I. C. Frimu - Legacy

Legacy

I. C. Frimu was among the last PSDR figures of his age to be respected by both the Reformist socialists and their communist adversaries. The moderate Constantin Titel Petrescu praised Frimu as "that admirable human example of honesty, goodness and kindliness". Rakovsky — who had since affiliated with Leninism and had taken refuge in Bolshevist Russia — was himself distressed by the news; in spring 1919, his wife Ileana Pralea wrote to Rozalia Frimu a letter of condolence, in which she said "I am in a position to add that one of my companion's greatest hopes has extinguished with Frimu." As the Socialist Party was split into the moderate groups and the newly-formed Romanian Communist Party, Frimu's legacy became the topic of dispute — Moscovici, who sided with the former, claimed that Frimu disapproved of the October Revolution (" Frimu, who had seen the Russian Revolution a year and a half of its activity, never did completely agree with its methods"), and, making reference to the communist activist Alecu Constantinescu, argued that Frimu "could not stand" the latter's "demagogy".

After the Communist regime was established, Frimu gained official status as a hero of the labor movement in Romania, and he was claimed a precursor. His remains were transferred to the Carol Park Mausoleum, designed for prominent socialists and communists, buried in the semicircle around the monument. The Sinaia Plants were given his name, as were a number of streets in Romania's main cities and a quarter of Galaţi. In 1991, when the mausoleum was deprecated, Frimu's remains were moved to Sfânta Vineri Cemetery, Griviţa.