Chioru was MASSR Commissar for Education between 1928 and 1930, and in this capacity worked to create a "Moldovan language" of the proletariat, principally by overstating differences between the Moldavian dialect and modern Romanian.

He edited Gavril Buciușcan's dictionary, which stood as a moderate sample of Moldovenism, but around 1929 took personal charge of the project, endorsing in-depth cultural separatism through Russification of the vocabulary.

[1] Pavel was a musically gifted child, who went on to perform in amateur choirs, as well as becoming a multi-instrumentalist (he could play the piano, the button accordion, the mandolin, and the Jew's harp).

As noted by the Russian scholar Oleg Grom, the former group, who still enjoyed relative supremacy, did not regard Romanians and Moldovans as distinguished by ethnicity, as much as by class: "'Romanians' in this interpretation are, first of all, boyars and capitalists who 'fooled' their own people".

[8] Chioru's own interest in the linguistic field led him to serve as publisher of a Russian–Moldovan dictionary, compiled by Gavril Buciușcan in 1926; he shared editorial credits with writer Dmitrii Milev.

[9] Reviewing this contribution, historian Marius Tărîță notes that, though maintaining a localized Cyrillic script, it did not yet endorse claims that "Moldovan" was wholly distinct from Romanian.

[10] Chioru's experiment with language began in September 1926, when he was assigned as director of the MASSR Scientific Committee—this institute only had one functioning section, dedicated to linguistics and led by the grammarian Leonid Madan.

[13] He took personal charge of the project, superseding Buciușcan's dictionary with his own works in lexicography and a tract, Dispri orfografia linghii moldovinești (appearing at Bîrzu in 1929); "either by the choice of Chior or through additions and alterations by the editors", these recommended a Russified lexis, with terms such as soiuz for "union" (instead of the Romanian unire).

[15] In terms of orthography, Chioru favored revamping Cyrillic with direct borrowings from the Russian alphabet—including я and ю—arguing that this was a "democratic, simplified and scientific" approach.

Reviewing his contribution, linguist Anatol Lența observes that it "completely changed" the familiar standards of the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, being conducive of Russification.

[22] As noted by ethnographer Maria Ciocanu, Chioru's own activity "the first Soviet Moldovan folklorist" was colored by his other identity, that of a "combative Marxist ideologue".

[23] His output as a musicologist included a book of "revolutionary songs", co-written alongside the composer Mihail Bak and printed at Balta at an unknown date (possibly in the late 1920s).

[25] In 1928, Chioru became involved in the Moldovanization campaign, announced by Iosif Badeev as a standard policy of the Moldavian Communist Regional Committee (Obkom).

[30] The Chioru collection earned praise from the refugee anti-communist scholar, Nichita Smochină, who noted that he had transported Alecsandri's standards into the MASSR, while at the same time introducing Romanians to Moldavian folklore from as far afield as the Caucasus.

[31] Chioru's toned-down approach, which included finding linguistic inspiration in the chronicles of the old Moldavian principality, earned praise from a fellow communist leader, Ion Ocinschi.

In a June 1928 letter to Lazar Kaganovich, who was serving as the Ukrainian First Secretary, Chioru explained: "I see Ukrainization as no worse than Moldovanization, for example, and I will carry out 'Georgianization' no less than a Georgian if I am sent to work in Georgia tomorrow, because the understanding of this need was instilled in me by the party as a school of revolution".

[42] Historians Gheorghe Negru and Mihail Tașcă validate the latter date, but also note that on Chioru and Badeev, alongside 16 others death-row inmates, actually received a stay of execution on 11 October, through a decision made by Nikolai Yezhov.

Interrogated by the KGB during the Khrushchev Thaw, Ocinschi expressed his appreciation for his predecessor: "A communist man, Chior had actively fought to maintain the general party line.

"[32] This newer regime promoted Chioru's surviving son, Georgy Pavlovich Kior, who served as manager of Cuciurgan power station.

[5] In the 1960s, Ivan Bodiul, who presided upon the Communist Party of Moldavia, encouraged reprints of works by Chioru and other writers lost to the Great Purge, reportedly prioritizing this project over any book by a Bessarabian Romanian classic.