Ion Pas

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Ion Pas (born Ioan M. Pascu; October 6, 1895 – May 20, 1974) was a Romanian novelist, translator and left-wing politician. He was born in Bucharest to a family of small craftsmen and grew up in a poor area, mostly teaching himself. He worked as a bricklayer’s apprentice, typesetter, bookbinder and mechanic. His literary debut appeared in 1910 with the sketch Barbu, in Dumineca magazine, and his first book, Din lumea celor obidiți, came out in 1912. From 1913 he contributed to and edited Revista copiilor și a tinerimii. He took on leadership roles in the Union of Professional Journalists and the General Association of the Press.

Pas was a lifelong leftist and a member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR). From 1946 to 1948, as the communist regime took shape, he led the National Theatre Bucharest and served as Arts Minister from November 1946 to April 1948. During this period, the communists grew wary of his influence, particularly over suspicions related to his translation of Panait Istrati’s Confession pour vaincus. He had spent 16 months in the USSR in the 1930s under the pen name P. Ioanid. In February 1948 Pas joined the merger of the PSDR with the Romanian Communist Party to form the Romanian Workers’ Party and served on its central committee until August 1969.

Pas held several government and cultural posts: deputy Culture Minister from 1955 to 1958, and president of Romanian Radio’s committee from 1959 to January 1965. He also led the Romanian delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, headed the Journalists’ Syndicate from 1946, served as vice president of the Romanian Writers’ Union, and was president of the Romanian Institute for Cultural Relations with the Abroad from 1965 to 1974.

He published many magazines, including Spre lumină (1912), Gazeta tinerimii (with Alexandru Terziman), Omul liber (1923–1925), Cugetul liber (1927–1928, with Eugen Relgis) and Șantier (1933–1937). His work appeared in numerous newspapers such as Socialismul, Lumea nouă, Adevărul, Dimineața, Universul literar, Veselia, Viața sindicală, Lupta, Facla, Rampa, Cuvântul liber, Jurnalul, Presa noastră, Libertatea, Scînteia, România Liberă and Veac nou. Leon Kalustian praised him for a “conscientious and hard-working” spirit. His writing includes tales (Draga noastră păsărică, 1951; Trecut întunecat, 1957; Povestiri vechi și noi, 1966), sketches and short stories (Din lumea celor obidiți, 1912; Lumea celor necăjiți, 1924; Taboluri în cărbune, 1935; Simple întâmplări, 1943; Lumea noastră, 1946), novels (Povestea unei fete, 1927; Veșnicul învins, 1931; Zilele vieții tale, 1948–1950; Lanțuri, 1950–1954) and memoirs (Oameni și momente, 1946; Galantar. Cărți și oameni, 1946; Așa a fost odată, 1955; Carte despre vremuri multe, 1963; Aducere aminte, 1972; Evocări, 1973). He also translated major authors such as Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anatole France, Henry Fielding, Maxim Gorky, Victor Hugo, Stendhal, Upton Sinclair, Leo Tolstoy, Émile Zola and Jules Verne.

Pas married Sarina Cassvan, a writer in her own right, and after their divorce he married Shelly Eilenberg around 1934, remaining married to her until his death. He served as a deputy in the Assembly of Deputies for Prahova in 1946–1948 and then in the Great National Assembly for Prahova, the Pitești region, and parts of the Buzău area from 1948 to 1969. He received several honors, including the Order of Labor (1955), the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, first class (1964), and the 23 August Order, first class (1965).