Tom Behan (22 June 1957, in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

– 30 August 2010, in

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

) was born from Irish parents. He was an academic and writer on Italian history, politics and culture. Behan was an active member of the British Socialist Workers Party for over 30 years. In his youth he knew the unfair widespread prejudice against the Irish and he found reading Socialist Worker newspaper what was the only thing he thought that made sense on Ireland. He did not go to university until 1982, and therefore was part of the first post-war youth generation to experience a society of mass youth unemployment. He had lived in Naples in the early 1980s, acquiring an excellent mastery of Italian and noticing the after-earthquake management by the camorristic groups. By the early 1990s, when he was at the University of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

(UK), he had collected considerable documentation on organized crime and provided advice to English TV inquiry programs “Channel 4”. After obtaining his doctorate in “Italian studies” and working for about two years in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Behan published his first book on the subject (
The Camorra
', Routledge, London, 1996). He continued to alternate his academic work, first at the University of Glasgow and then in Kent, with an intense participation in global protest events. He was a Senior Lecturer in Italian at the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

at Canterbury. Author of the first political biography of Europe's leading radical playwright and winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature

Dario Fo Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. I ...

and an authority on Italian organised crime. Behan died in

(

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

) on 30 August 2010 after a long illness and is survived by his partner, Barbara Rampoldi.

Selected bibliography

* *
''Workers' Playtime: Dario Fo''

Socialist Review The ''Socialist Review'' is a monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it is also published online. Original publication: 1950–1962 The ''Socialist Review'' was set up in 1950 as the main publication o ...

, issue 214 (1997) *
''Interview: the return of Italian Communism?''
International Socialism Journal, issue 84 (1999) *
''Genoa: Nothing can be the same again''
International Socialism Journal, issue 92 (2001) * *
''review''
at Socialist Worker)
''The legacy of Giuseppe Garibaldi - the 19th century's Che Guevara''

Socialist Worker ''Socialist Worker'' is the name of several far-left newspapers currently or formerly associated with the International Socialist Tendency (IST). It is a weekly newspaper published by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United Kingdom since ...

(2007)
''Giovanni Pesce: leading Italian partisan, who kept fighting for freedom''

(2007) * (narrates the political and human story of Peppino Impastato)
''How capitalism created the mafia''

(2008)
''Aldo Moro killing: a miscalculation that almost destroyed the Italian left''

(2008) *
It was workers who defeated Mussolini
by Alexis Vassiley) *

References

External links

Tom Behan in his own words
(Tom Behan told

Chris Bambery Chris Bambery is a Scottish political activist, socialist, author, journalist, and TV presenter and producer, most recently with the Islam Channel where he hosts their current affairs programme ''The Report''. Prior to the 2017 UK General Elect ...

about his life) in

Tom Behan: The Story of a Man who stood up for the Masses
by Carmen Casaliggi in Socialist Worker *Tribute t
Tom Behan: revolutionary activist and writer
by Diane Fieldes and Tom Bramble i
Socialist Alternative Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Behan, Tom British Marxists Socialist Workers Party (UK) members 2010 deaths 1957 births Historians of Italy British historians Academics of the University of Kent British male writers