Paolo Alatri (Rome, 27 February 1918 – Rome, 30 October 1995) was an
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 ...
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
and
Marxist politician.
Life
Born into a middle class Jewish family, Paolo Alatri had his secondary education at the Torquato Tasso in Rome, where his classmates included
Bruno Zevi
Bruno Zevi (22 January 1918 – 9 January 2000) was an Italian architect, historian, professor, curator, author, and editor. Zevi was a vocal critic of "classicizing" modern architecture and postmodernism.
Early life
Zevi was born and died i ...
and
Mario Alicata. After graduating with a degree in literature and philosophy from the
University of Rome in 1940 he enrolled in the
Action Party, taking an active part in the defense of Rome (September 1943) and subsequently in the
Italian resistance movement. After the war he became a
Communist (1943) and was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies on the
PCI list. He alternated his political activities with teaching history, first at the
University of Palermo
The University of Palermo ( it, Università degli Studi di Palermo) is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties.
History
The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its ...
, then at the
University of Messina
The University of Messina ( it, Università degli Studi di Messina; Latin: ''Studiorum Universitas Messanae''), known colloquially as UniME, is a state university located in Messina, Sicily, Italy. Founded in 1548 by Pope Paul III, it was the wor ...
and finally at the
University of Perugia
University of Perugia (Italian ''Università degli Studi di Perugia'') is a public-owned university based in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale.
Th ...
, where he was in charge of the Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche for a period in the 1980s.
An upstanding man with deep democratic beliefs, he educated generations of students in the code of honour propagated by the Resistance in the 1940s: love of liberty, respect for human dignity, solidarity with the poor and the oppressed. A strong supporter of the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, he was also President of the ''Associazione Italia-URSS'' (1961-1970) and later a member of its governing board. He resigned from the board in 1980 as a result of the Moscow authorities' treatment of the nuclear physicist
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ( rus, Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ˈdmʲitrʲɪjevʲɪtɕ ˈsaxərəf; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, nobel laureate and activist for n ...
, saying "Non posso essere amico di chi si comporta come al tempo degli Zar" (I cannot be a friend of those who behave as in the time of the
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
). He died at Rome in 1995 from an incurable disease.
Historian and journalist
Paolo Alatri was especially interested in Modern and Contemporary European History, with particular interest in the Eighteenth century reformists,
Italian unification (which he taught at the University of Palermo) and the rise and fall 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 ...
. His literary and historical studies on the life and works of
Gabriele D'Annunzio are of fundamental importance, as are his philosophical studies of the leaders of the
Enlightenment and of some contemporary Italian thinkers. Among the last category is a valuable biography of
Bertrando Spaventa
Bertrando Spaventa (26 June 1817 – 20 September 1883) was a leading Italian philosopher of the 19th century whose ideas had an important influence on the changes that took place during the unification of Italy and on philosophical thought in th ...
, published at Rome in 1941
[The text was attributed to the ]pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
ous Paolo Romano to elude the Italian Racial Laws of 1938) (his first work) and particularly appreciated by
Benedetto Croce, who invited the author (then only twenty-three years old) to
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 ...
so that he could meet him.
Paolo Alatri was strongly dedicated to journalism. He wrote for
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, ...
,
Corriere della Sera and other important newspapers. He was editor in chief of Ulisse journal and a collaborator in Rinascita and Studi Storici.
Works published (selection)
* ''Lotte politiche in Sicilia sotto il governo della Destra, 1866-74'', Torino, Einaudi, 1954 (Political conflict in Sicily under the government of the Right, 1866–74).
* ''Nitti, D'Annunzio e la Questione adriatica: 1919-1920'', Milano, Feltrinelli, 1959 (Nitti, D'Annunzio and the Adriatic Question: 1919-1920).
* ''Storia dell'antifascismo italiano'', Roma,
Editori Riuniti
Editori Riuniti is an Italian publishing house based in Rome that publishes books and magazines on the history of socialism, socialist thought, physics and mathematics theory, and the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
Histor ...
, 1964 (History of Italian Antifascism).
* ''Voltaire, Diderot e il Partito filosofico'', Firenze, Casa Ed. G. D'Anna, 1965 (Voltair, Diderot and the philosophical Party).
* ''
Le origini del fascismo'' (V editions), Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1971 (The Origins of Fascism).
* ''L'antifascismo italiano'', Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1973 (Italian Antifascism).
* ''Parlamenti e lotta politica nella Francia del Settecento'', Roma-Bari, Editori Laterza, 1977 (Parliaments and political conflict in France in the Eighteenth Century).
* ''Gabriele D'Annunzio'', Torino, UTET, 1983.
* ''L'Italia nel Settecento'', Perugia, Galeno Editore, 1983 (Italy in the Eighteenth Century).
* ''D'Annunzio negli anni del tramonto, 1930-1938'', Padova, Marsilio Editore, 1984 (D'Annunzio in his fading years, 1930-1938)
* ''L'Europa dopo Luigi XIV, 1715-1731'', Palermo, Sellerio Editore, 1986 (Europe after Louis XIV, 1715-1731)
* ''L'Europa delle successioni, 1731-1748'' - Palermo, Sellerio Editore, 1989 (Europe of the successions, 1731-1748)
* ''Introduzione a Voltaire'', Roma-Bari, Editori Laterza, 1989 (Introduction to Voltaire).
* ''Lineamenti di storia del pensiero politico moderno'' (II edizione), Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino Editore, 1992 (Outline of the history of modern political thought).
* ''D'Annunzio: mito e realtà'' (II editions), Torino, Istituto Suor Orsola Benincasa, 1993 (D'Annunzio: myth and reality).
* ''Ricordi e riflessioni sulla mia vita e la mia attività'' (posthumous), Roma, Bulzoni Editore, 1996 (Records and reflections on my life and my activities).
Activities as Deputy
Laws proposedQuestions with written responsesLegislative activity in the ChamberLegislative activity in committeesNon-legislative activity in the Chamber
See also
*
Gabriele D'Annunzio
*
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) ...
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alatri, Paolo
20th-century Italian politicians
Italian Communist Party politicians
20th-century Italian Jews
1918 births
1995 deaths
20th-century Italian historians
Academic staff of the University of Palermo
Academic staff of the University of Messina
Academic staff of the University of Perugia