Panait Mușoiu – A short biography (1864-1944)

Panait Mușoiu (18 November 1864 – 14 November 1944) was a Romanian anarchist and socialist activist, the author of the first Romanian translation of The Communist Manifesto. He was one of the main figures of anarchism in Romania and the founder of several left-wing magazines (Munca, Mișcarea socială, Revista ideei) in which he published several articles on political and social issues, with the purpose of “emancipating the people”. Panait Mușoiu lived for a while on an alleyway next to Văcărești Street. A sort of Thoreau from the slums of Bucharest, “Pious Panait” as his friends jokingly called him was one of the shabby Jewish neighbourhood’s most familiar faces. Some kind of an eccentric wiseman, the anarchist Mușoiu gained the admiration of those dwelling in the slum, being both trusted by its bandits and esteemed by its scholars. The door to his small room, packed to the ceiling with labyrinthian rows of brochures, books, and periodicals, was open day and night. The unsuspecting guests would find a note on the table, encouraging them to take whatever they pleased, leaving some money, if they had any, on the table for future publications.