Rossana Rossanda (23 April 1924 – 20 September 2020) was an Italian communist politician, journalist, and feminist.

Biography

Rossanda was born in Pula, then part of Italy. She studied 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 ...

and was a student of philosopher

Antonio Banfi Antonio Banfi (Vimercate, 30 September 1886 – Milano, 22 July 1957) was an Italian philosopher and senator. He is also noted for founding the Italian philosophical school called critical rationalism. Although influenced by the Marburg neo- ...

. At a very young age, she took part in the

Italian resistance The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Socia ...

and, following the end of

World War II 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 opposing ...

, she joined 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) ...

(PCI). After a short period, secretary

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 ...

named her responsible for culture in the party. She was elected for the first time to the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical funct ...

in 1963. In 1968 she published a small essay, entitled ''L'anno degli studenti'' ("The Year of the students"), in which she declared her support for the youth movement. Rossanda was part of a minority inside the PCI that was against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, and, together with Luigi Pintor,

Valentino Parlato Valentino may refer to People * Valentino (surname), including a list of people with the name * Valentino (given name), including a list of people with the name Mononymous persons * Valentino (fashion designer) (born Valentino Clemente Ludovic ...

, and Lucio Magri founded the party and newspaper '' il manifesto''. This caused her expulsion from the Communist Party after its XII National Congress held in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. In the 1972 elections, ''Il Manifesto'' obtained only 0.8% of the votes. It therefore merged with the Proletarian Unity Party, forming the Proletarian Unity Party for Communism. She later abandoned party politics but kept her role as director of ''il manifesto''. Rossanda died on 20 September 2020 at the age of 96.

Selected works

*''L'anno degli studenti'' (1968) *''Über die Dialektik von Kontinuität und Bruch'' (1975) *''Le altre. Conversazioni sulle parole della politica'' (1979) *“A Splendid Life”
''Telos''
44 (Summer 1980) *''Un viaggio inutile'' (1981) *''Appuntamenti di fine secolo'' (1995) *''La vita breve'' (Pratiche, 1996) *''Note a margine'' (1996) *''La ragazza del secolo scorso'' (2005, finalist for the

Premio Strega The Strega Prize ( it, Premio Strega ) is the most prestigious Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published ...

2006).

References

External links

''Class and Party''''Mao's Marxism''''Revolutionary Intellectuals and the Soviet Union''''Sartre's Political Practice''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossanda, Rossana 1924 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Italian politicians Italian Communist Party politicians Italian journalists Italian newspaper founders Italian women writers Italian writers Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy) People from Pula Italian socialist feminists Italian women company founders Italian resistance movement members Il manifesto editors Italian newspaper editors