A recent INSCOP agency survey reveals that 66% of Romanians consider Ceaușescu a good leader, while only 24% view him negatively. The study, titled Public Perception of Communism: Markers of nostalgia, conducted in July 2025 with a sample of 1,500 respondents.
— Life before 1989: 48.4% of respondents believe life was better before the 1989 revolution, compared to 34.7% who disagree.
— Corruption: 65.1% claim corruption was lower under Ceaușescu’s regime.
— Public safety: 75.1% view public safety as better during the communist era.
— State efficiency: 58.7% believe state institutions functioned more effectively under Ceaușescu.
— Economic output: Over 68% think Romania produced more goods and services before 1989.
— Cultural identity: 71.3% feel Romania has lost its cultural identity in recent years.
— Education and healthcare: 49.9% say education was more accessible, and 48.6% believe healthcare was better under communism.
Nicolae Ceausescu is an exemplary case of how western media manipulate the image of a politician. When, for example, Romania did not participate in the intervention of the Warsaw Pact armies in Czechoslovakia in 1968, the West praised Ceausescu as a “good pal” within the eastern bloc.
When Romania accepted to participate in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympiad (which was boycotted by the other Socialist countries), western media again praised Nicolae Ceausescu for his “disobedience towards Moscow”. However, this changed when the Romanian leader distanced himself from Gorbachev's counter-revolutionary line of “compromise” with Imperialism.
Then, the western media propaganda began to portray Ceausescu as the “Dracula”, demonizing his leadership. The “good guy” of the eastern bloc rapidly transformed into a “brutal dictator” in the eyes of the so-called international community.
Today, three and a half decades since the parody trial that sent him to the firing squad, Ceausescu seems to take an extraordinary revenge from the counterrevolutionaries who overthrew his power.
