Ugo La Malfa
Encyclopedia
Ugo La Malfa was an Italian
politician, and an important leader in the Italian Republican Party
, of which his son, Giorgio La Malfa
, is now president.
, Sicily
. After completing his secondary schooling, he enrolled in the Ca' Foscari University
of Venice
in the Department of Diplomatic Sciences with professors Silvio Trentin and Gino Luzzatto
During his years at the University, he had contacts within the republican movement of Treviso
and other anti-fascist
groups. In 1924 he moved to Rome
, and participated in the foundation of the Goliardic Union for Freedom. On June 14, 1925 he took part in the first conference of the National Democratic Union, founded by Giovanni Amendola
. The movement was later declared illegal under Mussolini's
fascist
government. In 1926 he graduated university with a thesis dealing sharply with human rights
. During his military service, he was transferred to Sardinia
in order to disrupt the anti-fascist publication Pietre, on which he worked. By 1928 he was among those arrested following the April 12 bombing in the Fiera di Milan
o for allegedly planning to assassinate Italian King Victor Emmanuel III only to be interrogated and released.
In 1929 he took a job editing the Treccani Encyclopaedia
, working under the direction of the liberal philosopher Ugo Spirito
. At the request of Raffaele Mattioli he took a job with Mattioli's Italian Commercial Bank in 1933, of which he became director in 1938. During these years, he showed his expertise in both economics and leadership. There he forged relations between anti-fascist groups in order to build a web that formed the Partito d'Azione
, over which he presided as a founder. On January 1, 1943 La Malfa and the lawyer Adolfo Tino succeeded in publishing the first of their clandestine publication, L'Italia Libera. Later that year, La Malfa fled Italy to escape arrest, only to return to Rome in order to take part in the resistance movement
with the Partito d'Azione and the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale.
, La Malfa assumed role of Minister of Transportation. In the following government, under Alcide De Gasperi
, he was Minister of Reconstruction, a position later renamed Minister of International Commerce. In February 1946 the first conference of the Partito d'Azione was held, during which Emilio Lussu
prevailed in driving party philosophy, and La Malfa and Parri left the party. In March he participated in the constitution of the Republican Democratic Concentration
, which supported the republican referendum in June and contested the related general election. La Malfa and Parri were both elected to the Constituent Assembly of Italy
, and with the encouragement of Randolfo Pacciardi
he joined the Italian Republican Party
, commonly known as the PRI.
Designated to represent Italy
to the International Monetary Fund
in 1947, he was named vice president of the Fund the following year. Meanwhile, with Giulio Andrea Belloni and Oronzo Reale, he assumed the temporary role of party secretary
. Reelected to the parliament
in 1948, and confirmed into the subsequent legislature, he held numerous positions, including as a "minister without portofolio" charged with reorganizing the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction, before in 1951 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Trade. His work on liberalizing the Italian economy and lowering import tariffs was fundamental for the successes during the "economic miracle."
In 1952 he proposed, without success, the "constituent program," between the many secular parties. In 1956, while maintaining the autonomy of the Republican Party from Marxist
economic theories and its position to the left
of the political spectrum, he favored the unification of the three major socialist
schools to make the divide between his party and theirs more comprehensible.
After the Republicans withdrew support for the government in 1957, Randolfo Pacciardi left as director of the party. La Malfa assumed direction of the party newspaper, La Voce Repubblicana, in 1959. In 1962 he was named Minister of the Budget in the first center-left government under Amintore Fanfani
, following the socialist abstention. In May he introduced the Nota Aggiuntiva, in which he supplied a general vision of the state of the Italian economy, including the inequalities which characterized it, and delineated the instruments and objects of their regime. Though criticized for his plan by the Confindustria
, the Italian employers union, he decided to nationalize the electricity industry. On the occasion of the 29th conference of the Republican Party, in March 1965, he was elected party secretary. The next year he opened a dialog with the help of his old friend Giorgio Amendola
, son of Giovanni Amendola
, between the republicans and communists, inviting them to leave behind their old orthodoxy and help develop a more pragmatic approach.
During the tumultuous 1970s, the Republican party played a small but vital role in determining the government of Italy and maintaining continuity. Following the fall of Mariano Rumor
's third government in 1970, La Malfa refused the invitation of incoming Prime Minister
Emilio Colombo
to take the role of Minister of the Treasury. For him, the government was not in position to delineate a strategic plan for financing reforms with their education, health, and transportation services, and Colombo only lasted one year in the job. La Malfa pulled his party out of the subsequent Giulio Andreotti
government over the issue of state control of cable television
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943560,00.html. Asked again in 1973 by Mariano Rumor's fourth government he accepted the job of Minister of the Treasury. In that position he blocked the request to grant increased emergency financing to Finambro, a bank owned by Michele Sindona
, opening the door to the collapse of Sindora's banking empire and his eventual indictment. He resigned as Minister in February over disagreements in fiscal policy with the Minister of the Budget, pulling the Republican support of that government, and causing its colaspe. That December he was named deputy Prime Minister under the fourth government of his friend Aldo Moro
, and in 1975 he assumed the presidency of the Republican party with Oddo Biasini replacing him as secretary.
The last years of his life were among his most productive. Upon defeating resistance from left-wing republicans in 1976, La Malfa brought the party into the pan-European federation which later became the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
. In 1978, his action was able to determine Italy's decision to join the European Monetary System
. Following the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro, La Malfa gave a tearful and memorable speech in the Chamber of Deputies
condemning terrorism
and the Red Brigades
. Though nominated by President
Sandro Pertini as Prime Minister in early 1979, the first secular politician to reach this stage, he was unable to form a government, and later became deputy Prime Minister and then Minister of the Budget under Giulio Andreotti's second government.
On March 24, 1979 he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, and died two days later in Rome.
. His commitment to infrastructure within the Mezzogiorno
has aided commerce there for fifty years.
In Rome, Piazzale Romolo e Remo was renamed Piazzale Ugo La Malfa, and his hometown of Palermo named Via Ugo La Malfa in honor of him.
His son, Giorgio La Malfa
, is president of the party, and was Minister for European Affairs in Italy until 2006.
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
politician, and an important leader in 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...
, of which his son, Giorgio La Malfa
Giorgio La Malfa
Giorgio La Malfa is an Italian politician.-Biography:La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and minister....
, is now president.
Early years and anti-Fascist resistance
La Malfa was born in PalermoPalermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. After completing his secondary schooling, he enrolled in the Ca' Foscari University
University of Venice
Ca' Foscari University is a university in Venice, northern Italy. It was founded in 1868 as the first Italian business college. The main building of the University, Ca’ Foscari Palace, is placed in a strategic position on the bend of the Grand Canal, in the heart of the city...
of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in the Department of Diplomatic Sciences with professors Silvio Trentin and Gino Luzzatto
During his years at the University, he had contacts within the republican movement of Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
and other anti-fascist
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...
groups. In 1924 he moved 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...
, and participated in the foundation of the Goliardic Union for Freedom. On June 14, 1925 he took part in the first conference of the National Democratic Union, founded by Giovanni Amendola
Giovanni Amendola
Giovanni Amendola was an Italian journalist and politician, noted as an opponent of Fascism....
. The movement was later declared illegal under Mussolini's
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
government. In 1926 he graduated university with a thesis dealing sharply with human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
. During his military service, he was transferred to Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
in order to disrupt the anti-fascist publication Pietre, on which he worked. By 1928 he was among those arrested following the April 12 bombing in the Fiera di 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 ,...
o for allegedly planning to assassinate Italian King Victor Emmanuel III only to be interrogated and released.
In 1929 he took a job editing the Treccani Encyclopaedia
Enciclopedia Italiana
The Enciclopedia Italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti , is an Italian encyclopedia, generally regarded as the most authoritative of that language...
, working under the direction of the liberal philosopher Ugo Spirito
Ugo Spirito
Ugo Spirito was an Italian fascist political philosopher and academic.-Early life:Spirito was initially an advocate of positivism although in 1918, whilst attending Sapienza University of Rome, he abandoned his position to become a follower of the Actual Idealism of Giovanni Gentile...
. At the request of Raffaele Mattioli he took a job with Mattioli's Italian Commercial Bank in 1933, of which he became director in 1938. During these years, he showed his expertise in both economics and leadership. There he forged relations between anti-fascist groups in order to build a web that formed the Partito d'Azione
Partito d'Azione
-History:It was an anti-fascist political party in the tradition of Giuseppe Mazzini and the Risorgimento. Founded in July 1942 by former militants of Giustizia e Libertà , liberal socialists, democrats...
, over which he presided as a founder. On January 1, 1943 La Malfa and the lawyer Adolfo Tino succeeded in publishing the first of their clandestine publication, L'Italia Libera. Later that year, La Malfa fled Italy to escape arrest, only to return to Rome in order to take part in the resistance movement
Italian resistance movement
The Italian resistance is the umbrella term for the various partisan forces formed by pro-Allied Italians during World War II...
with the Partito d'Azione and the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale.
Republican career
In 1945 under the reconstruction government of Ferruccio ParriFerruccio Parri
Ferruccio Parri was an Italian partisan and politician who served as the 43rd Prime Minister of Italy for several months in 1945. During the resistance he was known as Maurizio.-Biography:...
, La Malfa assumed role of Minister of Transportation. In the following government, under Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi was an Italian statesman and politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party. From 1945 to 1953 he was the prime minister of eight successive coalition governments. His eight-year rule remains a landmark of political longevity for a leader in modern Italian politics...
, he was Minister of Reconstruction, a position later renamed Minister of International Commerce. In February 1946 the first conference of the Partito d'Azione was held, during which Emilio Lussu
Emilio Lussu
Emilio Lussu was an Italian soldier, politician and a writer.-The soldier:Lussu was born in Armungia, province of Cagliari and graduated with a degree in law in 1914...
prevailed in driving party philosophy, and La Malfa and Parri left the party. In March he participated in the constitution of the Republican Democratic Concentration
Republican Democratic Concentration
The Republican Democratic Concentration was a liberal and republican list which contested in the Italian general election of 1946...
, which supported the republican referendum in June and contested the related general election. La Malfa and Parri were both elected to the Constituent Assembly of Italy
Constituent Assembly of Italy
The Italian Constituent Assembly was a parliamentary chamber which existed in Italy from 25 June 1946 until 31 January 1948...
, and with the encouragement of Randolfo Pacciardi
Randolfo Pacciardi
Randolfo Pacciardi was an Italian politician, a member of the Italian Republican Party . He was also an officer who fought during World War I and in the Spanish Civil War.-Biography:...
he joined 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...
, commonly known as the PRI.
Designated to represent 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 the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
in 1947, he was named vice president of the Fund the following year. Meanwhile, with Giulio Andrea Belloni and Oronzo Reale, he assumed the temporary role of party secretary
Party secretary
In politics, a party secretary is a senior official within a political party with responsibility for the organizational and daily political work. In most parties, the party secretary is second in rank to the party leader ....
. Reelected to the parliament
Parliament of Italy
The Parliament of Italy is the national parliament of Italy. It is a bicameral legislature with 945 elected members . The Chamber of Deputies, with 630 members is the lower house. The Senate of the Republic is the upper house and has 315 members .Since 2005, a party list electoral law is being...
in 1948, and confirmed into the subsequent legislature, he held numerous positions, including as a "minister without portofolio" charged with reorganizing the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction, before in 1951 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Trade. His work on liberalizing the Italian economy and lowering import tariffs was fundamental for the successes during the "economic miracle."
In 1952 he proposed, without success, the "constituent program," between the many secular parties. In 1956, while maintaining the autonomy of the Republican Party from Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
economic theories and its position to the left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
of the political spectrum, he favored the unification of the three major socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
schools to make the divide between his party and theirs more comprehensible.
After the Republicans withdrew support for the government in 1957, Randolfo Pacciardi left as director of the party. La Malfa assumed direction of the party newspaper, La Voce Repubblicana, in 1959. In 1962 he was named Minister of the Budget in the first center-left government under Amintore Fanfani
Amintore Fanfani
Amintore Fanfani was an Italian career politician and the 33rd man to serve the office of Prime Minister of the State. He was one of the well-known Italian politicians after the Second World War, and a historical figure of the Christian Democracy .Fanfani and Giovanni Giolitti are still actually...
, following the socialist abstention. In May he introduced the Nota Aggiuntiva, in which he supplied a general vision of the state of the Italian economy, including the inequalities which characterized it, and delineated the instruments and objects of their regime. Though criticized for his plan by the Confindustria
Confindustria
Confindustria is the Italian employers' federation, founded in 1910. It groups together more than 113,000 voluntary member companies, accounting for nearly 4,200,000 individuals. It aims to help Italy's economic growth, assisting, in doing so, its members...
, the Italian employers union, he decided to nationalize the electricity industry. On the occasion of the 29th conference of the Republican Party, in March 1965, he was elected party secretary. The next year he opened a dialog with the help of his old friend Giorgio Amendola
Giorgio Amendola
Giorgio Amendola was an Italian writer and politician.Born in Rome in 1907, he was the son of Lithuanian intellectual Eva Kuhn and Giovanni Amendola, a liberal anti-fascist who died in 1926 in Cannes after having been attacked by killers hired by Benito Mussolini...
, son of Giovanni Amendola
Giovanni Amendola
Giovanni Amendola was an Italian journalist and politician, noted as an opponent of Fascism....
, between the republicans and communists, inviting them to leave behind their old orthodoxy and help develop a more pragmatic approach.
During the tumultuous 1970s, the Republican party played a small but vital role in determining the government of Italy and maintaining continuity. Following the fall of Mariano Rumor
Mariano Rumor
Mariano Rumor was an Italian politician, a member of the Democrazia Cristiana and the 40th Prime Minister of Italy.He was born in Vicenza, Veneto...
's third government in 1970, La Malfa refused the invitation of incoming Prime Minister
Prime minister of Italy
The Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government of the Italian Republic...
Emilio Colombo
Emilio Colombo
Emilio Colombo is an Italian politician who was Prime Minister of Italy from 1970 to 1972. In addition to having held top positions in Italian governments, he was also active in European politics.-Biography:...
to take the role of Minister of the Treasury. For him, the government was not in position to delineate a strategic plan for financing reforms with their education, health, and transportation services, and Colombo only lasted one year in the job. La Malfa pulled his party out of the subsequent Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...
government over the issue of state control of cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943560,00.html. Asked again in 1973 by Mariano Rumor's fourth government he accepted the job of Minister of the Treasury. In that position he blocked the request to grant increased emergency financing to Finambro, a bank owned by Michele Sindona
Michele Sindona
Michele Sindona was an Italian banker and convicted felon. Known in banking circles as "The Shark", Sindona was a member of Propaganda Due , a secret lodge of Italian Freemasonry, and had clear connections to the Mafia...
, opening the door to the collapse of Sindora's banking empire and his eventual indictment. He resigned as Minister in February over disagreements in fiscal policy with the Minister of the Budget, pulling the Republican support of that government, and causing its colaspe. That December he was named deputy Prime Minister under the fourth government of his friend 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....
, and in 1975 he assumed the presidency of the Republican party with Oddo Biasini replacing him as secretary.
The last years of his life were among his most productive. Upon defeating resistance from left-wing republicans in 1976, La Malfa brought the party into the pan-European federation which later became the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party is a European political party mainly active in the European Union, composed of 56 national-level liberal and liberal-democratic parties from across Europe...
. In 1978, his action was able to determine Italy's decision to join the European Monetary System
European Monetary System
There are three stages of monetary cooperation in the European Union.-Background:European currency exchange rate stability has been one of the most important objectives of European policy makers at least since the Second World War....
. Following the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro, La Malfa gave a tearful and memorable speech in the Chamber of Deputies
Italian Chamber of Deputies
The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
condemning terrorism
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...
and 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"...
. Though nominated by President
President of the Italian Republic
The President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity and guarantee that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....
Sandro Pertini as Prime Minister in early 1979, the first secular politician to reach this stage, he was unable to form a government, and later became deputy Prime Minister and then Minister of the Budget under Giulio Andreotti's second government.
On March 24, 1979 he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, and died two days later in Rome.
Legacy
For many, La Malfa was "the needle" that sewed the Italian republic together and kept it from coming undone, especially because of his role as a peacemaker between contrasting parties. He alone seemed to realized the futility and irresponsibility of governing without the communists who held upwards of one third of the parliament. His economic principles, though they often appeared unrealistic and visionary, such as a common European monetary system, were revolutionary and helped make Italy for many years second in economic growth only to West GermanyWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. His commitment to infrastructure within the Mezzogiorno
Mezzogiorno
The Midday is a wide definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the southern half of the Italian state, encompassing the southern section of the continental Italian Peninsula and the two major islands of Sicily and Sardinia, in addition to a large number of minor islands...
has aided commerce there for fifty years.
In Rome, Piazzale Romolo e Remo was renamed Piazzale Ugo La Malfa, and his hometown of Palermo named Via Ugo La Malfa in honor of him.
His son, Giorgio La Malfa
Giorgio La Malfa
Giorgio La Malfa is an Italian politician.-Biography:La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and minister....
, is president of the party, and was Minister for European Affairs in Italy until 2006.