The Communist Party in Romania The Romanian Section of the Communist International Bucharest 8 March 1923 To the Inter-Balkan Committee and the Comintern Comrades At the beginning of spring the working class started to be active the party headquarters being more frequently visited by its members In the countryside party members started to get involved more seriously in the organisation of the party members originated from the working class Two new branches had been created in Buzau and Pitesti cities The links between centre and the countryside are taking place more regularly The Communist comrades in the countryside where branches could not be created had been advised to fight for the organisation of the working class in unions Where branches and unions exist the comrades had been advised to give priority to their development The number of the party newspaper’s readers increased to 260 this month some of them taking subscriptions In March persecution against the communist movement in Transylvania amplified 35 workers young and old being arrested under the accusation of so-called clandestine propaganda Some of them had been freed but 28 workers remained imprisoned and would be trialled by the Martial Court We count on the aid committee to give them all the material support they need depending on the committee’s fund and legal assistance The committee for propaganda and union organisation works more regularly focusing on the organisation of workers in unions The committee ensured the translation of the theses of the third congress More precisely these theses had been published in “Socialismul” last year and we intent to include them in a brochure Discussing of creating consumer cooperatives the committee decided to send a delegate to Bulgaria to see how these cooperative societies function there 1 The party adopted its position vis-à-vis the actions of the opposite parties – national and peasant parties – which was published as a manifesto addressed to the working class and can be read in “Socialismul” There were workers who participated at these parties’ meetings Workers of the Railway deserted the workplace and went to one of these meetings held on a Monday They were discontent about the working conditions Our party members working at the Railway had been severely criticised for not being able to keep their influence upon their colleagues Some of our party slogans had been used at those meetings attracting acclamations The conflict in Iasi city dated since 1921 led to the resignation of comrade Tanase and Sandu Lieblia The Central Committee delegated comrades Cristescu and Koblos to pay a visit to the branch in Iasi to investigate the situation After discussions the comrades retrieved their resignations As you know in February a strike took place at the “Universul” newspaper in Bucharest the workers in typography asking for increased incomes in accordance with the contract signed with the Ministry of Work The strikers lost and the owners took the offensive and suspended their right to free Sundays The decision was generalised to all typographies so no newspapers could be found on the market on Monday morning Comrades from some industrial plants had been fired leading to some agitation among workers From our investigation the number of union members increased in March A number of strikes hit Transylvania due to the increased prices Almost everywhere the strikers gained increased incomes Comrade Cristescu had been delegated to represent the party at the congress of the Austrian Communist Party With Communist wishes Secretary ss Gheorghe Cristescu 14 Martie Street 22 2