Angelo Tasca (

Moretta Moretta is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin and about north of Cuneo. As of 1-1-2017, it had a population of 4 141 and an area of .All demographics and other st ...

, 19 November 1892 –

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, 3 March 1960) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

politician, writer and historian. He was a founding member of the

Communist Party of Italy The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current ...

, but was expelled in 1929 due to his opposition to

Stalinism Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...

. Having experienced persecution by the

fascist regime Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

in Italy, he took refuge in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1926, gaining citizenship in 1936. After joining the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was found ...

in 1934, he worked as a writer for the newspaper ''Le Populaire''. He joined the exiled

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...

and supported the

POUM The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ( es, Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista, POUM; ca, Partit Obrer d'Unificació Marxista) was a Spanish communist party formed during the Second Spanish Republic, Second Republic and mainly active a ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. After the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939 and the consequent resignation of

Pietro Nenni Pietro Sandro Nenni (; 9 February 1891 – 1 January 1980) was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and senator for life since 1970. He was a recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1951. He w ...

, he became one of three joint leaders of the Italian Socialist Party. After the

Fall of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...

, he aligned himself with the pro-German

Vichy Government Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

. He held an official position under Paul Marion in the Ministry of Information. He was arrested in September 1944 following the

Liberation of France The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers of World War II, Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French R ...

and was charged with collaborationism, being released only a month later after it emerged that he had secretly worked with a Belgian anti-fascist network since 1941. After the war he worked for various newspapers and was a consultant for

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, maintaining an anti-communist position amidst the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. His daughter,

Catherine Tasca Catherine Tasca (born 13 December 1941 in Lyon) was a member of the Senate of France, representing the Yvelines department from 2004 to 2017. She is a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party, and served as the Senate's vice-pres ...

, was the French

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizati ...

from 2000–2002 and a senator from 2004–2017, belonging to the

French Socialist Party The Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste , PS) is a French centre-left and social-democratic political party. It holds pro-European views. The PS was for decades the largest party of the "French Left" and used to be one of the two major p ...

Works

* ''I valori politici e sindacali dei Consigli di fabbrica'', Libreria editrice dell'Alleanza coop. Turin 1920. * ''I Consigli di fabbrica e la rivoluzione mondiale. Relazione letta all'assemblea della Sezione socialista torinese le sera del 13 aprile 1920'', Libreria editrice dell'Alleanza coop. Turin 1921. * ''L'unità socialista'', Imp. ouvrière, Nancy 1937. * ''La Naissance du fascisme'', Gallimard, Paris 1938. Italian translation: ''Nascita e avvento del fascismo'', La Nuova Italia, 1950 and 1995 and Casa editrice Giuseppe Laterza & figli, 1965. * ''Due anni di alleanza germano-sovietica. Agosto 1939-giugno 1941'', La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1951. * ''In Francia nella bufera'', Guanda, Modena-Parma 1951. * ''La Guerre du papillon, 1940-1944'', Les Iles d'or, Paris 1954. * ''Le Pacte germano-soviétique. L'histoire et le mythe'', Éditions Liberté de la Culture, Paris 1954, Italian translation: ''Il patto germano-sovietico. La storia e la leggenda'',edited by M. Millozzi, Edizioni Università di Macerata, Macerata 2009. * ''Autopsia dello stalinismo'', Edizioni di Comunità, Milano, 1958.

References

External links

* Angelo Tasca
''The Russo-German Alliance: August 1939 – June 1941''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tasca, Angelo 1892 births 1960 deaths People from the Province of Cuneo Italian emigrants to France