to inform on other workers, but also to exert psychological pressures on them and even beat them before witnesses so as to create a climate of intimidation. Writer Ruxandra Cesereanu claims a relatively large number of common criminals released from prison were brought into the mines as well. The Valley was declared a restricted area from 4 August until 1 January 1978. Strict surveillance was intended to block the flow of any information to the rest of the country or contact with the outside world, yet 22 miners acting on behalf of 800 others managed to send a letter (dated 18 September) to the French newspaper Libération, which published it on 12 October. Foreign media drew a link between Paul Goma's movement that spring and the miners' unrest several months later, though no connection actually existed. Aftermath The response to the unrest—giving the appearance of acquiescing to the workers' demands and meeting local grievances, then isolating the ringleaders by sending them away or imprisoning them once the strike had ended, and reneging on concessions—established a model for dealing with such incidents in the future. For example, other disturbances followed in Cluj-Napoca, Turda and Iași, where students and workers in two separate protests apparently marched through the streets to party headquarters. There was a strict news blackout on such events, but it seems these were peacefully and easily defused given the non-political nature of the demands (poor factory and dormitory conditions) and their timely resolution. The Jiu Valley strike, along with the Goma episode, taught dissidents that any public deviation from the regime would not be tolerated. Gheorghe Maniliuc was imprisoned for three and a half years, and after his release died in 1987 of heart trouble. Dobre's fate was long a source of speculation – even the first version of the Tismăneanu Report claimed he had been killed, while others theorised he became a party activist, was put in a mental hospital, etc. Dobre gave an interview in 2007 in which he clarified later events. The salient points of his later life are as follows: he and his family were moved to Craiova on August 31, 1977, where they lived until May 1990, in total isolation and under constant Securitate surveillance until December 1989 (over 50 agents informed on him). He was given work as an unskilled auto mechanic and, after a calculated rejection from other universities, he attended the