Up until Stalin's death and even afterwards, Gheorghiu-Dej did not amend repressive policies (such as the works employing penal labor on the Danube-Black Sea Canal). On the orders of Gheorghiu-Dej Romania implemented also the massive forced collectivization of land in the rural areas. At the same time, he was the main instigator of the assassination of Ștefan Foriș in 1946, and the arrest of Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu in 1948, both of whom had been his rivals inside the Party's leadership. Gheorghiu-Dej was also responsible for purging other party colleagues like Ana Pauker and her allies in the Secretariat: Vasile Luca and Teohari Georgescu, who was scapegoated and blamed for many political and economical failures during his rule.