[1][2] Following the decision of the May 1922 Congress of the Socialist Party of Romania (PSR) to unconditionally affiliate to the Third International (Comintern), the Romanian authorities arrested en masse its leadership, accused of conspiracy against state security.
The Federation had been constituted in June 1921 by the reformist groups that had left the original PSR in early February, dissatisfied with the growing strength of the communist faction.
[5] Thus, the Bucharest section successfully ran in the 1925 local elections on a common list with the Peasant Workers' Bloc, a front organization of the PCdR – the latter having been banned by the Romanian government in 1924.
[6] The transformation of the FPSR into the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSDR) in 1927 however meant the loss of PS’s autonomy, with decisions on electoral alliances falling within the competence of the national leadership.
Furthermore, Ghelerter, himself a member of the Executive Committee, was expelled from the PSDR in July, accused of criticising the alliance with the Peasants' Party as well as protecting and encouraging communist elements within his section.
In the presence of a large number of former members of the section, as well as representatives from major industrial centres from the Old Kingdom, the meeting adopted a manifesto authored by Ghelerter, Voitec and Petre Zissu.
[8] At the same meeting, a Committee of the Bucharest section was elected and tasked to work with militants from Ploieşti, Galaţi, Câmpina, and Botoşani towards calling a country-wide Congress.
Soon after foundation, the PSMR was also joined by other important figures from the PSDR, the Peasant Workers' Bloc and the local trade unions, such as Constantin Mănescu, Dumitru Gănescu or Iancu Iliescu.
Despite its claimed independence, the decision of the communist-dominated Bloc to forego an alliance with the socialists mirrored the Comintern ban on collaboration with social-democrats imposed on the French and English communist parties, instituted in February 1928.
[15] After the Bloc refused another alliance offer, the PSMR, unable to raise sufficient funds, decided not to participate in the local elections of 1930, calling the workers to cancel their vote by writing "Down with the terror!