Although all parties but the FRN had been banned by the authoritarian Constitution, the PSDR maintained an informal existence around "Lumea Nouă" paper (where Moscovici was still a leading contributor). However, the party had to relinquish its seats in the LSI. The FRN regime, politically isolated by World War II, crumbled in 1940, unable to deal with Nazi and Soviet pressures (the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia and the loss of Northern Transylvania). Romania experienced an episode of Iron Guard rule, with Ion Antonescu as the "Conducător". The clandestine PSDR objected to such moves, as well as to the subsequent German occupation, placing its hopes in the Western Allies.