 However, he was persecuted by the Romanian secret service agency, the Securitate, because of his pro-western views and criticism of Romanian Communist Party, including Nicolae Ceauşescu.He was not allowed to leave his home and suffered restrictions in his artistic work.After the fall of Nicolae Ceauşescu in 1989, Octavian Paler continued his anti-communist activity as a founding member of the Group for Social Dialogue ("Grupul de Dialog Social"), together with Ana Blandiana and Gabriel Liiceanu amongst others.