A 1939 entry in Cocea's own diary admits that the "unexpected" Non-Aggression Treaty between the Soviets and Nazi Germany was the source of "doubting" and "bitterness" among left-wing Romanians, but scolds his old friend Nicolae L. Lupu for having then lost faith in socialism. At times, he was openly critical of Joseph Stalin and his personality cult, writing about the "sickening smoke of official Soviet incense", and joking about the various feats attributed to Stalin. In contrast to his earlier political stances, Cocea was, by 1938, a member of the National Liberal Party, probably because a new wave of repression had led the PCR to implode. He was registered with the National Liberals until after Carol II's National Renaissance Front dictatorship pushed them into semi-clandestinity, and still enjoyed a privileged relationship with them during World War II.