The 1948 Constitution of Romania was the communist state constitution of the Romanian People's Republic, which it enshrined into law. It was modelled on the 1936 Soviet Constitution and adopted by the Great National Assembly (MAN) on 13 April 1948, being published in Monitorul Oficial the same day. The Romanian People's Republic was defined as a "unitary and sovereign people's state" that "came into being through a struggle led by the people, the working class at their head, against fascism, reaction and imperialism".
It proclaimed the principle of the sovereignty of the people, who "exercises its power through representative organs, elected by universal, equal, direct and secret vote". In reality, because a single party, the Romanian Workers' Party, controlled all the levers of power, this principle was never put into practice. In a first for a constitutional act in Romania, provisions were introduced dealing with the socio-economic structure of society, indicating the existence of three categories of property: state-owned ("as goods of the entire citizenry"), cooperative and private. The superior nature of state-owned property was spelled out, as was the duty of each citizen to help expand its scope. In order to provide a constitutional basis for the waves of nationalization that were to come, it was provided that "when the general interest demands it, the means of production, banks and insurance societies, which are the private property of physical or juridical persons, may become State property, that is a public good, under conditions provided by law". The state was to defend "working people" against "exploitation" and to raise their standard of living. The principle of guiding and planning the national economy was introduced, while domestic and foreign trade was regulated and controlled by the state.
