Mauro Scoccimarro (30 October 1895 – 2 January 1972) was an Italian economist and communist politician. He was one of the founders of 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). ...

and the

minister of finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

between 1945 and 1947.

Early life and education

Scoccimarro was born in

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

on 30 October 1895. His father was of

Apulian it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

origin and an employee of the railways. Scoccimarro graduated from Zanon Technical Institute in Udine in October 1913. He attended

Ca' Foscari University of Venice Ca' Foscari University of Venice ( it, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, simply Università Ca' Foscari) is a public university in Venice, Italy. Since its foundation in 1868, it has been housed in the Venetian Gothic palace of Ca' Foscari, from w ...

, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics and political science in 1922. He involved in

World War I 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 ...

and joined socialist party in 1917, but following the party congress in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

in 1921 he left the party to establish the Communist Party.

Career

Scoccimarro was among the Italian members of the fourth Comintern meeting held in 1922. In 1923 he was made a member of the Communist Party's secretariat together with

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 ...

and

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 ...

. The same year the party leader

Amadeo Bordiga Amadeo Bordiga (13 June 1889 – 25 July 1970) was an Italian Marxist theorist, revolutionary socialist, founder of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI), member of the Communist International (Comintern) and later a leading figure of the Interna ...

was arrested, and the Comintern Executive Committee assigned a group of party members to lead the party, including Scoccimarro, Palmiro Togliatti,

Egidio Gennari Egidio Gennari (20 April 1876–8 April 1942) was an Italian communist politician who was among the founders of Italian Communist Party. He served at the Italian Parliament between 1924 and 1926 when he was forced to leave Italy due to the repres ...

Angelo Tasca Angelo Tasca ( Moretta, 19 November 1892 – Paris, 3 March 1960) was an Italian politician, writer and historian. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Italy, but was expelled in 1929 due to his opposition to Stalinism. Having expe ...

and

Umberto Terracini Umberto Elia Terracini (Genoa, 27 July 1895 – Rome, 6 December 1983) was an Italian politician. Biography Early years Terracini was born in Genoa on 27 July 1895 to a Jewish family originally from Piedmont. After completing his elementa ...

. In the party Scoccimarro was part of the faction led by Antonio Gramsci. In 1926 Scoccimarro was arrested by the

Fascists 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 and th ...

and was sentenced to 21 years in prison. He was released from the prison in 1937, but sent to the

Island of Ponza Ponza (Italian: ''isola di Ponza'' ) is the largest island of the Italy, Italian Pontine Islands archipelago, located south of Cape Circeo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is also the name of the commune of the island, a part of the province of Latina ...

, and then to the Island of Ventotene where he lived under police surveillance until July 1943 when the rule of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

, fascist leader of Italy, was toppled. Following the

liberation of Rome The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The ope ...

in June 1944 Scoccimarro acted as high commissioner for the expulsion of fascists and was the minister of occupied territories. In the latter capacity he found an opportunity to strengthen the positions of Italian communists in the northern regions of Italy. Scoccimarro's next post was the minister of finance which he held between June and December 1945 in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

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 wa ...

and then, between December 1945 and January 1947 in the second cabinet of

Alcide De Gasperi Alcide Amedeo Francesco De Gasperi (; 3 April 1881 – 19 August 1954) was an Italian politician who founded the Christian Democracy party and served as prime minister of Italy in eight successive coalition governments from 1945 to 1953. De Gasp ...

. In 1948 Scoccimarro was elected as a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

which he held until 1972. He also served in different posts in the Communist Party. As of 1966 he was the president of the central control committee. In addition from 1958 to 1972 he was vice president of the Senate.

Death

Scoccimarro died in Rome on 2 January 1972.

Views and works

Scoccimarro was part of the

Stalinist 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 o ...

faction in the Communist Party in the early 1960s. Scoccimarro was author of the following books in addition to his other writings: * ''La Costituente e il rinnovamento nazionale'', 1946 * ''Dottrina marxista e politica comunista'', 1946 * ''Su alcuni aspetti del nostro programma'', 1946 * ''Il secondo dopoguerra'', 2 Bände, 1956 * ''Nuova democrazia'', 1958 * ''Ideologia e politica'', 1960 * ''La crisi in Alto Adige'', Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1960. * ''Antonio Gramsci'', in ''Trent'anni di storia italiana, 1915-1945. Dall'antifascismo alla Resistenza'', Torino, Einaudi, 1961. * ''Ideologia marxista e programmazione economica'', Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1965. * ''Il rinnovamento e il rafforzamento del partito'', Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1966.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scoccimarro, Mauro 20th-century Italian politicians 1895 births 1972 deaths Ca' Foscari University of Venice alumni Finance ministers of Italy Italian anti-fascists Italian Communist Party politicians Italian economists Italian people of Albanian descent People from Udine Bonomi III Cabinet Italian resistance movement members Marxian economists Deputies of Legislature I of Italy Deputies of Legislature II of Italy Deputies of Legislature III of Italy Italian prisoners and detainees Members of the Italian Senate Italian Comintern people