Virgil Trofin

Born in Lipovăț, Vaslui County, Trofin had an early career as a mechanical fitter and boilermaker, and joined the Romanian Communist Party in 1945. He was relatively close to Communist Party leader Ana Pauker before she was purged from office in 1953: he named his daughter in her honor (a common practice among prominent communists of the time).Tismăneanu, p. 300

Rallying with General Secretary Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, he was among the younger activists to be promoted by the latter in the wake of Pauker's downfall.Frunză, p. 437 From June 1956 to June 1964, he was First Secretary of the Union of Communist Youth.[http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/51-3-303.shtml "Rumanian Plenum Announces Reforms In Trade Unions And Top Personnel Changes"], Radio Free Europe, February 17, 1971.{{dead link|date=June 2023}}Tismăneanu, p. 202 In August 1964, he was awarded the Order of the Star of the Romanian People's Republic, 2nd class.{{citation|url=https://lege5.ro/Gratuit/g43dknzt/decretul-nr-509-1964-pentru-conferirea-unor-ordine-ale-republicii-populare-romine|title= Decretul Consiliului de Stat al Republicii Populare Romîne nr. 509 din 18 august 1964 pentru conferirea unor ordine ale Republicii Populare Romîne|language=ro|publisher=Buletinul Oficial|issue=12|date=August 27, 1964|website=lege5.ro}} In the Great National Assembly, Trofin represented Podu Turcului, Bacău County from 1957 to 1965, Gherla from 1965 to 1969, Pitești from 1969 to 1975, Brașov from 1975 to 1980, and Târgu Jiu from 1980 to November 1981.Florica Dobre (ed.), [http://www.cnsas.ro/documente/2004%20-%20Membrii%20CC.pdf Membrii C. C. al P. C. R.: 1945–1989], p. 584. CNSAS. Editura Enciclopedicã, Bucharest, 2004. {{ISBN|973-45-0486-X}}

His influence in the government increased due to his work in eliminating the primary obstacle to Nicolae Ceaușescu's rise to power, Gheorghe Apostol (during which time he joined the Politburo and Central Committee).Tismăneanu, pp. 232, 239, 246, 294, 305[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E4D61239F934A35754C0A962948260 "Virgil Trofin. Obituary"], in The New York Times, July 7, 1984 A secretary of the Central Committee charged with cadre policies after 1965,Tismăneanu, p. 246 Trofin served for a time as Deputy Prime Minister. From 1969 to 1971 he was chairman of the National Union of Agricultural Production Co-operatives.

In 1971, he was appointed as chairman of the Central Council of the General Union of Trade Unions but replaced in the party secretariat by Ion Iliescu (a Radio Free Europe analysis at the time proposed either that Trofin was demoted or that the Party placed more emphasis on workers by placing a high-ranking activist as union policy maker). He had his ups and downs in his relationship with Ceaușescu (with corresponding career successes and failures). In 1979, he replaced Vasile Patilineț as Minister of Mines, Oil and Geology.

In November 1981, Trofin was accused of being responsible for sending poor-quality coal to power stations,Frunză, p. 486 expelled from the Central Committee, and demoted to being chairman of the Central Committee of Artisans' Cooperatives, and, after further confrontations with the leadership, director of a collective farm in Călărași. In Victor Frunză's view, the charge was actually a cover-up for Ceaușescu's own mismanagement of the mining industry (before and after the Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977).

He died in June 1984 at the {{ill|Central Military Universitary Emergency Hospital "Carol Davila"|lt=Central Military Hospital|ro|Spitalul Universitar de Urgență Militar Central „Dr. Carol Davila”}} in Bucharest; the official cause of death was listed as appendicitis. Based on various pieces of evidence, it was contended that he committed suicide.Tismăneanu, p. 350 Contrary to official practice, no obituary was published in Communist Party newspapers, and the cause of death was not disclosed. He was buried on June 7 at the Ghencea Military Cemetery; one of those attending the funeral was Ion Iliescu.{{cite web|url=https://casasfatului.ro/2024/05/30/virgil-trofin-cazangiul-de-locomotive-care-l-a-infruntat-pe-ceausescu/|title=Virgil Trofin, cazangiul de locomotive care l-a înfruntat pe Ceaușescu|language=ro|publisher=Casa Sfatului|date=May 30, 2024|access-date=February 2, 2025}}

Trofin and his wife, Elena, had a son, Mircea, and a daughter, Ana.{{cite book|last=Tismăneanu|first=Vladimir|author-link=Vladimir Tismăneanu|title=Lumea secretă a nomenclaturii- Amintiri, dezvăluiri, portrete|publisher=Humanitas|year=2012|pages=27, 28, 245}} The son, a prosecutor, was married from 1979 to 1982 to fashion model Melek Amet; his daughter became an actress at the Odeon Theatre (Giulești).

{{Reflist}}

• Victor Frunză, Istoria stalinismului în România ("The History of Stalinism in Romania"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1990
• Vladimir Tismăneanu, Stalinism pentru eternitate, Polirom, Iași, 2005 {{ISBN|973-681-899-3}} (translation of Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2003, {{ISBN|0-520-23747-1}})

• {{in lang|ro}} Remus Radu, [http://www.cotidianul.ro/index.php?id=43&art=8722&cHash=750be2859e "Războiul de peste 30 de ani dintre orașe cu vanități istorice" ("The War of over 30 Years between Cities with Historical Conceits")], in Cotidianul, January 31, 2006.{{dead link|date=June 2023}}

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Category:1926 births

Category:1984 deaths

Category:Romanian Communist Party politicians

Category:Deputy prime ministers of Romania

Category:Members of the Great National Assembly

Category:Romanian trade unionists

Category:People from Vaslui

Category:Boilermakers

Category:Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic

Category:Burials at Ghencea Cemetery