The past in the present tense

The chapter analyzes the complex relationships between the memories of the survivors of the historical interwar National Peasant Party, its ongoing legacy both before and after 1989, and then its instrumentalization in post-communist electoral politics. As a political party with credible democratic credentials and strong roots in the pre-communist era, former political prisoners affiliated to the party (renamed the National Peasant Christian-Democratic Party) became influential agents of historical remembrance in the promotion of an anti-communist position during the 1990s. This turned out to be both a strength and a weakness of the party in its governance of the country between 1996 and 2000. As a party whose ideological affiliation was primarily based on historical memory, it had difficulty engaging in practical politics failing to deliver on its promises of reforms and decommunization. The charismatic figure of Corneliu Coposu – an uncompromised political prisoner who became the leader of the party and the democratic opposition after 1989 – was central to the party’s efforts focus. Until his death in 1995, Coposu was demonized by his political opponents. However, posthumously Coposu became a celebrated national hero, a legend, and a myth.