[3] At age 12, after 5 years of elementary school, he left home, and started working as an apprentice at Căile Ferate Române, the state railway corporation.

[3] He joined the National Peasants' Party (PNȚ), serving as secretary for the Blue Sector of Bucharest until 1929.

[4] At the Malaxa works, he met Gheorghe Vasilichi, who recruited him into the Communist Party (PCR)[3] in 1931.

[4][11] His second wife was Ecaterina Micu-Chivu (née Klein), a communist activist who worked after 1947 for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Romanian–Soviet Institute, and the Red Cross, and was a professor at Politehnica University until 1955.

[4][2][11] His third wife was Maria Chivu (née Manolescu), an engineer and a party and union activist.