Initially a communist (like Mihail Polihroniade), Acterian contributed articles to "Bluze Albastre" (a literary magazine published in 1932, with backing from the Communist Party of Romania). He affiliated with "Amicii URSS" ("Friends of the Soviet Union"), a loose grouping of left-wing intellectuals which was created and disbanded in 1934. Later in the same year, he traveled to Italy, and trained in filmmaking at the Cinecittà in Rome. Acterian took part in the Volta International Theater Conference, and reported on it for "Vremea". Over the following year, he traveled to France and Switzerland, briefly residing in Paris and Geneva; this sojourn was the topic of a diary, published later.