Axinte Frunză, first name also spelled as Axente, Axentie, Axenti or Auxentie (; 13 February 1859 – 9 June 1933), was a Bessarabian-born Romanian socialist militant and classical scholar, also noted as a schoolteacher, translator, and fiction writer. Originally a subject of the Russian Empire, he studied at Kishinev Theological Seminary, where he showed promise as a reader and speaker of Latin; embracing Romanian nationalism and rebelling against Tsarist autocracy, he was ultimately expelled from the institution. Frunză probably graduated from another school or university before settling in the Kingdom of Romania. He joined efforts with other radical emigrants in smuggling books across the Russian border, and, while in Northern Dobruja, set up his own agricultural co-operative. He identified as a Marxist, but remained an unusually radical one in the Romanian context, favoring "scientific communism" and justifying peasant revolts, though in conjunction with nationalist ideals. Frunză was therefore close to the doyen of Romanian anarchism, Zamfir Arbore, as well as to scholar Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, a proponent of left-wing nationalism. At the height of his conflict with the National Liberal establishment in the 1900s, he was also an active member of the Conservative Party.
Frunză passed a state examination that entitled him to teach Latin in Romanian schools. He made his major career move in 1897, when he began working at Negruzzi Boarding School of Iași—afterwards integrating fully within Iași's left-leaning elite. He was well-liked by his students, among whom were several who later achieved fame as writers. In addition to his pedagogical skill and his familiarity with the classics, he was admired for his skill in translating Russian literature, which was a second profession for several decades of his life. He similarly turned to writing his own works of fiction, steeped in social realism and well-reviewed by contemporary critics. As an affiliate of the Viața Romînească circle before and after World War I, Frunză antagonized public opinion through his Germanophilia, identifying the Central Powers as Bessarabia's would-be saviors; though he lived during the union of Bessarabia with Romania, he was jaded by the outcome. Always an eccentric man-about-town who enjoyed social drinking, he attracted suspicion for his political activities. He and his wife Zoe harbored militants of the Romanian Socialist and Communist Parties in their home, supporting their activities. He lost his home during an unrelated legal battle, and moved to Bucharest, where he eventually died of angina. Many of his literary works were collected for print, but remained unpublished.
Biography Early life and Romanian arrival The future activist hailed from free peasants (răzeși), with family roots planted in the former principality of Moldavia.C. Săteanu, "D. dr. P. Cazacu despre Mișcarea Socialistă. Câteva aprecieri asupra operei d-lui I. C. Atanasiu. Reminiscențe despre Axente Frunză", in Adevărul, 20 June 1933, p. 3Alexis Nour, "Amintiri despre Axentie Frunză", in Adevărul Literar și Artistic, Vol. XIII, Issue 707, June 1934, pp. 3–4 He was born at Scorțeni on 13 February 1859,Nicolae Scurtu, "Firide basarabene. Noi completări la biografia lui Axente Frunză", in Litere, Vol. XVI, Issue 1, January 2015, pp. 92–93Karețchi & Eșanu, p. 121 though some records had 1860;"Insemnări. Un an dela moartea lui Axentie Frunză", in Adevărul Literar și Artistic, Vol. XIII, Issue 707, June 1934, p. 10 the village was back then part of Russia's Bessarabia Governorate, as organized since 1812. According to statements by himself and by others who knew him, his more junior relatives included Mikhail Frunze, future leader of the Red Army. In addition to showing a natural talent for the study of classical languages, young Frunză was a radical opponent of Tsarism. While a student at the Orthodox Seminary in Kishinev (Chișinău), he enraged the authorities by tearing down and trampling upon a portrait of Alexander II. In 1878–1879, alongside Filip Codreanu and C. Ursu, he formed a left-radical or plainly Narodnik circle,Artur Leșcu, "Pătrunderea ideilor norodniciste în Basarabia și lupta împotriva lor", in Buletinul Științific al Universității de Stat Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu din Cahul. Seria Științe Umanistice, Vol. 2 (16), 2022, p. 101 also joined by Petru Frățiman and Is. Fuchs.A. L. Aizenshtadt, "Мои предки на службе Православной церкви", in Гомельщина: вехи истории. Материалы регионального научно-исторического семинара, p. 20. Gomel: BelGUT, 2019. It was kept under watch by the imperial police, and ultimately dissolved itself during a wave of arrests.
It is not precisely known what happened next: his friend Petru Cazacu suggests that he fled retribution by immediately crossing into the Kingdom of Romania, and this variant is also taken up by historians such as Artur Leșcu; an Okhrana informant claimed that during October 1879 Frunză, Ursu and Codreanu were at the "socialist congress" in Iași, alongside fellow Bessarabians like Zamfir Arbore and Victor Crăsescu.Maria Danilov, "Presa ieșeană în dosarele secrete ale ohranei țariste din Chișinău. Cazul ziarului Basarabia, 1879", in Nicolae Enciu (ed.), In honorem Alexandru Moșanu. Studii de istorie medievală, modernă și contemporană a românilor, p. 267. Cluj-Napoca: Romanian Academy & Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2012. Various biographies report that he only emigrated after receiving his graduation diploma at a lyceum in Nikolayev (Mykolaiv) or Odesa,Botez, p. 11 or at Kiev University.Constantin René Ghiulea, "Axinte Frunză", in Opinia, 13 June 1933, p. 1G. A. M., "A murit Axinte Frunză", in Cuvântul, 12 June 1933, p. 3 Upon settling in Romania, Frunză earned his living through manual labor, first as a farmhand in Northern Dobruja, where he reportedly set up the first local agricultural co-operative. He continued to test the patience of Russian officials by organizing a network of book-smugglers, transporting socialist or simply Romanian-language texts into Bessarabia. His two helpers were fellow exiles Codreanu and Crăsescu, while his inspiration was Nikolai Sudzilovsky (known locally as "Doctor Russel").
A lifelong friend of the Marxist doyen Constantin Dobrogeanu Gherea, Frunză was among the first Romanians to fully embrace this ideology, going as far as to preach in favor of "scientific communism" (while also continuing to call for "national liberty"). He nonetheless built a very close connection to anarchists such as Arbore, being described by Cazacu as an "individualist and misanthropist" in his overall approach to life. By May 1890, Frunză had enlisted at the University of Bucharest Faculty of Letters, and was also a member of the Bessarabian Mutual Aid Society. In these twin capacities, he signed his name to a defense of Arbore against allegations published by a "Mr Manicea of Tulcea"."Informațiuni", in Lupta, 2 May 1890, p. 3 He supported himself by working at a kefir factory in Bucharest, where he read out Latin literature while overseeing the curdling process, "covered in droplets of milk from head to toe"—and ruining a coat presented to him as a gift by a physician friend, Lazăr Dicescu.Sevastos, pp. 275–276
In September 1890, after having received his certificate of graduation, Frunză became the inaugural headmaster and teacher of Latin at Tulcea's gymnasium."Știri", in Universul, 3 August 1890, p. 6 He taught there to 1894; while in Tulcea, he also met fellow schoolteacher Zoe Polihron (born 1870 in Slatina), who became his wife.Karețchi & Eșanu, pp. 121, 123 Axinte also became active as a businessman, forming a company that bottled and sold kefir out of Northern Dobruja. His scholarly talent was rewarded with a noticeable delay, and only after he was allowed to present himself for a state examination, which he passed with top honors.Păstorel Teodoreanu, "Un contimporan al lui Horațiu: Axinte Frunză", in Viața Romînească, Vol. XXV, Issues 6–9, June–September 1933, pp. 261–262 The examining commission, presided upon by historian Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, was reportedly stunned by his ability to not just converse in Latin, but also to alternate between the rhetorical styles of Cicero, Tacitus, and Livy.Sevastos, p. 274
Axinte and Zoe moved out to Râmnicu Sărat or Buzău, where Axinte had a teaching position until 1897, when he moved to the Negruzzi Boarding School of Iași. He only took his own graduate diploma in philology during 1896. In 1898, Axinte Frunză involved himself in a national controversy, after supporting the socialist Peter Alexandrov, who had been jailed for his activities. He signed his name to a publicized letter of protest, alongside Arbore, Hasdeu, Dobrogeanu Gherea, Constantin Stere and Vasile Kogălniceanu, obtaining Alexandrov's acquittal.Leon Kalustian, "Simple note. Axinte Frunză", in Flacăra, Vol. XXX, Issue 28, July 1981, p. 18Karețchi & Eșanu, p. 122 At Iași, Axinte and Zoe joined a thriving socialist group of intellectuals; additionally, Frunză earned admiration from academics, with Hasdeu, Alexandru Philippide and Izabela Sadoveanu all describing him as one of Romania's leading Latinists.Karețchi & Eșanu, pp. 121–122; Sevastos, p. 274
Iași period
Journalist Constantin René Ghiulea refers to Frunză's "superior art" of teaching and his "wonderful humor", which gave his listeners insight into a skeptical worldview; students reportedly welcomed him initially as a "levelheaded man" who "does not mess about with empty talk".Piru, p. 94 As a Negruzzi alumnus, Eugen C. Crăciun recalled that Frunză was both affable and distant, that he never laughed and only rarely smiled, and that he liked to keep his private life entirely out of the classroom.Crăciun, pp. 332, 334–335 According to this source, he encouraged children to pursue their literary talents, and was pleasantly impressed to hear Emanuel Ciomac, the future academic, read out his rendition of Horace.Crăciun, pp. 335–336 His other pupils included poet Demostene Botez, who rated his lessons in Latin as one of his most beautiful experiences of childhood. Other students, both in the same class, were humorist Păstorel Teodoreanu and violinist Ionel Ghica. The latter once tricked his teacher into believing that he had no memorizing skills for learning mandatory lines from the Aeneid; this worked until Frunză angrily witnessed Ghica performing Robert Schumann by ear.Aurel Leon, "Revelionul 'fratelui' Axinte Frunză", in Monitorul, 4 January 1996, p. 6A Păstorel saw Frunză as a Classical Athenian "dressed up as a modern professor", indifferent to most student pranks, and overall lost among his contemporaries. One hoax was perpetrated by one of the National College, who entered the classroom where Frunză was lecturing and pretended to be a British visitor; Frunză believed him, asking his class to behave, warning them that they were being assessed by a foreigner. He was unpersuaded that he had been duped even after the principal, Mihai Tomida, decided to punish the offending student.Sevastos, p. 272