''Il Politecnico'' (

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 ...

: ''The Polytechnic'') was a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

cultural and literary magazine published in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy, between 1945 and 1947. In the debut editorial it was stated that the magazine was inspired by the homonymous journal which had been founded by

Carlo Cattaneo Carlo Cattaneo (; 15 June 1801 – 6 February 1869) was an Italian philosopher, writer, and activist, famous for his role in the Five Days of Milan in March 1848, when he led the city council during the rebellion. Early life Cattaneo was born i ...

in 1839 and published until 1845.

History and profile

''Il Politecnico'' was first published in Milan as a weekly on 29 September 1945.

Giulio Einaudi Giulio Einaudi (; 2 January 1912 – 5 April 1999) was an Italian book publisher. The eponymous company that he founded in 1933 became "a European wellspring of fine literature, intellectual thought and political theory"Saxon, Wolfgang ''The New ...

was the publisher, and

Elio Vittorini Elio Vittorini (; 23 July 1908 – 12 February 1966) was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of Cesare Pavese and an influential voice in the modernist school of novel writing. His best-known work is the anti-fascist novel '' Co ...

was the editor of the magazine.

Franco Fortini Franco Fortini was the pseudonym of Franco Lattes (10 September 1917 – 28 November 1994), an Italian poet, writer, translator, essayist, literary critic and Marxist intellectual. Life Franco Fortini was born in Florence, the son of a Jewish ...

, an Italian poet and Marxist theorist, was one of the editorial board members of ''Il Politecnico''. From 1 May 1946 the magazine came out monthly. The idea behind the establishment of ''Il Politecnico'' was to rebuild

Italian culture Italy is considered one of the birthplaces of Western civilization and a cultural superpower. Italian culture is the culture of the Italians, a Romance ethnic group, and is incredibly diverse spanning the entirety of the Italian peninsula ...

after the experience of

Fascism 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 ...

. This idea was originally developed by a communist

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Felice Balbo in 1945. ''Il Politecnico'' also aimed at providing a democratic forum for literary discussions. It considered culture as a guide to policy. This approach was similar to that advocated by French thinker

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

and was totally opposite of

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 ...

's understanding of culture as something less important than party instructions. The magazine rejected not to cover the work by non-Communist artists and featured translations of famous authors such as

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

, T. S. Eliot,

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

and

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

. The magazine also published photo-stories of Luigi Crocenzi.

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...

was among the contributors and in fact, he started his career as a journalist in the magazine. Due to the conflict between the Communist Party leader Palmiro Togliatti and Elio Vittorini and its editorial policy ''Il Politecnico'' lost the support of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

. The magazine eventually ceased publication in December 1947. The 39th issue was the last one which did not announce the closing of the magazine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Politecnico 1945 establishments in Italy 1947 disestablishments in Italy Communist magazines Cultural magazines Defunct literary magazines published in Italy Italian-language magazines Magazines established in 1945 Magazines disestablished in 1947 Magazines published in Milan Monthly magazines published in Italy Weekly magazines published in Italy

History and profile

See also

References