MOLE

In daily figurative language a mole meant an informer that pries, spies on and then turns other people in. The official name given to such moles was ?informers?, making it sound more like ?informants?. In most cases they worked under cover so they wouldn?t be spotted out by the community inside which they operated. There were moles in absolutely every work team; they were your roommates, your neighbors. At times special efforts had to be made to plant them inside families or one?s circle of friends. The most usual ways of recruitment were the blackmail, money or a whole series of other advantages, support to get promotion. Sometimes recruiters cashed in on the informer?s greed or envy, hatred, but sheer idiocy was far from uncommon as well. When the moles got sniffed out one way or another, they had to be relocated, but the duties remained the same wherever they went. (51)

The moles were part of the mass input to the control of the society by the party - Leviathan. They informed on the other people because there was a higher, though terribly hazy, authority ? i.e. the Party at all its levels and the ?Securitate?, the secret police ? that encouraged and compelled that brand of amateur espionage, that was always ready to listen to it, to take down its finds and make them into yet another page of your own private classified file in the secret police?s archive. If you were in some top position, or just aspiring to get there, or if you worked in an environment that offered some advantages, you couldn?t help the vague sensation that any f your moves and gestures might be closely watched and reported to your seniors. The strength of that type of surveillance resided particularly in its derisory and arbitrary quality. (87)

A very distinct characteristic of the 80s as a whole was the sense of insecurity, the diffidence towards the other people, besides the deep suspicion inculcated by the power about what happened beyond Romania?s borders. I was simply haunted by the obsession that among the people that were closest to me, friends, colleagues at work there could be moles keeping an eye on my every move. I can only remember two such examples now. The people that worked in my department gave a small party at the Institute to celebrate the birthday of one of their colleagues. That was far from unusual: the one who was ?feted? would bring in some treat, his colleagues would collect some money and bought him a present. Except that on that occasion, while they were partying, in stepped a party commissioned check up. That was hardly an accident; they all knew somebody must have reported on the party. The consequences weren?t really tough; the poor fellow was reprimanded in the next party meeting, I can?t remember whether they sanctioned him or not. But that was meant as a warning?Or something of a more personal kind.