Ștefan Gheorghiu (15 January 1879 – 19 March 1914) was a

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

n trade unionist and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

. Born to Năstase, a carpenter in

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Ble ...

, he entered the socialist movement and became a member of his native city's Workers' Club. After the leaders of the Romanian Social-Democratic Workers' Party entered the National Liberal Party in 1899, he struggled to reorganise the workers' movement. In 1903 he went by foot to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

to participate in a workers' protest in the

Cișmigiu Gardens The Cișmigiu Gardens or Cișmigiu Park () are a public park in the center of Bucharest, Romania, spanning areas on all sides of an artificial lake. The gardens' creation was an important moment in the history of Bucharest. They form the oldes ...

. He played an important role in setting up trade unions and was one of the promoters of the General Conference of Trade Unions in 1906. During the 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt, he was an outspoken defender of the peasants; arrested as an instigator of opposition, he was detained at prisons in Ploiești and

Galați Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...

. Upon release, he went to

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est (development region), ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2021 Romanian ...

, where he met

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 th ...

. Gheorghiu was a member and leader of the "Working Romania" Socialist Circles and one of the founders of 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 Form ...

in 1910. He protested against Romania's participation in the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia and Kingdom of Greece, Greece, on 1 ...

and published the manifesto ''War against War'' before dying, aged 35, of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in Bucharest's . He was buried in Ploiești in a civil funeral. The

Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy The Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy (Romanian: ''Academia Ștefan Gheorghiu'', in full: ''Academia de învățămînt social-politic Ștefan Gheorghiu de pe lîngă CC al PCR'' — roughly, ''Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy for Socio-Political Education ...

was named in his honour in 1946.

References

* Lane, A. T. ''Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders'', p. 348.

Greenwood Publishing Group Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of ...

(1995), {{DEFAULTSORT:Gheorghiu, Stefan 1879 births 1914 deaths People from Ploiești Romanian trade unionists Social Democratic Party of Romania (1910–1918) politicians 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Romania Romanian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Romania Romanian anarchists