Ion Niculi - Communist Politician

Communist Politician

After a coup overthrew Ion Antonescu's régime on August 23, 1944 (see Romania during World War II), he was given sensitive party and state posts. At the November 1946 election, he was elected a deputy for the PCR-led Bloc of Democratic Parties, serving as vice president of the Chamber of Deputies.

When the Romanian People's Republic was proclaimed on December 30, 1947, Niculi was elected member (vice president) of the Presidium of the Romanian People's Republic, serving from that date until April 13, 1948, alongside Constantin Ion Parhon, Mihail Sadoveanu, Ştefan Voitec and Gheorghe Stere. For the first time in modern Romanian history, a worker shared the position of head of state.

A member of the regional Moldavian Committee of the PCR from 1946, in 1948 Niculi was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers' Party (as the PCR was now called). In 1955 he was elected a member of the party's Central Review Committee. From 1953 to 1956, he was president of the Executive Committee of the Popular Assembly of the city of Iaşi (a position equivalent to that of mayor).

In recognition of his merits, the Romanian Socialist Republic (as it was called from 1965) decorated Niculi with the important title "Hero of Socialist Labour", as well as with other orders and medals. Aged 92, he died in Iaşi in 1979, being buried in that city's Eternitatea Cemetery.