Communism – ‘a good idea, but badly applied’

More than 40 percent of Romanians say that communism was a good idea, but it was wrongly employed, shows a public opinion survey by CSOP (Centre for Opinion and Market Studies – COMS) for The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER).

Almost one out of eight Romanians thinks the communist regime was a good idea that was also well applied.

Slightly less than 30 percent think it was a bad idea.

Also, one out two Romanians thinks the Soviet Union had a decisive role in the instalment of communism in Romania.

Half of the interviewees consider the state should pay reparations to regime victims and a court should be the one who decides this.

The study shows that almost 3 out 4 Romanians (72%) consider the state should assure jobs, while approximately half of them think the state should handle the economic plan.

Interviewees have also stated that the Securitate (63%), Militia (37%) and the Communist Party (35%) were political repression institutions of the communist era, while only 2% spontaneously mentioned (the option was not available in the answer list) there was no political repression in the communist period.

Almost half of the interviewed persons think that former Communist Party and former Securitate members’ pensions should be reduced

- 37% of interviewees say that accessing the former Securitate files is important or very important, while 52% say the problem of accessing the files is less or much less important.

- 31% consider the passing of the lustration law to be important or very important, 52% say it is less or unimportant.

- On the subject of reparations for the victims of the communist regime, almost half of the interviewees (48%) consider there should be such reparations, while 27% oppose the idea.

- Most of respondents (44% for former Communist Party members, 41% in the case of the former Securitate) believe that pensions of former communist dignitaries and former Securitate members should be reduced to the average pension level in Romania.

- Also, 15% (in the case of former Communist Party members) and 16% (in the case of former Securitate members) think that pensions should be reduced to below the double of the average pension, while 14% and 11% say pensions of the two categories should remain the same, the rest provided other answers.

These survey results confirm in a great deal research results from August 2010.

The opinion poll was national for citizens over 15 years.

1.123 people were interviewed.

Representativeness of survey response is 2.9 % with a 0.95 probability.