In order to mount a revolution, numbers are never enough. Revolutions are usually made by small

networks of agitators rather than by the masses. If you want to launch a revolution, don’t ask yourself,

‘How many people support my ideas?’ Instead, ask yourself, ‘How many of my supporters are

capable of effective collaboration?’ The Russian Revolution finally erupted not when 180 million

peasants rose against the tsar, but rather when a handful of communists placed themselves at the right

place at the right time. In 1917, at a time when the Russian upper and middle classes numbered at

least 3 million people, the Communist Party had just 23,000 members.

19 The communists nevertheless

gained control of the vast Russian Empire because they organised themselves well. When authority in

Russia slipped from the decrepit hands of the tsar and the equally shaky hands of Kerensky’s

provisional government, the communists seized it with alacrity, gripping the reins of power like a

bulldog locking its jaws on a bone.

The communists didn’t release their grip until the late 1980s. Effective organisation kept them in

power for eight long decades, and they eventually fell due to defective organisation. On 21 December

1989 Nicolae Ceauşescu, the communist dictator of Romania, organised a mass demonstration of

support in the centre of Bucharest. Over the previous months the Soviet Union had withdrawn its

support from the eastern European communist regimes, the Berlin Wall had fallen, and revolutions

had swept Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. Ceauşescu, who had ruled

Romania since 1965, believed he could withstand the tsunami, even though riots against his rule had

erupted in the Romanian city of Timişoara on 17 December. As one of his counter-measures,

Ceauşescu arranged a massive rally in Bucharest to prove to Romanians and the rest of the world that

the majority of the populace still loved him – or at least feared him. The creaking party apparatus

mobilised 80,000 people to fill the city’s central square, and citizens throughout Romania were

instructed to stop all their activities and tune in on their radios and televisions.

To the cheering of the seemingly enthusiastic crowd, Ceauşescu mounted the balcony overlooking

the square, as he had done scores of times in previous decades. Flanked by his wife Elena, leading

party officials and a bevy of bodyguards, Ceauşescu began delivering one of his trademark dreary

speeches. For eight minutes he praised the glories of Romanian socialism, looking very pleased withhimself as the crowd clapped mechanically. And then something went wrong. You can see it for

yourself on YouTube. Just search for ‘Ceauşescu’s last speech’, and watch history in action.

20

The YouTube clip shows Ceauşescu starting another long sentence, saying, ‘I want to thank the

initiators and organisers of this great event in Bucharest, considering it as a—’, and then he falls

silent, his eyes open wide, and he freezes in disbelief. He never finished the sentence. You can see in

that split second how an entire world collapses. Somebody in the audience booed. People still argue

today who was the first person who dared to boo. And then another person booed, and another, and

another, and within a few seconds the masses began whistling, shouting abuse and calling out ‘Ti-mi-

şoa-ra! Ti-mi-şoa-ra!’
All this happened live on Romanian television, as three-quarters of the populace sat glued to the

screens, their hearts throbbing wildly. The notorious secret police – the Securitate – immediately

ordered the broadcast to be stopped, but the television crews disobeyed. The cameraman pointed the

camera towards the sky so that viewers couldn’t see the panic among the party leaders on the balcony,

but the soundman kept recording, and the technicians continued the transmission. The whole of

Romania heard the crowd booing, while Ceauşescu yelled, ‘Hello! Hello! Hello!’ as if the problem

was with the microphone. His wife Elena began scolding the audience, ‘Be quiet! Be quiet!’ until

Ceauşescu turned and yelled at her – still live on television – ‘You be quiet!’ Ceauşescu then

appealed to the excited crowds in the square, imploring them, ‘Comrades! Comrades! Be quiet,

comrades!’

But the comrades were unwilling to be quiet. Communist Romania crumbled when 80,000 people

in the Bucharest central square realised they were much stronger than the old man in the fur hat on the

balcony. What is truly astounding, however, is not the moment the system collapsed, but the fact that it

managed to survive for decades. Why are revolutions so rare? Why do the masses sometimes clap

and cheer for centuries on end, doing everything the man on the balcony commands them, even though

they could in theory charge forward at any moment and tear him to pieces?

Ceauşescu and his cronies dominated 20 million Romanians for four decades because they ensured

three vital conditions. First, they placed loyal communist apparatchiks in control of all networks ofcooperation, such as the army, trade unions and even sports associations. Second, they prevented the

creation of any rival organisations – whether political, economic or social – which might serve as a

basis for anti-communist cooperation. Third, they relied on the support of sister communist parties in

the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. Despite occasional tensions, these parties helped each other in

times of need, or at least guaranteed that no outsider poked his nose into the socialist paradise. Under

such conditions, despite all the hardship and suffering inflicted on them by the ruling elite, the 20

million Romanians were unable to organise any effective opposition.

Ceauşescu fell from power only once all three conditions no longer held. In the late 1980s the

Soviet Union withdrew its protection and the communist regimes began falling like dominoes. By

December 1989 Ceauşescu could not expect any outside assistance. Just the opposite – revolutions in

nearby countries gave heart to the local opposition. The Communist Party itself began splitting into

rival camps. The moderates wished to rid themselves of Ceauşescu and initiate reforms before it was

too late. By organising the Bucharest demonstration and broadcasting it live on television, Ceauşescu

himself provided the revolutionaries with the perfect opportunity to discover their power and rally

against him. What quicker way to spread a revolution than by showing it on TV?

Yet when power slipped from the hands of the clumsy organiser on the balcony, it did not pass to

the masses in the square. Though numerous and enthusiastic, the crowds did not know how to organise

themselves. Hence just as in Russia in 1917, power passed to a small group of political players

whose only asset was good organisation. The Romanian Revolution was hijacked by the self

So you want me to be incarcerated and silenced like sowore.

Wait, do you want to plan a coup or what?