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This article advocates that an anthropologically informed perspective of history is necessary in order to produce fresh evidence and knowledge of Romanian communism. It analyzes the confessions made by a young communist activist at a meeting of the Union of Working Youth (UTM) in 1952 showing how a grounded and relational vision of history allows for a better understanding of the complex process involved in establishing communist rule. The article discusses some of the key notions and practices of the communist political project, such as “deviation”, “critique” and “self-critique”, and engages them as open categories of political power. The proposed interpretation stresses their transformative impact up to the point of intricately altering individual biographies and lives.

Keywords: anthropology, history, power, representation, deviation, critique and self-critique