Notable acts of dissent include Paul Goma's 1977 letters to Ceaușescu, the founding of SLOMR (an independent workers' union) in 1979 and a number of work conflicts, such as the Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977 and the Braşov Rebellion of 1987.
Nonconformist literature, film, theatre, music, philosophy boomed as young intellectuals challenged the abuses of the early era of Socialist Romania and demanded more freedom of thought and expression, as well as a better standard of living.
[1] Ceaușescu warned against any art and political positions that were against the regime in 1969, while the following year, he explicitly banned such countercultural activities and in 1971, with the July Theses, a "mini-Cultural Revolution" began that demanded strict conformity.
[6] Some artists and intellectuals, such as Cornel Chiriac, fled to Western Europe, while others, such as Adrian Păunescu (who was attacked in 1972 for his subversive activities and complaints about censorship) joined the regime's propaganda machine.
[7] Goma had challenged the previous communist governments of Romania: in 1956, he read at university a chapter of a novel describing a student movements similar to the one of Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
[8] Becoming frustrated with the ban of his writings and inspired by the Czechoslovak Charter 77, Goma wrote a letter of support to Pavel Kohout.
[10] As he wrote an even harsher letter to Ceaușescu, Goma was excluded from the Writers' Union, arrested and attacked in a variety of magazines such as Săptămâna, Luceafărul and Contemporanul.
As some of its members, including Cană and economist Gheorghe Broșoveanu were arrested, the union protested against the repression through an open letter.
[17] Ceaușescu introduced a series of very harsh austerity measures in order to cut the imports and repay the debts acquired from the Western banks.
[19] On November 15, 1987, a group of several thousand workers from Steagul Roșu plant assembled in order to go and vote in the local elections.
[21] These were set alight and a similar ransacking occurred on the People's Council building on the opposite side of the road.
[24] Following the Braşov Rebellion, on November 26, 1987, former deputy director of Scînteia Silviu Brucan handed a declaration to some foreign journalists, in which he warned Ceaușescu that "a period of crisis has opened up in relations between the Romanian Communist Party and the working class" and he warned that this may lead to an isolation from both the West and the East.
[27] Dumitru Mazilu, a Romanian official was commissioned by the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in 1985 to write a report on human rights in Romania.
The official explanation was that he had a heart attack, but Mazilu eventually sent in 1988 a letter to the Chairman of the UN subcommission in which he talked about repressive measures taken against him after he refused to give up working on this project, including surveillance and intimidation.
[30] The letter discussed the Systematization, the lack of observance of human rights and that in practice, the constitution was suspended and that there was no legal system in force.