Enrico Berlinguer
Encyclopedia
Enrico Berlinguer (25 May 1922 – 11 June 1984) was an Italian
politician
; he was national secretary of the Italian Communist Party
(Partito Comunista Italiano or PCI) from 1972 until his death.
and Maria Loriga, Enrico Berlinguer was born in Sassari
, Italy
to a noble and important Sardinian
family, in a notable cultural context, with family ties and political contacts that would heavily influence his life and career. His surname 'Berlinguer' is of Catalan
origin, a reminder of the period when Sardinia was part of the dominions of the Crown of Aragon
.
He was a cousin of Francesco Cossiga
(who was a leader of the Italian Christian Democrats and later became a President of the Italian Republic), and both were relatives of Antonio Segni
, another Christian Democrat leader and President of the Republic. Enrico's grandfather, Enrico Berlinguer Sr., was the founder of La Nuova Sardegna
, an important Sardinian newspaper, and a personal friend of Giuseppe Garibaldi
and Giuseppe Mazzini
, whom he had helped in his attempts through his parliamentary work to improve the sad conditions on the island.
In 1937 Berlinguer had his first contacts with Sardinian anti-Fascists
, and in 1943 formally entered the Italian Communist Party, soon becoming the secretary of the Sassari section. The following year a riot exploded in the town; he was involved in the disorders and was arrested, but was discharged after three months of prison.
Immediately after his detention ended, his father brought him to Salerno, the town in which the Royal family
and the government had taken refuge after the armistice
between Italy and the Allies
. In Salerno his father introduced him to Palmiro Togliatti
, the most important leader of the Communist Party.
Togliatti sent Berlinguer back to Sardinia to prepare for his political career. At the end of 1944, Togliatti appointed him to the national secretariat of the Communist Organisation for Youth (FGCI); as a secretary of the FGCI, Berlinguer at one point presented Maria Goretti
as an example for activists; he was soon sent to Milan
, and in 1945 he was appointed to the Central Committee as a member.
In 1946 Togliatti became the national secretary (the highest political role) of the Party, and called Berlinguer to Rome
, where his talents let him enter the national leadership only two years after (at the age of 26, one of the youngest members ever admitted); in 1949 he was named national secretary of the FGCI, a post he held until 1956. The year after he was named president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth
, an international Communist front organisation. In 1957 Berlinguer, as a member of the central school of the PCI, abolished the obligatory visit to the Soviet Union
, which included political training, that was until then necessary for admission to the highest positions in the PCI.
for the first time for the electoral district of Rome. The following year he was elected deputy national secretary of the party (the secretary being Luigi Longo
). In this role he took part in the 1969 international conference of the Communist parties in Moscow
, where his delegation disagreed with the "official" political line, and refused to support the final report.
Berlinguer's unexpected stance made waves: he gave the strongest speech by a major Communist leader ever heard in Moscow. He refused to "excommunicate" the Chinese communists, and directly told Leonid Brezhnev
that the invasion of Czechoslovakia
by the Warsaw Pact
countries (which he termed the "tragedy in Prague
") had made clear the considerable differences within the Communist movement on fundamental questions such as national sovereignty
, socialist democracy
, and the freedom of culture.
In 1973, having been hospitalized after a car accident during a visit to Bulgaria
(now widely considered an attempt on his life on orders from Moscow: http://www.bulgaria-italia.com/bg/news/news.asp?body=1439), Berlinguer wrote three famous articles ("Reflections on Italy", "After the facts of Chile
" and "After the Coup [in Chile]") for the intellectual weekly magazine of the party, Rinascita. In these he presented the strategy of the so-called Historic Compromise, a proposed coalition between the Italian Communist Party and the Christian Democrats to grant Italy a period of political stability, at a time of severe economic crisis and in a context in which some forces were allegedly manoeuvering for a coup d'état in Italy.
Berlinguer met with Yugoslav
president Josip Broz Tito
, towards the ends of further developing his relationships with the major Communist parties of Europe
, Asia
and Africa
.
In 1976, in Moscow again, Berlinguer confirmed the autonomous position of the PCI vis-à-vis the Soviet Communist Party. Before 5,000 Communist delegates he spoke of a "pluralistic system" (translated by the interpreter as "multiform"), referring to the PCI's intentions to build "a socialism that we believe necessary and possible only in Italy."
When Berlinguer finally got to the PCI's condemnation of any kind of "interference", the rupture with the Soviets was complete (nonetheless, the party still for some years received money from Moscow). Since Italy was suffering the "interference" of NATO, the Soviets said, it seemed that the only interference that the Italian Communists could not suffer was the Soviet one. In an interview with Corriere della Sera
Berlinguer declared that he felt "safer under NATO's umbrella."
In 1977, at a meeting in Madrid
between Berlinguer, Santiago Carrillo
of the Spanish Communist Party and Georges Marchais
of the French Communist Party, the fundamental lines of Eurocommunism
were laid out. A few months later Berlinguer was again in Moscow, where he gave another speech which was poorly received by his hosts, and published by Pravda
only in a censored version.
, the Bishop of Ivrea; it was an astonishing event, since Pope Pius XII
had excommunicated
the Communists soon after World War II
, and the possibility of any relationship between communists and Catholics seemed very unlikely.
This act also served to counteract the allegation, commonly and popularly expressed, that the PCI was protecting leftist terrorists
, in the harshest years of terrorism in Italy. In this context the PCI opened its doors to many Catholics, and a debate started about the possibility of contact. Notably, Berlinguer's strictly Catholic family was not brought out of its strictly respected privacy. In the general election of June 1976, the PCI gained 34.4% of the vote.
In Italy a so-called "government of national solidarity" was ruling, but Berlinguer claimed that in an emergency government, a strong and powerful cabinet to solve a crisis of exceptional gravity was needed. On 16 March 1978, Aldo Moro
, President of the Christian Democratic Party, was kidnapped by the Red Brigades
, an ultra-left terrorist group, on the day that the new government was going to be sworn in before parliament.
During this crisis, Berlinguer adhered to the so-called "Front of Firmness," refusing to negotiate with terrorists. (The Red Brigades had proposed to liberate Moro in exchange for the release of some imprisoned terrorists.) Despite the PCI's firm stand against terrorism, the Moro incident left the party more isolated.
In June the PCI gave its approval, and ultimately active support, to a campaign against President Giovanni Leone
, accused of being involved in the Lockheed bribery scandal
. This resulted in the President's resignation. Berlinguer also supported the election of the veteran Socialist Sandro Pertini as President of Italy, but his presidency did not produce the effects that the PCI had hoped for.
In Italy, after a new president is elected, the government resigns. The PCI expected Pertini to use his influence in their favour. But the President was influenced by other political leaders like Giovanni Spadolini
of the Italian Republican Party
and Bettino Craxi
of the Italian Socialist Party
, and the PCI remained out of the government.
During these years the PCI governed many Italian regions, sometimes more than half of them. Notably, the regional government of Emilia-Romagna
and Tuscany
was concrete proof of PCI's governmental capabilities. In this period, Berlinguer turned his attention to the exercise of local power, to show that "the trains could run on time" under the PCI. He personally took part in electoral campaigns in the provinces and local councils. While other parties sent only local leaders, this helped the party to win many elections at these levels.
In 1980 the PCI publicly condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
; Moscow then immediately sent Marchais to Rome, to try to bring Berlinguer into line, but Marchais was received with a notable coldness. The break with the Soviets and other Communist parties became clear when the PCI did not participate in the 1980 international conference of Communist parties held in Paris
. Instead Berlinguer made an official visit to China
. In November in Salerno
, Berlinguer declared that the idea of a possible Historic Compromise had been put aside; it would be replaced with the idea of the "democratic alternative."
In 1981 Berlinguer said that, in his personal opinion, "the progressive force of the October Revolution had been exhausted." The PCI criticised the "normalisation" of Poland
and very soon the PCI's split with the Soviet Communist Party became definitive and official, followed by a long polemic between Pravda
and L'Unità
(the official newspaper of PCI), not made any milder after the meeting with Fidel Castro
in Havana
.
On an internal side, Berlinguer's last major statement was a call for the solidarity among the leftist parties. In June 1984 Berlinguer suddenly left the stage during a speech at public meeting in Padua
: he had suffered a brain haemorrhage, and died three days later. More than a million citizens attended his funeral, one of the biggest in Italy's history.
The most important political act of his career in the PCI was undoubtedly the dramatic break with Soviet Communism, the so-called strappo, together with the creation of Eurocommunism, and his substantial work towards contact with the moderate (and particularly the catholic) half of the country.
Berlinguer nevertheless had many enemies. An internal opposition in the PCI claimed that he had turned a workers' party into a sort of bourgeois revisionist club. External opposition figures noted that strappo took several years to be completed; this was seen as evidence that there had been no definitive decision on the point. The acceptance of NATO is however generally seen as evidence of the genuine autonomy of the PCI's position.
All the work of Berlinguer, however, even if supported by a notably successful Communist local governments, was unable to bring the PCI into the government. Berlinguer's final platform, the "democratic alternative," was never translated into reality. Within a decade of his death the Soviet Union, the Christian Democrats and the PCI all disappeared, transforming Italian politics beyond recognition.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
; he was national secretary of the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
(Partito Comunista Italiano or PCI) from 1972 until his death.
Early career
The son of Mario BerlinguerMario Berlinguer
Mario Berlinguer was an Italian lawyer and politician. He descended from a noble Sardinian family.Born in Sassari, in his youth he was a follower of the Meridionalist activist Gaetano Salvemini...
and Maria Loriga, Enrico Berlinguer was born in Sassari
Sassari
Sassari is an Italian city. It is the second-largest city of Sardinia in terms of population with about 130,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the greater metropolitan area...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to a noble and important Sardinian
Sardinian
Sardinian can refer to:* Sardinia* Sardinian people* Sardinian language* Sardinian...
family, in a notable cultural context, with family ties and political contacts that would heavily influence his life and career. His surname 'Berlinguer' is of Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
origin, a reminder of the period when Sardinia was part of the dominions of the Crown of Aragon
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...
.
He was a cousin of Francesco Cossiga
Francesco Cossiga
Francesco Cossiga was an Italian politician, the 43rd Prime Minister and the eighth President of the Italian Republic. He was also a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sassari....
(who was a leader of the Italian Christian Democrats and later became a President of the Italian Republic), and both were relatives of Antonio Segni
Antonio Segni
Antonio Segni was an Italian politician who was the 35th Prime Minister of Italy , and the fourth President of the Italian Republic from 1962 to 1964...
, another Christian Democrat leader and President of the Republic. Enrico's grandfather, Enrico Berlinguer Sr., was the founder of La Nuova Sardegna
La Nuova Sardegna
La Nuova Sardegna is an Italian local daily newspaper, based in Sassari, Italy.-History:It was founded in 1891 by Enrico Berlinguer, grandfather and namesake of Enrico Berlinguer, national secretary of Italian Communist Party....
, an important Sardinian newspaper, and a personal friend of Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
and Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini , nicknamed Soul of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century...
, whom he had helped in his attempts through his parliamentary work to improve the sad conditions on the island.
In 1937 Berlinguer had his first contacts with Sardinian anti-Fascists
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
, and in 1943 formally entered the Italian Communist Party, soon becoming the secretary of the Sassari section. The following year a riot exploded in the town; he was involved in the disorders and was arrested, but was discharged after three months of prison.
Immediately after his detention ended, his father brought him to Salerno, the town in which the Royal family
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy was formed in the early 11th century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until the end of World War II, king of Croatia and King of Armenia...
and the government had taken refuge after the armistice
Armistice
An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
between Italy and the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
. In Salerno his father introduced him to Palmiro Togliatti
Palmiro Togliatti
Palmiro Togliatti was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death.-Early life:...
, the most important leader of the Communist Party.
Togliatti sent Berlinguer back to Sardinia to prepare for his political career. At the end of 1944, Togliatti appointed him to the national secretariat of the Communist Organisation for Youth (FGCI); as a secretary of the FGCI, Berlinguer at one point presented Maria Goretti
Maria Goretti
Maria Goretti is an Italian virgin-martyr of the Roman Catholic Church, and is one of its youngest canonized saints. She died from multiple stab wounds inflicted by her attempted rapist after she refused him...
as an example for activists; he was soon sent to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, and in 1945 he was appointed to the Central Committee as a member.
In 1946 Togliatti became the national secretary (the highest political role) of the Party, and called Berlinguer to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where his talents let him enter the national leadership only two years after (at the age of 26, one of the youngest members ever admitted); in 1949 he was named national secretary of the FGCI, a post he held until 1956. The year after he was named president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth
World Federation of Democratic Youth
The World Federation of Democratic Youth is a progressive youth organization, recognized by the United Nations as an international youth non-governmental organization. WFDY describes itself as an "anti-imperialist, left-wing" organisation...
, an international Communist front organisation. In 1957 Berlinguer, as a member of the central school of the PCI, abolished the obligatory visit to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, which included political training, that was until then necessary for admission to the highest positions in the PCI.
Party leader
Berlinguer's career was obviously carrying him towards the highest positions in the party. After having held many responsible posts, in 1968 he was elected a deputyChamber of Deputies
Chamber of deputies is the name given to a legislative body such as the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or can refer to a unicameral legislature.-Description:...
for the first time for the electoral district of Rome. The following year he was elected deputy national secretary of the party (the secretary being Luigi Longo
Luigi Longo
thumb|right|Luigi Longo portrayed on a 1981 [[USSR]] postage stamp.Luigi Longo , also known as Gallo, was an Italian communist politician and secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1964 to 1972.-Early life:...
). In this role he took part in the 1969 international conference of the Communist parties in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, where his delegation disagreed with the "official" political line, and refused to support the final report.
Berlinguer's unexpected stance made waves: he gave the strongest speech by a major Communist leader ever heard in Moscow. He refused to "excommunicate" the Chinese communists, and directly told Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
that the invasion of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
by the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
countries (which he termed the "tragedy in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
") had made clear the considerable differences within the Communist movement on fundamental questions such as national sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
, socialist democracy
Socialist Democracy
Socialist Democracy can refer to any of several political parties. Groups using this name tend to have a connection to the reunified Fourth International, reflecting its distinctive position on socialist democracy :*Socialist Democracy...
, and the freedom of culture.
Secretary of the PCI
Already a prominent leader in the party, Berlinguer was elected to the position of national secretary in 1972 when Luigi Longo resigned on grounds of ill health.In 1973, having been hospitalized after a car accident during a visit to Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
(now widely considered an attempt on his life on orders from Moscow: http://www.bulgaria-italia.com/bg/news/news.asp?body=1439), Berlinguer wrote three famous articles ("Reflections on Italy", "After the facts of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
" and "After the Coup [in Chile]") for the intellectual weekly magazine of the party, Rinascita. In these he presented the strategy of the so-called Historic Compromise, a proposed coalition between the Italian Communist Party and the Christian Democrats to grant Italy a period of political stability, at a time of severe economic crisis and in a context in which some forces were allegedly manoeuvering for a coup d'état in Italy.
International relations
The following year in BelgradeBelgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
Berlinguer met with Yugoslav
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
president Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
, towards the ends of further developing his relationships with the major Communist parties of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
In 1976, in Moscow again, Berlinguer confirmed the autonomous position of the PCI vis-à-vis the Soviet Communist Party. Before 5,000 Communist delegates he spoke of a "pluralistic system" (translated by the interpreter as "multiform"), referring to the PCI's intentions to build "a socialism that we believe necessary and possible only in Italy."
When Berlinguer finally got to the PCI's condemnation of any kind of "interference", the rupture with the Soviets was complete (nonetheless, the party still for some years received money from Moscow). Since Italy was suffering the "interference" of NATO, the Soviets said, it seemed that the only interference that the Italian Communists could not suffer was the Soviet one. In an interview with Corriere della Sera
Corriere della Sera
The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...
Berlinguer declared that he felt "safer under NATO's umbrella."
In 1977, at a meeting in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
between Berlinguer, Santiago Carrillo
Santiago Carrillo
Santiago Carrillo Solares is a Spanish politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain from 1960 to 1982.- Childhood and early youth :...
of the Spanish Communist Party and Georges Marchais
Georges Marchais
Georges René Louis Marchais was the head of the French Communist Party from 1972 to 1994, and a candidate in the French presidential elections of 1981 - in which he managed to garner only 15.34% of the vote, which was considered at the time a major setback for the party.-Early life:Born into a...
of the French Communist Party, the fundamental lines of Eurocommunism
Eurocommunism
Eurocommunism was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties to develop a theory and practice of social transformation that was more relevant in a Western European democracy and less aligned to the influence or control of the Communist Party of the Soviet...
were laid out. A few months later Berlinguer was again in Moscow, where he gave another speech which was poorly received by his hosts, and published by Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
only in a censored version.
Domestic politics
Berlinguer, moving step by step, was building a consensus in the PCI towards a rapprochement with other components of society. After the surprising opening of 1970 toward conservatives, and the still discussed proposal of the Historic Compromise, he published a correspondence with Monsignor Luigi BettazziLuigi Bettazzi
Luigi Bettazzi is an Italian Prelate of Roman Catholic Church.Luigi Bettazzi was born in Treviso, ordained a priest on August 4, 1946. Bettazzi was appointed Auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Bologna as well as titular bishop of Thagaste on August 10, 1963 and ordained October 4, 1963...
, the Bishop of Ivrea; it was an astonishing event, since Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
had excommunicated
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
the Communists soon after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and the possibility of any relationship between communists and Catholics seemed very unlikely.
This act also served to counteract the allegation, commonly and popularly expressed, that the PCI was protecting leftist terrorists
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, in the harshest years of terrorism in Italy. In this context the PCI opened its doors to many Catholics, and a debate started about the possibility of contact. Notably, Berlinguer's strictly Catholic family was not brought out of its strictly respected privacy. In the general election of June 1976, the PCI gained 34.4% of the vote.
In Italy a so-called "government of national solidarity" was ruling, but Berlinguer claimed that in an emergency government, a strong and powerful cabinet to solve a crisis of exceptional gravity was needed. On 16 March 1978, Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....
, President of the Christian Democratic Party, was kidnapped by the Red Brigades
Red Brigades
The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
, an ultra-left terrorist group, on the day that the new government was going to be sworn in before parliament.
During this crisis, Berlinguer adhered to the so-called "Front of Firmness," refusing to negotiate with terrorists. (The Red Brigades had proposed to liberate Moro in exchange for the release of some imprisoned terrorists.) Despite the PCI's firm stand against terrorism, the Moro incident left the party more isolated.
In June the PCI gave its approval, and ultimately active support, to a campaign against President Giovanni Leone
Giovanni Leone
Giovanni Leone was an Italian politician. He was the 38th Prime Minister of Italy from 21 June 1963 to 4 December 1963 and again from 24 June 1968 to 12 December 1968. He also served as the sixth President of the Republic from 1971 to 1978.-Biography:...
, accused of being involved in the Lockheed bribery scandal
Lockheed bribery scandals
The Lockheed bribery scandals encompassed a series of bribes and contributions made by officials of U.S. aerospace company Lockheed from the late 1950s to the 1970s in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft....
. This resulted in the President's resignation. Berlinguer also supported the election of the veteran Socialist Sandro Pertini as President of Italy, but his presidency did not produce the effects that the PCI had hoped for.
In Italy, after a new president is elected, the government resigns. The PCI expected Pertini to use his influence in their favour. But the President was influenced by other political leaders like Giovanni Spadolini
Giovanni Spadolini
Giovanni Spadolini was a liberal Italian politician, the 45th Prime Minister of Italy, newspaper editor, journalist and a noted historian.-Biography:Spadolini was born in Florence....
of the Italian Republican Party
Italian Republican Party
The Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini...
and Bettino Craxi
Bettino Craxi
Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
of the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
, and the PCI remained out of the government.
During these years the PCI governed many Italian regions, sometimes more than half of them. Notably, the regional government of Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....
and Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
was concrete proof of PCI's governmental capabilities. In this period, Berlinguer turned his attention to the exercise of local power, to show that "the trains could run on time" under the PCI. He personally took part in electoral campaigns in the provinces and local councils. While other parties sent only local leaders, this helped the party to win many elections at these levels.
The break with the Soviet Union
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
; Moscow then immediately sent Marchais to Rome, to try to bring Berlinguer into line, but Marchais was received with a notable coldness. The break with the Soviets and other Communist parties became clear when the PCI did not participate in the 1980 international conference of Communist parties held in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Instead Berlinguer made an official visit to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. In November in Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, Berlinguer declared that the idea of a possible Historic Compromise had been put aside; it would be replaced with the idea of the "democratic alternative."
In 1981 Berlinguer said that, in his personal opinion, "the progressive force of the October Revolution had been exhausted." The PCI criticised the "normalisation" of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and very soon the PCI's split with the Soviet Communist Party became definitive and official, followed by a long polemic between Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
and L'Unità
L'Unità
l'Unità is an Italian left-wing newspaper, originally founded as official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party.-History:L'Unità was founded by Antonio Gramsci on 12 February 1924, as the newspaper of workers and peasants, the official newspaper of Italian Communist Party : it was printed in...
(the official newspaper of PCI), not made any milder after the meeting with Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
.
On an internal side, Berlinguer's last major statement was a call for the solidarity among the leftist parties. In June 1984 Berlinguer suddenly left the stage during a speech at public meeting in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
: he had suffered a brain haemorrhage, and died three days later. More than a million citizens attended his funeral, one of the biggest in Italy's history.
Analysis
Enrico Berlinguer has been defined in many ways, but he was generally recognised for political coherence and a certain courage, together with a rare personal and political intelligence. A serious man, he was sincerely respected even by his opponents, and his three days' agony was followed with great attention by the general population. His funeral was followed by a large number of people, perhaps among the highest ever seen in Rome.All the work of Berlinguer, however, even if supported by a notably successful Communist local governments, was unable to bring the PCI into the government. Berlinguer's final platform, the "democratic alternative," was never translated into reality. Within a decade of his death the Soviet Union, the Christian Democrats and the PCI all disappeared, transforming Italian politics beyond recognition.
Impact on Italian society
- Italian singer-songwriterSinger-songwriterSinger-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Antonello VendittiAntonello VendittiAntonello Venditti is an Italian singer-songwriter who became famous in the 1970s for the social themes of his songs.-Biography:...
posthumously dedicated a song, Dolce Enrico ("Sweet Enrico"), to Berlinguer. - Italian actor and director Roberto BenigniRoberto BenigniRoberto Remigio Benigni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and director of film, theatre and television.- Early years :...
declared publicly his admiration and personal love for Enrico Berlinguer. Beside having been protagonist of the movie Berlinguer ti voglio bene ("Berlinguer I love you"), Benigni appeared during a public political demonstration of the Italian Communist Party (of which he was a sympathiser), taking in his arms and dandling Berlinguer. - Italian folk musicFolk musicFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
band Modena City RamblersModena City RamblersModena City Ramblers is an Italian folk band founded in 1991. Their music is heavily influenced by Celtic themes, and can be compared to folk rock music. The band has sold over 500,000 albums...
wrote a song about Berlinguer's funeral, "I Funerali di Berlinguer", which was published on their first full-length album, Riportando Tutto a Casa.
Writings
- Enrico Berlinguer, Antonio Bronda, Stephen Bodington, After Poland, Spokesman, 1982, ISBN 0-85124-344-4