Letter of 66 and the Contribution of Philologists Toward Democratization of Moldavian SSR

In this paper I examine an open letter known as the “Letter of 66”. According to the dominant interpretation of the letter, its publication in 1988 triggered the movement for national liberation of Romanians from Eastern Moldavia, which was then part of USSR, and that culminated with the declaration of independence and founding of Republic of Moldova. I argue that in addition to triggering the national liberation movement, the “Letter” represents the birth certificate of Moldovan democracy and offers a model of governance based on scientific expertise and moral and civic values. In support of this thesis, I show that the demands made in the “Letter” rejected the official Soviet view on the Romanian identity of the language spoken by Moldovan from USSR. In this way, the demands are affirmations of fundamental human liberties, which represents a first democratic exercise.