intelectualii de la orașe și sate ("To All Workers, Peasants, Intellectuals in Towns and Villages"). It called for an increased awareness of Soviet life, and planned to organize exhibitions, conferences, and sport events, as well as editing a magazine (which was to bear the same name as the association). Special points were made about publishing translations of Russian literature and about showcasing Soviet cinema and theater. In 1932-1933, the PCR had ensured the creation of other outlets (focusing on rallying support in other areas of Romanian society); these were Comitetul Național Antirăzboinic (the National Anti-War Committee), Liga Muncii (the Labor League), and Comitetul Național Antifascist (the National Anti-Fascist Committee). Repression While tipped off about the PCR-Amicii connection from before the society's creation (probably as early as 1932) and familiar with Constantinescu-Iași's dissemination of agitprop material, Siguranța (the country's secret police) failed to intervene immediately. According to historian Adrian Cioroianu, this was largely due to the tendency of tolerating the more discreet, if clandestine, manifestations of support for the Soviet cause, especially in Bessarabia (where Constantinescu-Iași was active). It was also at this time that the establishment itself sought a compromise with the Soviet state, largely due to the efforts of Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolae Titulescu (1934 was the year when diplomatic relations between the two countries were agreed upon). In short time, however, the notoriety of the organization and its tight connections with an illegal movement enlisted a response from Romania's leadership. In September, National Liberal cabinet of Gheorghe Tătărescu, acting through Minister of the Interior Ion Inculeț, refused to allow the Amicii URSS magazine to be published (either at the original location in Bucharest or in the more isolated one it found in Pitești). Constantinescu-Iași and Alexandru Sahia decided to visit Moscow on the occasion of the October Revolution 17th Anniversary, thus testing Romanian legislation that made crossing the border into Soviet territory illegal. The carefully organized action implied the creation of two distinct groups, headed by Constantinescu-Iași and Sahia respectively; the former, supposed to cross the Dniester, never actually left the country, while Sahia's, passing through Poland, took part in festivities at the Kremlin. Pressures increased, with the Tribunal of Ilfov County refusing to allow the group's registration, and with several employees of universities, such as Mihai Beniuc and Teodor Bugnariu, receiving semi-official criticism for their Amicii membership. The Siguranța began routine searches at the organization headquarters, and