Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - an haifi Nicolau a Bucharest a 1889. A matsayin dalibi a Makarantar Sakandaren Saint Sava, ya yi abokantaka da Constantin Titel Petrescu da Mihail Cruceanu, dukansu biyu daga baya za su zama sanannun 'yan gwagwarmayar gurguzu. Bayan kammala karatunsa na sakandare, Nicolau ya horar da shi a matsayin lauya, yana karɓar digiri daga Jami'ar gida, PhD a Paris, kafin a shigar da shi cikin Bucharest Bar. Abinda ya fara hulɗa da ƙungiyar gurguzu ta Romania, har yanzu yana cikin rikici a wannan lokacin, ya zo ne ta hanyar zama memba a cikin Bucharest's Study Circle na Socialist Students tsakanin 1908 da 1909. Ba da daɗewa ba bayan ya fara rubutu don "România Muncitoare", babban wurin watsa labarai na gurguzu. Ofaya daga cikin abubuwan da ya fara bayarwa na farko shi ne wasikunsa daga Italiya, yana sukar halin gyara na jam'iyyar gurguzu ta gida. A cikin 1911, "România Muncitoare" ta buga Nicolau's anti-militarist manifesto "Ga masu shiga". Tunatar da gudummawar sojojin wajen dakile tawayen Manoma na 1907
, kasidar ta yi kira ga sabbin da aka dauka su zabi wata hanya daban kuma su ki su goyi bayan gwamnatin gwamnati kan bukatun ma'aikata da manoma. A sakamakon haka, a watan Mayu 1912 aka gurfanar da shi a gaban Kotun Ilfov County, inda ya sake tabbatar da ra'ayoyin da aka bayyana a cikin sanarwar. An kare shi ta hanyar 'yan gurguzu Mihail Gh. Bujor, Toma Dragu da Titel Petrescu, kuma ta hanyar zamantakewar zamantakewar zamantakewa Constantin Mille, Nicolau ya sami nasara daga karshe daga juriya. A watan Yunin 1912, tare da Constantin Dobrogeanu Gherea, Ecaterina Arbore da sauransu, ya wakilci Bucharest Socialist Club a Babban Taro na Biyar na Jam'iyyar Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSDR), an zabe shi memba a kwamitin gidan buga littattafan jam'iyyar. Don guje wa tsangwama daga hukumomi, Nicolau ya zaɓi barin Romania zuwa Paris, inda ya ci gaba da karatun shari'a a Sorbonne, kuma ya shiga Sashin Faransa na Workers 'International.