Leonte Filipescu (September 18, 1895 – April 13, 1922) was one of the leaders of the early

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 communist movement, shot in custody by the Romanian authorities. Leonte Filipescu was born in a family of workers in

Bârlad Bârlad () is a municipiu, city in Vaslui County, Romania. It lies on the banks of the river Bârlad (river), Bârlad, which waters the high plains of Western Moldavia. At Bârlad the railway from Iași diverges, one branch skirting the river S ...

. He worked from an early age, first as a dock labourer in the port of Galați, and after 1910 as a waiter 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 ...

, Romania's capital. In Bucharest he met several trade unionist active in the waiter's guild, such as Gheorghe Niculescu-Mizil, Iancu Olteanu, and Marian Cristescu, who introduced him to socialist ideas. He took part in several waiters' protests, and, after the start of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, in the anti-war demonstrations organised in Bucharest by the Socialists. In the meantime, he also joined the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

, sitting on its far left wing. As Romania joined the war on the side of the Entente in 1916, Leonte Filipescu was drafted and sent to the front, but was soon captured by the German Army and interned in a concentration camp. He succeeded in escaping along with several prisoners, and by the spring of 1917 he was back in Bucharest, taking part in the demonstration organised by the Socialists in front of the German Army Headquarters in occupied Romania. In 1918 he was one of the editors of the socialist manifest ''Trăiască Socialismul'' ("Long live Socialism"), and advocated its distribution by bypassing the military censorship. In the first post-war years, Leonte Filipescu became one of the leaders of the left-wing grouping of the

Socialist Party of Romania The Socialist Party of Romania ( ro, Partidul Socialist din România, commonly known as ''Partidul Socialist'', PS) was a Romanian socialist political party, created on December 11, 1918 by members of the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSDR) ...

, and participated in the organisation of several strikes and mass demonstrations in Bucharest. In July 1919 he began contributing to the left-wing journal ''Federația'', advocating

communist revolution A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution often, but not necessarily, inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism. Depending on the type of government, socialism can be used as an intermediate stag ...

and the transformation of the Romanian society into a socialist society. Following the authorities crackdown on the

1920 Romanian general strike The 1920 Romanian general strike was a major nationwide strike in the Kingdom of Romania, lasting between October 20 and 28 and involved the participation of most of the over 400,000 industrial workers from across the country.Third International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...

, and its transformation into a communist party. The same year he went to Iași, in eastern Romania, where he organised, along with

Pavel Tcacenco Pavel Tcacenco or Tkachenko (russian: Павел Дмитриевич Ткаченко; born Yakov Antipov or Antip, russian: Яков Яковлевич Антипов; 7 April?, 1892/1899/1901 – 5 September 1926) was an Imperial Russian-born ...

, the Socialist Conference of March 3–6. During the talks, he reiterated his support for the transformation of the Socialist Party into a communist one. Narrowly escaping capture during the crackdown on the Conference, he left for Bulgaria, missing the May Congress of the Socialist Party which saw its transformation into the

Communist Party of Romania The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that woul ...

. Returning in Romania at the end of July 1921, he found most of the leadership of the Communist Party in prison, so he took part in the organisation of a provisional leadership, assuming the control of the party's

youth wing A youth wing is a subsidiary, autonomous, or independently allied front of a larger organization (usually a political party but occasionally another type of organization) that is formed in order to rally support for that organization from members ...

. He worked in gathering support for the communist imprisoned at

Jilava Jilava is a commune in Ilfov county, Muntenia, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava. The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin ( Bulgarian жилав ''žilav'' (tough), which passed into Romanian as '' ...

, Văcărești, and Doftana among the workers in Bucharest's factories. In October 1921 he was captured by the secret police, and became one of the main defendants in the

Dealul Spirii Trial Dealul Spirii Trial (Romanian language, Romanian: ''Procesul din Dealul Spirii'') was a political trial conducted by a military tribunal in the Kingdom of Romania. 271 members of the Communist Party of Romania were accused of treason after voting f ...

. While in prison, he contracted a severe form of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. Due to his health problems, he was granted

severance Severance may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Severance'' (film), a 2006 British horror film * ''Severance'' (novel), a 2018 novel by Ling Ma *''Severance'', a 2006 short-story collection by Robert Olen Butler * ''Severance'' (TV series), a ...

, and was moved to a military prison in Bucharest. In April 1922 he was summoned to appear as a witness in the main trial, and the authorities decided to have him transferred to Jilava, despite Leonte's opposition. On the night of April 13/14, during the transport, he was shot in the head and in the heart, ostensibly because he was attempting to escape. His assassination provoked outrage among Romanian workers and in the press. In the 1960s, his remains were moved to the ''Monument of the Heroes for the Freedom of the People and of the Motherland, for Socialism'', in what is now Carol Park, in

, where they remained until 1991. A street in

Voluntari Voluntari () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located at a distance of 1 km from the northern border of Bucharest (on the DN2 road towards Urziceni) and is thus frequently viewed as a suburb of Bucharest. The population ...

was named after him, but it now bears the name of

Gheorghe Dinică Gheorghe Dinică (; 1 January 1934 – 10 November 2009) was a Romanian actor. Career Dinică showed an early interest in acting, being part of different amateur theater troupes since he was 17. In 1957, he entered The National Institute of Thea ...

References

* Felea, Ion (1970). "Leonte Filipescu" in ''Anale de Istorie'', Vol. XVI, Nr. 2. Institutul de Studii Istorice și Social-Politice de pe lîngă C.C. al P.C.R, Bucharest. pp. 121–124. {{DEFAULTSORT:Filipescu, Leonte 1895 births 1922 deaths People from Bârlad Dealul Spirii Trial Romanian communists Romanian military personnel of World War I Social Democratic Party of Romania (1910–1918) politicians Assassinated Romanian politicians Extrajudicial killings Deaths by firearm in Romania People murdered in Romania Romanian people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Romanian detention