.
The mine owner to the miner: "A socialist, you say? My son is a socialist too, but without going on strike..., that is why he already has his own capital..." The first organized party of the Romanian socialists,
Romanian Social Democratic Workers' Party was founded in 1893, but was disbanded by the end of the decade after conflicts between the bourgeois leaders, who considered democratic reforms were possible only in alliance with the
National Liberal Party, and the proletarian leaders and members, who wanted to continue as a strictly working class party. Lacking material means and organisational experience, the Marxists were only able to re-organise a socialist party in 1910, when the
Social Democratic Party of Romania was founded. Outlawed during
World War I, the party re-emerged in 1918 with a revolutionary programme, rebranding itself as the
Socialist Party of Romania (PSR). As following the war Romania acquired a large extent of new territories, the socialists toned down their objectives in order to accommodate the more
reformist-minded
Social Democratic Party of Transylvania and Banat and
Social Democratic Party of Bukovina. Despite successive declarations in favour of uniting the three parties under a single central leadership, this objective was never completed, as the revolutionary and reformist factions came into open conflict. Unity projects where shattered after the social democrats, including most members of the Bukovina party, an important part of the Transylvanian party, and a minority in old Romania, broke from the party in February 1921, the moment it became clear that the communist faction had gained a majority in the central leadership. The majority of the PSR became increasingly favorable to the
Bolshevik option, reforming itself as the
Communist Party of Romania (
PCdR, later
PCR), in May 1921. A minority wing formed the
Federation of Socialist Parties from Romania, which reformed as the
Social Democratic Party in May 1927 and affiliated with the
International. The leader of the PSD in the following period was
Constantin Titel Petrescu. The party was a member of the
Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1940. Beginning with the late 1920s several groups left the party dissatisfied with what they perceived as the turn of the PSDR leadership to right-wing politics. Such groups included the
Socialist Workers Party of Romania, founded in 1928 by a group around
Leon Ghelerter (joined in 1931 by former communist leader
Gheorghe Cristescu), and the
Socialist Party (
Partidul Socialist) created in 1933 by a group around
Constantin Popovici. Shortly after the latter's creation, the factions joined to form the
Unitary Socialist Party, only to split again in 1935. Banned in 1938 by the personal
dictatorship of
King Carol II, the PSD remained active in clandestinity, peacefully resisting to the rise of
Fascism, condemning the
Iron Guard and the
National Legionary State proclaimed in 1940. With the ascendancy of
Ion Antonescu and Romania's participation in
World War II alongside the
Axis powers (
see Romania during World War II), the PSD, who remained favourable to the
Allies, continued passive resistance to the regime. After the
Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, the social democrats broke all the ties with the
communists, who supported the Soviet annexation. In April 1944, the PCR and the PSD formed a '''United Workers' Front'
(Frontul Unic Muncitoresc''), which was meant to coordinate actions from the left. In June the two parties, along with the
National Peasants' Party and the National Liberals, created the clandestine
National Democratic Bloc, which succeeded in overthrowing Antonescu's government on August 23, and backed the government of
Constantin Sănătescu which declared war on the Axis. ==Late 1940s==