Amicii URSS (Romanian for "[The] Friends of the Soviet Union"; , occasionally known as Prietenii URSS (), which carries the same meaning) was a cultural association in interwar Romania, uniting left-wing and anti-fascist intellectuals who advocated a détente between their country and Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union (at a time when Greater Romania, which included Bessarabia and all of Bukovina, was engaged in a diplomatic conflict with the Soviets). Created in the spring of 1934 by Petre Constantinescu-Iași, an activist of the previously outlawed Romanian Communist Party (PCR or PCdR), the society took its inspiration from the French Amis de l'URSS and from the worldwide network (led by Henri Barbusse and Clara Zetkin). Actively encouraged and financed by the Comintern (under the provisions of the Popular Front doctrine), Amicii URSS was viewed with suspicion by authorities — never officially registered, it was eventually banned on the orders of Premier Gheorghe Tătărescu on November 25, 1934. It ceased its activity after that point, but constituted a precedent for the Romanian Society for Friendship with the Soviet Union (ARLUS).
The grouping included several early or future PCR activists. Aside from Constantinescu-Iași and the co-founders Ion Niculi and Iorgu Iordan, these were: Scarlat Callimachi, N. D. Cocea, Alexandru Sahia, Stephan Roll, Mihai Beniuc, Petre Pandrea, Teodor Bugnariu, and Mihai Popilian. Its other members were communist sympathizers, or people with no clear political views; among others, these were: Mac Constantinescu, Demostene Botez, Haig Acterian, Ioan Hudiță, Zaharia Stancu, Marcel Janco, Șerban Cioculescu, F. Brunea-Fox, Sergiu Dan, Radu Cernătescu, Octav Doicescu, Constantin Motaș, and Sandu Eliad.
Creation and goals
Although a PCR section was represented at international meetings of Friends of the Soviet Union as early as 1930, the initiative to create a Romanian branch was delayed until four years after — a period during which an appeal launched by the delegation won approval in several locations throughout the country. The first meeting took place in Chișinău, in the private residence of Constantinescu-Iași (1932). Local circles of supporters were also set up in cities such as Iași, Cluj, and the capital Bucharest. The latter was also the home of another nucleus, the home of sculptor Mac Constantinescu (in the area near the present-day Sala Palatului), where correspondence and affiliations were being received.
After its creation, Amicii URSS issued a statement of purpose, publicized on July 28 as an appeal and known as Către toți muncitorii, țăranii, 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).