The article addresses the socialists of Fiume project for an independent Fiume state after the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy, pointing out at the relevance of the post-Habsburg setting. The focus is on workers’ extraction and legal constraints, as well as on workers’ structural connections with Hungary and the territories surrounding Fiume, es-sential for contextualizing socialists’ base and their political goals in the immediate post-WWI period and during D’Annunzio’s presence in the city. Special attention is devoted to the case of the Hungarian communist Miklós Sisa, reconstructing his presence in Fiume as an effect of family networks and post-imperial connections.