Ion Pas (born Ioan M. Pascu; October 6, 1895 – May 20, 1974) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n novelist, translator and left-wing politician. Born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, his parents were Marin Pascu, a small-time craftsman, and his wife Maria (''née'' Ispas). He attended primary school in the slum where he grew up, but was largely self-taught. He worked as a bricklayer's apprentice, typesetter, bookbinder and mechanic. His literary debut came in 1910, with the sketch "Barbu", published in ''Dumineca'' magazine. His first book was the 1912 ''Din lumea celor obidiți''. From 1913, he was a contributor and editor at

Constantin Costa-Foru Constantin Gheorghe Costa-Foru (26 October 1856 - 15 August 1935) was a Romanian journalist, lawyer and human rights activist. He was born in Bucharest on 26 October 1956, in a wealthy family. His father, Gheorghe Costa-Foru (1820–1876), was a ...

's ''Revista copiilor și a tinerimii''. He was part of the leadership at the Union of Professional Journalists and the General Association of the Press. A longstanding leftist, he was a member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR). From March 1946 to 1948, as a

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

was being established, he headed the

National Theatre Bucharest The National Theatre Bucharest ( ro, Teatrul Naţional "Ion Luca Caragiale" București) is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest. Founding It was founded as the ''Teatrul cel Mare din București'' ("Gra ...

. From November 1946 to April 1948, he was Arts Minister. During this period, the communists were increasingly anxious about the continued existence of an independent social-democratic party. One subject of concern was Pas, whom they suspected of having translated the apostate communist writer

Panait Istrati Panait Istrati (; sometimes rendered as ''Panaït Istrati''; August 10, 1884 – April 16, 1935) was a Romanian working class writer, who wrote in French and Romanian, nicknamed ''The Maxim Gorky of the Balkans''. Istrati appears to be the ...

's ''Confession pour vaincus. Après 16 mois dans l'URSS'' during the 1930s, under the pen name P. Ioanid. In February 1948, Pas took part in the PSDR's "merger" with the Romanian Communist Party to form the Romanian Workers' Party.Cristian Vasile, "1968 Romania: Intellectuals and the Failure of Reform", in

Vladimir Tismăneanu Vladimir Tismăneanu (; born July 4, 1951) is a Romanian American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in political systems and comparative politics, he is di ...

(ed.), ''Promises of 1968: Crisis, Illusion, and Utopia'', p. 249-51. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2011. He served on the party's central committee from that point until August 1969.Florica Dobre (ed.)
''Membrii C. C. al P. C. R.: 1945-1989''
p. 451. CNSAS. Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedicã, 2004. From July 1955 to 1958, he was deputy

Culture Minister A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizat ...

, and from 1959 to January 1965, served as president of Romanian Radio's committee. He was president of the Romanian delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, president of the Journalists' Syndicate from 1946, vice president of the

Romanian Writers' Union The Writers' Union of Romania (), founded in March 1949, is a professional association of writers in Romania. It also has a subsidiary in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. The Writers' Union of Romania was created by the communist regime by taking ...

and president of the Romanian Institute for Cultural Relations with the Abroad (1965-1974). Pas published a number of magazines: ''Spre lumină'' (1912), ''Gazeta tinerimii'' (with Alexandru Terziman), ''Omul liber'' (1923-1925), ''Cugetul liber'' (1927-1928, with Eugen Relgis) and ''Șantier'' (1933-1937). His work appeared in ''Socialismul'', ''Lumea nouă'', '' Adevărul'', '' Dimineața'', ''Universul literar'', ''Veselia'', ''Viața sindicală'', ''Lupta'', ''A.B.C.'', '' Facla'', '' Rampa'', ''Cuvântul liber'', ''Jurnalul'', ''Presa noastră'', ''Libertatea'', ''

Scînteia ''Scînteia'' (Romanian for "The Spark") was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history. The title is a homage to the Russian language paper ''Iskra''. It was known as ''Scânteia'' until th ...

'', ''

România Liberă ''România liberă'' ("") is a Romanian daily newspaper founded in 1943 and currently based in Bucharest. A newspaper of the same name also existed between 1877 and 1888. History and profile The name ''România liberă'' was first used by a dai ...

'' and ''Veac nou''. Described by

Leon Kalustian Leon or Levon Kalustian, also known as Calustian ( hy, Լևոն Գալուստեան, ''Levon Kalustyan''; October 17, 1908 – January 24, 1990), was a Romanian journalist, essayist and memoirist. An Armenian on his father's side, he abandoned hi ...

as gifted with a "conscientious and hard-working spirit", he wrote prolifically. Pas' output included tales (''Draga noastră păsărică'', 1951; ''Trecut întunecat'', 1957; ''Povestiri vechi și noi'', 1966), sketches and short stories (''Din lumea celor obidiți'', 1912; ''Lumea celor necăjiți'', 1924; ''Taboluri în cărbune'', 1935; ''Simple întâmplări'', 1943; ''Lumea noastră'', 1946), novels (''Povestea unei fete'', 1927; ''Veșnicul învins'', 1931; ''Zilele vieții tale'', I-IV, 1948-1950; ''Lanțuri'', I-IV, 1950-1954) and memoirs (''Oameni și momente'', 1946; ''Galantar. Cărți și oameni'', 1946; ''Așa a fost odată'', 1955; ''Carte despre vremuri multe'', 1963; ''Aducere aminte'', 1972; ''Evocări'', 1973). Authors he translated include

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel ''Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

, Stendhal,

Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in sever ...

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

and Jules Verne. He was married to Sarina Cassvan, herself a writer.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, pp. 303-04. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. Pas served as a legislator for nearly a quarter-century: elected to the Assembly of Deputies for Prahova County in 1946, he remained in that body until it was dissolved in 1948. In the

Great National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to: * Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania * Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of ...

that followed, he sat for Prahova County (1948-1952), Pitești Region (1952-1957) and for three districts in the

Buzău The city of Buzău (formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu''; ) is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carp ...

area (1957-1961, 1961-1965 and 1965-1969). He was awarded the Order of Labor, first class (1955); the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, first class (1964); and the 23 August Order, first class (1965).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pas, Ion 1895 births 1974 deaths Writers from Bucharest Romanian novelists Romanian male short story writers Romanian short story writers Romanian memoirists Romanian translators Chairpersons of the National Theatre Bucharest Romanian magazine editors Romanian Ministers of Culture Romanian Social Democratic Party (1927–1948) politicians Romanian communists Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Members of the Great National Assembly 20th-century memoirists 20th-century translators Politicians from Bucharest