The
competition between the socialist / Communist social system and the capitalist
social system elicited a need for secrecy. This ideological battle took place
during the Cold War, which is conceptually defined as "the unarmed development
of a competition between antagonistic social systems" where the goal is to
"suppress" or "liquidate" the competition. This organized
secrecy played a part in structuring life within each of these systems. The
secret collections in Romanian libraries consisting of banned books contributed
directly to this secrecy. Library secret fonds were used to control the
circulation of information within a system or throughout other systems. These
prohibited materials were withdrawn from circulation and kept confidential.
Libraries kept lists of these fonds separate from the regular collection, and
these lists were kept and updated throughout the years. During the Communist
regime in Romania, the lists of forbidden books were considered "an
efficient instrument for the political struggles from the inside of the
Communist party." Library secret fonds are a symbol of the antagonism
between the two political systems of the Cold War.
