BUCHAREST, ROMANIA - May 16: Petre Ignatencu (behind the bust of former Romanian communist president Gheorgiu Dej), the leader of the New Romanian Communist Party, a former kayaker and currently a taxi driver, celebrating 100 years since the establishment of the Communist Party, on Sunday, May 16, 2021. The Communist Party was founded on May 8, 1921 and emerged as a powerful actor on the Romanian political scene in August 1944, when it became involved in the royal coup that toppled the pro-Nazi government of Ion Antonescu. With support from Soviet occupational forces, the PCR was able to pressure King Michael I into abdicating, and establish the Romanian People's Republic in December 1947.