Bessarabian Soviet annexation, seeing it as a fulfillment of Comintern directives; Răceanu, who documented in writing his own opposition to this policy, was expelled from the party on the basis of his statement. On 31 December 1940, Foriș reached Romania by sailing clandestinely from southern Bessarabia (incorporated by the Ukrainian SSR) and into Tulcea. This part of the operation was overseen by Dumitru Coliu, using connections in the Lipovan fishing community. On his passage through Northern Dobruja, Foriș was reportedly met by a female comrade, Victoria Sârbu, who became his friend. His transport to Bucharest was organized by Birtaș and Agneta Runcan, who then hid him in the Runcan home on Bouleanu Street, and later at Oscar Redlingher's villa in Dorobanți. He lived largely in seclusion, only stepping out of the house at night, generally using Birtaș and Romeo Runcan as his connections to the outside. He also relied on Remus Koffler for collecting funds from regular members, as well as "from well-off intellectuals, entrepreneurial engineers, high-ranking functionaries"; examples of major sponsors include Emil Calmanovici, who also did bookkeeping for the party. Foriș was confirmed with a perfunctory ceremony which simply acknowledged Comintern directives. During these events, Romania's FRN had crumbled, giving way to an Iron Guard government, called "National Legionary State", which proclaimed its alignment with Nazi Germany and the other Axis Powers. By then, the Axis alliance no longer conflicted with the communist agenda: Foriș had to maneuver his party in the wake of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which had enshrined a two-year armistice between Moscow and Berlin. He immediately circulated his critique of Stefanov's mandate, accusing him of lassitude and "sectarian" tendencies. As Foriș noted, Stefanov had not kept up with the course of German–Soviet relations, and was still publishing anti-Nazi manifestos that "would have been fine before the pact between the Soviet Union and Germany". The National Legionary regime began by cultivating friendly relations with the PCR: though it did not liberate cadres from their imprisonment, the Iron Guard politely greeted them and engaged them in polite discussions. Some party cells viewed the situation as intolerable. In November, during Foriș's absence, Petre "Zidaru" Gheorghe had rallied PCR cadres in the Bucharest neighborhood of Obor, for a public demonstration against Germans and Guardists alike. This resulted in another clampdown and loss of personnel, which reportedly angered the new general secretary. Shortly after Foriș's return, a brief civil war