Axinte Frunză

Axinte Frunză, first name also spelled as Axente, Axentie, Axenti or Auxentie (Russian: Авксентий Дмитриевич Фрунзе, romanized: Avksenty Dmitryevich Frunze; 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.