Maria Antonietta Macciocchi (23 July 1922 – 15 April 2007) was an Italian journalist, writer,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and politician, elected to the Italian Parliament in 1968 as an Italian Communist Party candidate and to the European Parliament in 1979 as candidate of the Radical Party.John Francis Lane
Maria Macciocchi: Italian dissident feminist at odds with the communist legacy
''The Guardian'', 21 May 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2012.

Life

Macciocchi was born in Isola del Liri, the child of anti-fascists. She joined the underground Italian Communist Party (PCI) during the German occupation of Rome. In 1950 she became editor of the party's women's magazine ''Vie Nuove''. Then she edited a feminist magazine financed by the PCI, '' Noi donne''. She joined '' l'Unità'', the paper founded by

Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , , ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, linguist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a ...

, becoming their foreign correspondent in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

and Paris. In the 1960s she lectured at Vincennes University France, and her book ''Pour Gramsci'' was credited with introducing Gramsci's thought to French intellectuals. Returning to Italy in 1968 to stand in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

as a candidate for Naples, she kept up a correspondence with

Louis Althusser Louis Pierre Althusser (, ; ; 16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École normale supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy. Althusser ...

about both working-class conditions and local party management. Though elected, her publication of the correspondence helped to ensure that the PCI did not put her forward for re-election in 1972. She travelled to China for ''l'Unità'', praising the Cultural Revolution in the resultant book, ''Dalla Cina: dopo la rivoluzione culturale''. In 1977 she was expelled from the PCI for supporting Maoists in Bologna. In 1979 she was elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Radical Party.

Correspondent from the world

Macciocchi alternated work as an MEP to that of a journalist, writing for major newspapers such as ''

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...

'', '' Le Monde'' and '' El Pais'' articles from the most diverse parts of the world, from Cambodia to Iran and Jerusalem. In 1992, the French President

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

awarded her the Legion of Honor. In the same year, she met Pope John Paul II and was fascinated by his charismatic personality. She wrote about the Pope in "Le donne secondo Wojtyla" (Women according to Wojtyla), an unexpected book that aroused more controversy for her "conversion" from admirer of Mao Zedong to admirer of the Pope.

Later activities

In the 1990s Macciocchi lessened her journalistic activities in order to concentrate on book writing. She published works devoted to the history of Naples at the end of 700 and the events of the Neapolitan Republic. In 1993 she published 'Cara Eleonora' dedicated to

Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel Eleonora Anna Maria Felice de Fonseca Pimentel (born ''Leonor da Fonseca Pimentel Chaves''; 13 January 1752 – 20 August 1799) was an Italian poet and revolutionary connected with the Neapolitan revolution and subsequent short-lived Neap ...

, and in 1998 came 'L'amante della rivoluzione', on the figure of Luisa Sanfelice. In the European elections of 1994 Macciocchi was a candidate for parliament in the lists of the

Patto Segni The Segni Pact ( it, Patto Segni), officially called Pact of National Rebirth (''Patto di Rinascita Nazionale''), was a Christian-democratic, centrist and liberal political party in Italy. The party was founded and named after Mario Segni, a forme ...

, but was not elected.

Works

*''Persia in lotta'' ran in struggle edizioni di Cultura Sociale 1952 *''Lettere dall'interno del P.C.I. a Louis Althusser'', Feltrinelli 1969. Translated by Stephen M. Hellman as Letters from inside the Italian Communist Party to

, 1973. *''Dalla Cina : dopo la rivoluzione culturale'', Feltrinelli 1971. Translated by Alfred Ehrenfeld and Frank Kehl as Daily Life in

Revolutionary China The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...

, 1972 *''Polemiche sulla Cina'', Feltrinelli 1972 *''Per Gramsci'', Il Mulino 1974 *''La donna "nera": Consenso femminile e fascismo'', Feltrinelli 1976 *''Éléments pour une analyse du fascisme: séminaire de Maria-A. Macciocchi, Paris III-Vincennes'', 1974–1975, 1976 *''La sexualité féminine dans l'idéologie fasciste'', Tel Quel No. 66 (1976), pp. 26–42 *''La talpa francese'', Feltrinelli 1977 *''De la France'', 1977 *''Après Marx'', Book of the Espresso avril, 1978 *''Pasolini'', Grasset Paris 1980 *''Duemila anni di felicità'', Mondadori 1983 *''Di là dalle porte di bronzo'', mondadori 1987 *''La donna con la valigia'', Oscar Mondadori 1989 *''La forza degli italiani'', Mondadori 1990 *''Le donne secondo Wojtyla'', Edizioni Paoline 1992 *''Cara Eleonora: Passione e morte della Fonseca Pimentel nella Rivoluzione napoletana'',

Rizzoli Rizzoli is an Italian surname. People *Achilles Rizzoli (1896–1981), an American artist *Angelo Rizzoli (1889–1970), an Italian publisher ** RCS MediaGroup, formerly "A. Rizzoli & C." and "Rizzoli Editore", a publishing company founded by Angel ...

1993 *''L'amante della rivoluzione. La vera storia di Luisa sanfelica e della Repubblica napoletana del 1799'', mondadori 1997

Bibliography

* Eleonora Selvi, "Marie Antoinette Macciocchi.'s Intellectual heretic", Arachne, Rome 2012.

References

External links

Personal Card to the European Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macciocchi, Maria-Antonietta 1922 births 2007 deaths People from Isola del Liri Italian Communist Party politicians Radical Party (Italy) politicians Deputies of Legislature V of Italy Deputies of Legislature VIII of Italy Radical Party (Italy) MEPs Party of European Socialists MEPs MEPs for Italy 1979–1984 Politicians of Lazio Italian women journalists 20th-century Italian women writers Italian writers Italian feminists Communist women writers Italian magazine editors Italian women editors Sapienza University of Rome alumni Women magazine editors Italian socialist feminists