The National Popular Party (Romanian: Partidul Național Popular, PNP) was an antifascist political party in Romania, founded during World War II as the underground Union of Patriots (Uniunea Patrioților, UP). The latter had defined itself as a spontaneous movement of resistance to the dictatorial regime of Ion Antonescu, but was largely known as a front for the illegal Romanian Communist Party (PCdR, later PCR). Its founders—, Gheorghe Vlădescu-Răcoasa, Simion Stoilow—were closely cooperating with PCdR men, but also with liberal opposition forces. Repressed by the authorities, the UP made a comeback after the pro-Allied August 23 Coup of 1944, when it endured as a small ally of the communists—mostly controlled directly by them, but sometimes rebellious.