Giancarlo Pajetta (24 June 1911 – 13 September 1990) was an Italian communist politician.

Biography

Pajetta was born in a working-class district of

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

to Carlo, a bank employee, and Elvira Berrini, an elementary schoolteacher. He attended

Liceo Classico Massimo d'Azeglio Liceo Classico Massimo d'Azeglio is a public sixth form college/senior high school (''liceo classico'') in Turin, Italy. It is named after the politician Massimo d'Azeglio. History It was established as the Collegio di Porta Nuova in 1831 and be ...

for his high school studiesWard, David. 'Primo Levi's Turin.' In: Gordon, Robert S.C. (editor). ''The Cambridge Companion to Primo Levi'' (Cambridge Companions to Literature).

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

, 30 July 2007. , 9781139827409. CITED: p
11
and joined the

Communist Party of Italy The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) 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 (PSI). ...

during this time. In 1927 he was sentenced to two years of imprisonment for subversive propaganda, after having distributed anti-fascist leaflets to the workers at the Saroglia typographical workshops. In 1931, he went into exile in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. While in exile he traveled to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

several times as representative of the

Italian Communist Youth Federation The Italian Communist Youth Federation ( it, Federazione Giovanile Comunista Italiana, FGCI) was the youth wing of the Italian Communist Party (''Partito Comunista Italiano''; PCI), and the direct heir of the Federazione Giovanile Comunista d'Ita ...

to the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...

. He took up the pseudonym ''Nullo'', after 19th century Italian patriot

Francesco Nullo Francesco Nullo (1 March 1826 – 5 May 1863) was an Italian patriot, military officer and merchant, and a close friend and confidant of Giuseppe Garibaldi. He supported independence movements in Italy and Poland. He was a participant in the ...

. In 1933 Pajetta returned to Italy in secret, but was arrested and sentenced to 21 years of imprisonment by the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State. He was freed on 23 August 1943, after the

fall of Fascism The fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, also known in Italy as 25 Luglio ( it, Venticinque Luglio, ; "25 July"), came as a result of parallel plots led respectively by Count Dino Grandi and King Victor Emmanuel III during the spring and sum ...

. He subsequently took part in the early phase of the partisan resistance with the

Garibaldi Brigades The ''Brigate Garibaldi'' or Garibaldi Brigades were partisan units aligned with the Italian Communist Party active in the armed resistance against both German and Italian fascist forces during World War II. The Brigades were mostly made up of ...

, of which he was ''de facto'' deputy commander. In February 1944, together with

Ferruccio Parri Ferruccio Parri (; Pinerolo, 19 January 1890 – Rome, 8 December 1981) was an Italian partisan and anti-fascist politician who served as the 29th Prime Minister of Italy, and the first to be appointed after the end of World War II. During the w ...

and

Alfredo Pizzoni Alfredo Pizzoni (February 20, 1894 – January 3, 1958) was an Italian banker and politician who was president of the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale Alta Italia (National Liberation Committee of Northern Italy, CLNAI) during the late stages o ...

, he was part of the delegation of the

National Liberation Committee The National Liberation Committee ( it, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against Nazi Germany’s forces during the German occup ...

(CLN) that sought recognition from the Allies as the legitimate government authority in occupied Italy. After this he remained in the Allied-controlled South. Pajetta was elected to the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

in 1946 and then was a deputy in the lower house of the Italian Parliament from 1948 until his death. He was also elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. From 1948 to 1985 he was a member of the National Secretariat of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), at first with responsibility for international relationships. He was briefly director of the party newspaper ''

L'Unità ''l'Unità'' (, lit. 'the Unity') was an Italian language, Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, ...

'', in 1947 and from 1969 to 1970, and of the Marxist periodical '' Rinascita'', from 1964 to 1966. In 1947 he took part in the armed occupation of the prefecture of Milan, in protest for the removal of prefect Ettore Troilo. Pajetta was one of the most respected Communist politicians after World War II. Following the death of secretary

Enrico Berlinguer Enrico Berlinguer (; 25 May 1922 – 11 June 1984) was an Italian politician, considered the most popular leader of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), which he led as the national secretary from 1972 until his death during a tense period in Ital ...

in 1984, Pajetta was considered too old to succeed him. He later opposed Achille Occhetto's project of transforming the PCI into a social-democratic party. Pajetta died suddenly in Rome in September 1990, before the dissolution of the PCI. His funeral ceremony was attended by 200,000 people.

Bibliography

*''Le crisi che ho vissuto'' (1982) *''Il ragazzo rosso'' (1983, autobiography) *''Il ragazzo rosso va alla guerra'' (1986)

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pajetta, Giancarlo 1911 births 1990 deaths Politicians from Turin Italian resistance movement members Italian Communist Party politicians 20th-century Italian politicians L'Unità editors