Magazin Istoric
5. (in Romanian) Chivu Stoica Archived 2012-03-19 at the Wayback Machine. iiccr.ro
6. Betea, Lavinia (21 May 2013). ""Sinuciderea" lui Chivu Stoica, consilierul Pacepa și traducătorul "savantei" Lenuța". Adevărul. Retrieved June 12, 2014.

External links

• "Final Report of the Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania" (PDF) (in Romanian). 2006. pp. 649–650.
• Betea, Lavinia (January 15, 2007). "Zvonurile 'epocii de aur'" ["Rumors from the 'Golden Age']. Jurnalul Național (in Romanian). Retrieved June 8, 2020.

Party political offices
Preceded by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej	President of the State Council 24 March 1965–9 December 1967	Succeeded by Nicolae Ceaușescu
Preceded by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej	Prime Minister of Romania 21 October 1955– 21 March 1961	Succeeded by Ion Gheorghe Maurer