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Ceausescu's Bribes

By Mihai Popescu, Octavian Catană

In case you've been wondering what type of paperweights and tablecloths communist dictators used to like, wonder no more.

Just the other week, our friends over at VICE Romania went to an exhibition of all sorts of paraphernalia found in the home of former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena.

The most interesting piece included in the exhibition is a painting by Constantin Artachino, called 'Scanteia'.Scanteia was basically the Romanian version of the Russian Pravda, the newspaper of the Socialist Party. Everyone had to buy it and being seen reading it gave you bonus points. Artachino was not a supporter of the Communist Party, but poverty forced him to work for them. Revenge comes in many forms, though – look closely at the woman's eyes, and they hint that she isn’t really reading the paper, she’s just holding it so others can see its title. This subtle irony was joined by a cabbage thrown in the right corner of the painting. Apparently in Romania, this counts as an insult, because cabbages are thought of as gross. A bit harsh on cabbages, but what the hell.