Among the Last

Bushy-browed Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, who died of pneumonia at 63 in Bucharest last week, was, with East Ger many's Walter Ulbricht, the last of the unregenerate Stalinists who rose to power on the Red Army wave that swept over Eastern Europe in 1944. None theless, in his last years, he earned some popularity by astute maneuvering that won Rumania a measure of independence from Soviet domination.

Bear Twist. Rumanians have always hated the Russians anyway, but Gheorghiu-Dej chafed particularly under the raw-material-supplying role assigned his country by the Soviets' version of the Common Market, Comecon. He had no intention of letting Rumania be a combination "market garden" and "gas station." Instead, he talked the Soviets into supplying iron ore and machinery for the construction of a huge steel complex at Galati.

Dej next became bold enough to make overtures to the West. Without waiting for the Soviets, he expanded Galati by signing a $42 million contract for a steel plant with a British-French combine. The Sino-Soviet split gave Dej another chance to twist the bear's tail. Rumania's Premier Ion Maurer winged off to Peking last year and agreed to boost trade with the Chinese Communists by 10% . He stopped off in the Soviet Union on the way back and kindly volunteered to "mediate" Sino-Soviet differences, while back in Bucharest, Russian bookstores were being closed, and Russian was dropped as a compulsory language in the schools. The Rumanian press quoted liberally from Chinese diatribes against the Soviets. The Kremlin bit its lip and wangled an invitation for President Anastas Mikoyan to attend Bucharest's celebration of its 1944 "liberation." Otherwise, China's representative would have had the show all to himself.

Slight Thaw. Rumanian foreign policy favors Soviet-style peaceful coexistence, but Dej himself was as much a Stalinist as Mao. A onetime shoemaker's apprentice, he used Stalin's backing to oust Ana Pauker, the Communist Amazon, in 1952. His regime, despite some slight thawing, maintains just about the greyest, grimmest police state in Europe. Not until last year were 10,000 of his 12,000 political prisoners released.

In failing health for the past two years, Dej is survived by the cadre of Communists who have been major designers of his nationalist policies and will probably continue them. Most likely to take over is Nicolae Ceausescu, No. 2 man in the hierarchy. Other candidates include Premier Maurer, former Premier Chivu Stoica, and Union Boss Gheorghe Apostol.

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