Dissent in Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu Dissent in Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu Dissent in Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu was voicing disagreements with the government policies of Communist Romania during the totalitarian rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu after the July Theses in 1971. Because of the strong secret police (the Securitate) and harsh punishments, open dissent was rare. Notable acts of dissent include Paul Goma's 1977 letters to Ceaușescu, the founding of SLOMR (an independent workers' union) in 1979 and a number of work conflicts, such as the Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977 and the Braşov Rebellion of 1987. Dissent from within the Romanian Communist Party came
Christmas Day in the Workhouse very popular and such work made Sims a great success. He went on to write detailed exposés of the life of the poor for periodicals such as the "Weekly Dispatch", "The Pictorial World" and "The Daily News", which had been founded by Charles Dickens. Among the many parodies of Sims' ballad are "Christmas Day in the Cookhouse" (1930) by British comedian Billy Bennett, recited by a soldier in the 1969 film "Oh! What a Lovely War"; "'Twas Christmas Day in the Poorhouse" (2000) by Garrison Keillor; and "Christmas Day in Grey Gables", submitted by a listener to the BBC Radio