ently on the Standing Presidium, the
Executive Committee, and the Secretariat: Ceausescu, Manea Manescu,
Paul Niculescu-Mizil, and Gheorghe Pana. Political observers considered
these men to be the most powerful in the party and, hence, the nation.
All of the nine members of the Standing Presidium are also members of
the Executive Committee.

Little information is available on the responsibilities given the
Executive Committee, although some observers have described it as
providing an administrative link between the Standing Presidium and the
Central Committee. In practice it has functioned as a rump Central
Committee when the latter is not in session. The Secretariat serves as
the continuing administrative unit of the party. It supervises the
execution of policies decided upon by the Standing Presidium. Three
members of the Secretariat serve as the supervising secretaries of the
major directorates of the Central Committee.

Two other important party organs function under the supervision of the
Standing Presidium and the Secretariat: the Central Auditing Commission
and the Central Collegium, formerly known as the Party Control
Commission. Consisting of forty-five members (none of whom may belong to
the Central Committee), the Central Auditing Commission is empowered to
exercise general control over party financial affairs and examine the
management of finances by the various party organs. The nine-member
Central Collegium deals with matters of party discipline and serves as a
type of appeals court for penalties imposed on members by county or
local party committees.

An interlocking of authority and functions at the highest level of the
party and state is evidenced in the frequency with which the senior
party officials also hold important government posts. All of the members
of the Standing Presidium, the Executive Committee, and the Secretariat
are also deputies to the Grand National Assembly, and most of them hold
other prominent government positions in the Council of State, the
Defense Council, or the Council of Ministers.

The party statutes describe the local cell, the basic party unit, as the
foundation of the party. Cells exist in factories, offices,
cooperatives, military and police units, social and cultural
organizations, and residential areas. Some of these cell groups consist
of as few as three members, whereas those in the larger enterprises may
have as many as 300 members. In 1969 there were an estimate