Guglielmo Giannini (14 October 1891 – 10 October 1960) was an Italian politician, journalist, writer, director and

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...

Biography

Guglielmo Giannini was born in Pozzuoli, by Federico Giannini and Mary Jackson, and grew up in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He practiced many different trades (from bricklayer to a clerk in a cloth shop) before coming to journalism, in modest satirical papers. Travelling around Europe, he became fond of the crime novel and began to write various scripts with this technique. Subsequently, introduced by his father, he pursued a journalistic career. He fought as a volunteer in the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

(1911–1912) and participated in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. At the end of the "Great War", he moved to Rome and returned to the profession of journalist. During this period he began to work also as a playwright. Contrary to Italy's entry into the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(a choice dictated by the conviction that defeat was certain), he struggled for this position to continue working. In 1942, during the war conflict, his son Mario died in a plane crash in the

Falconara Marittima Falconara Marittima is a seaside resort on the Adriatic coast, in Italy, located north of Ancona, in the Marche region, province of Ancona. History Falconara developed around a castle. In the second half of the 16th century it was bought by the n ...

airport. To this disgrace he dedicated the essay ''La folla'', written after the news of his son's death, printed in 1945 and published in 1946. This tragedy contributed to rooting in him an indiscriminate hatred for the political class, and in particular for his leaders, without distinction of membership. In 1943, Giannini also directed four feature films in a year, including Grattacieli and 4 ragazze sognano, both with

Paolo Stoppa Paolo Stoppa Knight Grand Cross (6 June 1906 – 1 May 1988) was an Italian actor. Biography Born in Rome, he began as a stage actor in 1927 in the theater in Rome and began acting in films in 1932. As a stage actor, his most celebrated ...

as the protagonist. On 27 December 1944 Giannini founded a new weekly, "L'Uomo qualunque" (translatable as ''The Common Man'' or ''The Ordinary Man''), which in May 1945 exceeded 800 thousand copies. Tired of the fascist dictatorship and the intrusion of politics in the lives of private citizens, but also of the return of traditional parties, Giannini, following the success of the weekly newspaper, founded an opinion movement called

Common Man's Front The Common Man's Front ( it, Fronte dell'Uomo Qualunque, UQ), also translated as Front of the Ordinary Man, was a short-lived right-wing populist, monarchist and anti-communist political party in Italy. It was formed shortly after the end of the S ...

. The movement, based on a new political pseudo-ideology, called " qualunquismo". Retrieved 5.3% of the votes in the parliamentary election of 1946, getting 30 deputies to the Constituent assembly, including Giannini himself, who became group leader in the Parliament. In 1947, Giannini, after having tried an alliance with the

Christian Democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

and the

Italian Social Movement The Italian Social Movement ( it, Movimento Sociale Italiano, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party in Italy. A far-right party, it presented itself until the 1990s as the defender of Italian fascism's legacy, and later moved towards national ...

, approached the communist leader

Palmiro Togliatti Palmiro Michele Nicola Togliatti (; 26 March 1893 – 21 August 1964) was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death. He was nicknamed ("The Best") by his supporters. In 1930 he became a citizen of ...

, defined two years before as "worm, rogue and forger". Many sympathizers of the Common Man's Front, astounded by this choice, abandoned Giannini who so enounced the pact of friendship with the

Italian Communist Party 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). ...

to make an alliance with the

Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy. The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor party ...

. Anyway, in the parliamentary election of 1948 the FUQ-PLI alliance obtained only 3.8% of the vote; Giannini was elected to the Chamber and joined the

Mixed Group The mixed group ( it, Gruppo Misto, GM) is a parliamentary group active in both houses of the Italian Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The groups comprise all the deputies and the senators, respectively, who are not members of ...

. After the electoral failure, Giannini resigned as president of the Common Man's Frontin October 1948.GIANNINI RESIGNS ITALIAN PARTY POST; Common Man Front's Creator Had Aided Communists by Combating de Gasperi
/ref> In 1953, Giannini was a candidate with the Christian Democracy and in 1958 with the People's Monarchist Party, but in both cases he was not elected.

Electoral history

Filmography

* '' Duetto vagabondo'' (1939) * '' Il nemico'' (1943) * '' 4 ragazze sognano'' (1943) * '' Grattacieli'' (1943)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giannini, Guglielmo 1891 births 1960 deaths Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians Common Man's Front politicians Italian directors Italian monarchists Members of the Constituent Assembly of Italy Deputies of Legislature I of Italy 20th-century Italian journalists People from Pozzuoli