[1] His articles, frequently criticising the working conditions in the industry, brought him into conflict with the employers; as a result the Telegraful typography fired him for "inciting workers to rebellion".

[7] As member of the PSDMR's leadership, Ionescu toured the country extensively, attempting to gather support for party from the workers of Galaţi, Brăila, Craiova, Ploieşti and Iaşi.

[7] With the revival of the Circle of Social Studies, he was one of the socialists who held regular conferences at the Sotir Hall, group which also included Nădejde, Vasile Morţun, and Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea.

[7] As a result, he come into a dispute with fellow PSDMR leader, Vasile Morţun, who envisioned the activism of the party as limited to memorandums and negotiations with the National-Liberal and Conservative politicians.

[26] Alexandru Ionescu's growing opposition to the bourgeois members of the PSDMR leadership ("the generous youth") and their collaboration with the National Liberals led to his estrangement from the party.

[27] In March 1899, in a Lumea Nouă article, Ionescu firmly rejected the idea of dissolving the party, gaining the support of Iosif Nădejde, I. C. Frimu and Constantin Z.

Expressing his contempt for the bourgeois leaders of the party who had publicly abandoned basic socialist tenets such as collective property and internationalism, he called on the workers to reject any resolutions made at the meeting.

As the "generous" faction, led by Morţun and George Diamandy, decided to go ahead with the transformation of the PSDMR into a non-Marxist party, most of the proletarian delegates, including Frimu, Buzdugan and Alecu Constantinescu, resigned in protest.

[32] Nevertheless, Ionescu participated in the 1899 elections as the Bucharest Workers' Club candidate for the second electoral college, succeeding in obtaining more votes than Vintilă Brătianu, future prime-minister of Romania, although not enough to win the seat.

[31] Later that year, the former members of the PSDMR which remained faithful to the socialist ideas created a new organisation, the România Muncitoare ("Working Class Romania") Circle, which in January 1902 began publishing the first short lived series of the eponymous newspaper.

[35][36][37] Alexandru Ionescu, the managing editor of the new publication, condemned as opportunist the betrayal of the bourgeois former members of the PSDMR, who had by then received high political offices with the support of the PNL.

When Ioan Nădejde referred (in an Adevărul interview) to the socialist revival in Romania as an "utopia", Ionescu replied by expressing his belief that the workers should have their own organisations, despite the industrial backwardness of the country.

Frimu, D. Marinescu and Ştefan Gheorghiu firmly opposed the law, while another, which included Ionescu and Iosif Nădejde, had a more favourable view, believing corporations will gradually improve workers' lives.

His attempts to introduce into the corporation's charter some guarantees for workers' welfare, such as minimum wage or fixed working time, failed, as they met the resistance of the employers.

[41] He maintained his post in the leadership of the corporation until the end of the decade, at times supporting positions that came into clear contradiction with the socialist ideas he had championed around the turn of the century.

Resigning from the corporation in April 1909, Ionescu expressed in a România Muncitoare article his disenchantment with this employer-controlled form of workers' organisation, and recognised that trade unions were better fitted to represent the interests of the proletarians.

Ionescu regarded the waiters' demands for the right to request tips as contrary to socialist ideals, and deplored the attacks against waitresses printed in press of the PSR.