As a citizen of Romania I grew up in a country that for many years fed its population with the lie that people were working to build “socialism” for the good of us all.

Having the chance to travel to Western Europe before 1989 and see life behind the Iron Curtain, I was happy and full of hope when the Ceauşescu regime ended. Being confronted as a teenager with life in countries where the free market was at home and where life seemed careless, and having no deeper insight into world politics or economy, I lived for years with the belief that socialism was a system that cannot work, one under the control of rich and corrupt politicians, with no hope for the rest of the population.

It was only after I was introduced to the WSWS, almost 5 years ago, that I started to put things together. Suddenly, events with global significance I was wondering about, and questions about the direction that the world and my country was heading towards, started to open up and have a different meaning. The WSWS was my ticket to entering a totally unknown part of history.

At first I simply couldn’t believe that history can be altered that much, and that so many of us were told lies that, not knowing otherwise, we ended up believing. I became curious about what the “socialism” I grew up with actually was and what/how genuine socialism should really look like. The WSWS archive was very helpful in providing articles in which I found explanations for the questions I had. The site offered an insight not only into the real events and the historical falsification, but also revealed to me the truth behind the history of my own country, helping me understand the past. At the same time, it brought along the moment when I realized that the hope for equality and a good future for mankind is possible after all, with an international socialist program.

I am reading now comrade North’s The End of the USSR, and the lecture helps me understand even more the nature of Stalinism disguised as “socialism” and all the damage it has done to the affected countries. It also points out to me once again the fact that even now, almost 24 years after the fall of Ceauşescu, my country is still governed by former Stalinists and bourgeois parties that will never be committed to the working class. Together with their allies, they are doing everything in their power to hinder a revolution, a progressive perspective and the fight for genuine Marxism in Romania.

During the last several years, I have witnessed many predictions made by the WSWS. To mention only some: the fate of the Egyptian revolution and the dead end that the protests in Greece are reaching without a proper leadership; the aggravation of the ongoing financial crises as long as the world is ruled by the defenders of the profit system; the true reason for the many wars started by imperialist powers; and, most recently, the dangers societies all over the world face due to the rise of nationalist and extreme right movements (a proof of the accuracy of the WSWS analyses occurred recently through the actions of such a movement against the Roma living here). These predications became real in every respect.

So right now, I am confident that the mounting social anger all over the world will find its expression in an international working class struggle against capitalism, and I await the revival of socialism, this time of a genuine socialism, in Romania.