of Romania (PS), Stefanov became a successful candidate for Parliament, but, together with Gheorghe Cristescu and Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea, he was not validated into office. He later became critical of the PS's moderate wing, and supported a Bolshevik program. At the time, he began campaigning for a land reform, arguing that the one planned by the Alexandru Averescu government and carried out by Ion I. C. Brătianu was far from sufficient. As a member in the General Council of the PS, Stefanov took part in the drafting of the manifesto that initiated the general strike of 1920. As a result, he was imprisoned in Jilava under the accusation of communism. While the arrest prevented him from participating at the PCR's founding Congress, he fully endorsed its decisions. Indicted in the Dealul Spirii Trial and subject to an amnesty, Stefanov was elected to the General Council of the Party at its second Congress of 1922. During the same year, he represented the minor faction in the Chamber of Deputies and was its envoy to the Comintern. Stefanov and Romanian Communism Although, like Cristescu, he was criticized by the Comintern for his allegedly minimalist outlook, he rose to the leadership of the PCR soon after the party was outlawed in 1924, and was known at the time under various pseudonyms (including Popescu, Draganov, and Dragu). Again arrested in 1926, after a Siguranța Statului crackdown, Stefanov was among those exposed after authorities pressured one of his comrades to hand out the names of all PCR leaders. Supported by the International Red Aid with interventions from Marcel Pauker (the French lawyer, Maurice Juncker, solicited, was forbidden to appear before the court by the Romanian authorities and expelled from Romania, he was nonetheless sentenced for treason during a trial he faced in Cluj (the other person indicted, Vasile Luca, was acquitted). After many party activists, including the entire Politburo, took refuge to the Soviet Union, Stefanov, who was eventually set free, stood as leader of the local Secretariat (together with Pavel Tcacenko). He maintained his leadership position after Vitali Holostenco was appointed general secretary, although he ensured close contacts with David Fabian, Holostenco's rival. Stefanov led the Romanian delegation to the Fifth and Seventh Comintern World Congresses, after the formation of Popular Fronts was decided by Joseph Stalin; despite his foreign origin, he was perceived as a local member of the PCR, and became general secretary