STRUGGLE

There was a lot of struggling under the communist regime. Topmost was the ?class struggle?. There were also the ?struggle for the construction of socialism? and its climactic correlative: the ?struggle for peace?. (51)

Student life in the 80 was not very much different from the life of the previous years. A political control and interference existed there as everywhere. For instance at some humanistic Faculties like Philosophy, History, Law, being accepted to participate in the entrance examination depended upon the contents of the ?file?. The existence of an ? unhealthy origin? or a drawback in one?s file contributed to the impossibility of attending such a Faculty. The control of the file , in order to check up the origin, was also done in the case of entering the ASC ( The Association of Communist Students) or the party. Being accepted as a member of these political organizations was crucial for a graduate?s future.

At the end of the 80, the political involvement had become greater in certain universities. For instance, at the Art Academy in Bucharest, where students were forced to write about a certain topic for the graduation paper.

The students who were deeply involved into politics, or the so-called informers, were favored, by receiving half a grade at the finals.  The informers were recruited from among the students, being directly asked if they accepted or not. Some of them were known, some of them had confessed they were informers, others were disclosed. The informers were paid and at the Art Academy, the secretary did this in front of everybody in the hall of the Faculty, by shouting: ? Hey, I brought your salaries!?

The students were not exempt from the famous ? agricultural practice?. ? We were taken there as some strike breakers?, so is the situation described when the students were taken to work in stead of the peasants, who refused to work because the low payment. One picked potatoes or peeled corn, from summer till late autumn.

Besides the agricultural practices, there was the student practice depending upon the profile of the university. As a rule, this could be avoided if you brought various papers proving that the practice had been carried out.