Those who had not been party members yet were also appointed towards the end of Ceausescu's regime. They did not have many advantages: it was a necessary but not a sufficient condition, the least they could do to be promoted, to have a responsible position. One had more chances to leave abroad for professional affairs. It was so flat to be a Party member in the last ten years that finally most people accepted to go in for it. (A.M., 9)

How had I become a Party member? That's a long history! Our Hairdresser's chief - in fact a cashier who had no idea about hairdressing but had a well-oiled tongue - had become a Party member of all organizations and finally came to be the chief of our unit. She told me everyone had the duty to appoint as many Party members as it got. Once she said: "My dear, I proposed you for a Party member!" I said: "Oh, madam, I do not deserve that. I am late for work, skip working hours?I am not good." "Hey, man, you must become a Party member! You'll make a good impression. Don't you realize that you might be moved somewhere in a wretched hut at the outskirts of Bucharest because you do not come to work and have many defects? Once you are a Party member they leave you alone. You stay here in the city center and don't care!"

"Dear madam, I don't want to be a Party member!" Hey, man, you must be once I proposed you! You have no choice! You've got to!" As Transylvanians say: "It's my pleasure if I've got to do it!"

She gave me a statute to learn and called me to the meeting. I learnt it by rote, she asked me a few questions, I answered what I wanted and that was it, I became a Party member! I paid my membership dues and she gave me a red card. When the revolution broke out, I burnt it on my seventh-floor balcony. I was so euphoric that I was about to jump over it. I didn't know what was happening and what was to come. I used to mind my own business and maybe now I would have made a good impression if I had kept the card, I don't know. As far as I can see, people that had high positions at that time have them now again. Maybe I should become the member of a party and say: "Look, I have an 'old' background!"

The worst thing as a Party member was that you were always on receptions list, went to all kinds of conferences, demonstrations, ceremonies to welcome foreign officials. You also picked maize and potatoes. That's why you became a Party member: to pay your membership dues and be obliged to do all these works. For instance, a colleague of mine who was not a Party member, rejected them. "Hey, man, I'm not going anywhere! You cannot send me to jail for not coming to maize picking!"