Together with Ioan Russu-Șirianu, he established the Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians in 1891. He was a member of the "Tribunist" wing (so called after "Tribuna") of the Romanian National Party (PNR), which strongly supported publication of the Transylvanian Memorandum. Particularly through his writings in "Sămănătorul" and "Luceafărul", he became associated with a radical nationalist ideology that fit with the two magazines' Pan-Romanianism. An ardent patriot who frequently veered into an exclusivist chauvinism, he published "Românismul" ("Romanianism") from 1913 to 1914, drawing a contrast between his Pan-Romanian outlook and Pan-Slavism as well as Pan-Germanism. A prominent anti-Semite, he published "Românii și Ovreii" ("The Romanians and the Jews") in 1913. Upon the outbreak of World War I, together with fellow Transylvanians Octavian Goga and Vasile Lucaciu, advocated for neutral Romania's entry into the war on the side of the Allies. After Bucharest was occupied by the Central Powers in 1916, his loose talk about an impending German defeat led to his denouncement and arrest, in early June 1917. Initially held at Săveni, he was taken hostage and deported to Troyan in Bulgaria. Despite his older brother's intercessions on his behalf, he spent nine months in captivity before being freed near the end of the war. Subsequently, he returned to his post of high school director, holding it until November 1919.