Material titled “The arrest of the delegates to the congress who affiliated themselves to the Third International” May 1921 ” 1 The arrest of the delegates to the Congress who affiliated themselves to the Third International The Socialist Congress where the arrest of the delegates took place was hold on Sunday 3 May 1921 at the Socialist Club but the intention of organising the congress and its preparation were made public several months before The congress was open to the public and the participation to the congress could not be considered a contravention because the congress was hold not only with the authorities’ knowledge but even with the approval of Mister Argentoianu the Ministry of Internal Affairs at that time general Nicoleanu head of Police and of the commander of the Second Corp of the Army Moreover the organisation of the congress was facilitated by their direct involvement in creating the necessary conditions for holding the congress Even the hall of the Socialist Club which belonged to the army since October has not been rented to anyone else not even to the unions The hall was put at our disposal precisely for holding the congress Evidence in this respect can be found in the archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs namely a declaration signed by a delegation to the congress which gave assurance that the debates will take place in perfect order The order was respected throughout the debates until the illegal arrest of the delegates took place The agenda was known There is no evidence that the agenda of the congress mentioning the affiliation to the Communist International has been kept hidden The agenda has been published daily in the newspaper “Socialismul” weeks before the congress and in the last year the party sections all over the country made public the affiliation and their request for a congress to decide the affiliation raised in their regular meetings Most of the delegates to the congress had a special mandate from their sections to vote for the affiliation So they voted for the affiliation in the name of the sections they represented There is also evidence in this respect in the archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs namely a declaration signed by the same delegation and on the same day of 6 May as the document mentioned above which revealed the agenda the issue of affiliation to the Communist International and all the other clarifications requested by the head of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs at that time 2 Evidently the authorisation for holding the congress and for freeing the hall has been given based on these declarations In addition in the morning of 12 May when the congress was hold Mister Argentoianu approved with diligence the prolongation of the debates Despite all these and without any reason military authorities entered the hall where the congress was ongoing and arrested the participants The development of the events shows that they followed the strategic plan of attracting the enemy into a trap and surrounding it How the arrest has been done At… a squad of gendarmes closed the doors of the Socialist Club where the congress took place Meanwhile another squad raided the headquarters of the newspaper “Socialismul” all their doors being barricaded by troops Immediately after the troops had arrived general Nicoleanu the head of Police V Gustav the head of Siguranta prosecutor Racoviceanu and the royal commissars lieutenant colonel Georgescu and major Cernat arrived as well Around 300 men and women have been arrested deputies journalists secretaries and clerks of the working-class movement workers intellectuals teachers attorneys students were accused of plotting against state security All those arrested were transported to Vacaresti prison in trucks and cars After that their homes were raided Here are the names of some of those arrested Gh Cristescu deputy Niculescu Mizil Costa Stoef deputy Iuliu Neanu Negulescu D Grofu Gr Vasilescu I Micescu Eugen Ionescu attorney in Constanta city Gh Sava Andrei Ionescu D Gheorghiu Dobrica Radu N Russu Stoiculescu D deputy Fotache Dorojan Ev Stanef deputy N Cruceanu attorney and teacher at the Military School in Craiova city C Manescu Maria Nicolae Al Dobrogeanu Gherea deputy Gh Pancotan A Berger Macavei Mihai Alfred Rusch Elek Koblos N Rosenberg Karoly Toth Nandor Turfo Serban Nantoc Ulici Lazor Al Naschie Geza Batori C Nitulescu Iosif Keretz V Florescu Eufrosina Cotor Ion Popescu Marin Popa Iacob Sosek N Criconeanu Antonis Vanci Tiri Ion Zisu Avram Sain Iacob I Goldemberg Aron Kahane Radu D Stevochin D Aricescu Dr Rozvani Cohn Moscu Pavel Cartana Benedec Stefan Dascalu Gyula Mirescu Ion and others The arrest of the above deputies has to be added to the previous arrest of other four deputies raising the number of deputies arrested to nine out of 19 deputies All those mentioned above are kept under arrest and tortured one by one similar to the methods used by the medieval inquisition and run by brutal and cruel guards specially selected in this purpose 3