. At a first step, he eliminated the probationary period, which
had varied from one year for industrial workers to two years for
peasants, white-collar workers, and intellectuals. Additional members
were also sought by enticing those who had belonged to the old Social
Democratic Party and the former Socialist Party by dating their
membership from the time of their entry into those parties.

The result of the membership drive, announced at the 1967 party
conference, was the addition of 230,000 new PCR members, bringing the
total to 1,730,000. At the 1969 party congress it was announced that the
PCR had 1,924,500 members, representing about one-seventh of the total
adult population. In February 1971 the Central Committee reported that
the membership had grown to 2.1 million, making the PCR one of the
largest communist parties in Eastern Europe.

Statistics reported by the party press indicated the nationality
composition of the PCR as consisting of 88.8 percent Romanians, 8.4
percent Hungarians, and slightly over 1 percent Germans, with the
remainder encompassing other nationalities. As the 1966 census had shown
that Hungarians represented 8.4 percent of the total population, the
Germans 2 percent, and other nationalities about 2 percent, the
nationality composition of the party compares favorably with that of the
country as a whole.

Workers reportedly made up 44 percent of the party membership; peasants,
26 percent; and intellectuals and white-collar workers, 23 percent.
Seven percent were unclassified as to status. Statistics indicating the
age composition of the party were also published, revealing that 24
percent of the membership was under thirty years of age; persons between
the ages of thirty and forty made up 36 percent of the membership, and
40 percent of the members were over forty years old.

The PCR membership campaign had been given particular emphasis in the
major industries, such as the metal, machine-building, coal, petroleum,
and chemical industries, where 27 to 36 percent of the workers were
reported to belong to the party. Female membership was reported as 23
percent, up from 17 percent in 1960 and 21 percent in 1965. The report
contained a recommendation that a larger number of women be assigned to
responsible positions. Statistics for the army revealed that 90 percent
of the officers and 55 percent of the noncommissioned officers were
party members. The fact that over 926,000 members lived in rura