ich fills a role on these
lower levels similar to that of the party congress on the national
level. The party statutes as revised in 1969 call for the convening of
conferences every fourth year in the counties, in the city of Bucharest,
and in the larger towns. In the communes and smaller towns the
conference is required to be held once every two years. Although the
conferences are held ostensibly to discuss problems and formulate
policies, they serve in practice as transmission belts for the official
party line set down by the central PCR authorities. County conferences
and the Bucharest city conference elect delegates to the national party
congress.

Membership

The PCR emerged at the close of World War II with only about 1,000
members. Four years later, just before its merger with the Social
Democratic Party and after an intensive propaganda campaign and a strong
membership drive, the party reported over 700,000 members. When the PCR
merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Romanian Workers'
Party in 1948, some 200,000 Social Democrats were added to the
membership roll. A purge of so-called hostile and nominal members during
1950 resulted in the expulsion of 190,000 persons from the party,
reducing the total membership to about 720,000 at the beginning of 1951.

During the early years of full communist control of Romania, the party
considered itself the vanguard of the working class and made a sustained
effort to recruit workers into party membership. By the end of 1950 the
PCR reported that 64 percent of the leading party positions and 40
percent of the higher government posts were filled by members of the
working class. The efforts to recruit workers into the party have
consistently fallen short of the set goals, however, and from time to
time throughout the period since 1950 party leaders have decried the
fact that the social composition of the membership has not included an
adequate proportion of workers.

By 1964 the party membership was reported at 1.2 million. This total was
increased to 1.5 million by 1966, a figure that represented about 8
percent of the country's population. Membership composition, in 1966,
was reported as 40 percent workers, 32 percent peasants, and 22 percent
intelligentsia, with the remaining 6 percent not classified.

After Ceausescu's accession to power in 1965, he sought to increase the
party's influence, broaden the base of popular support, and bring in new
members