Dumitru Theodor Neculuță (also known as Neculiță and Dumitru a Ciubotăriții; October 3 [O.S. September 20] 1859 – October 17, 1904) was a Romanian poet, socialist activist, and artisan shoemaker. Born to a poor family in Western Moldavia, he was not allowed to pursue his passion for music, and worked from an early age. These circumstances instilled him with a desire to combat the established social order of the Romanian Kingdom, driving him into left-wing politics. His interest in music was replaced with a poetic calling: stylistically, Neculuță followed a tradition upheld by Mihai Eminescu and George Coșbuc, which he infused with the tenets of Marxism and his own experience of acute poverty. He wrote for many decades, but was only published from 1894. In parallel, he established his profi