Ugo La Malfa (16 May 1903 – 26 March 1979) 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 ...

politician and an important leader of the

Italian Republican Party The Italian Republican Party ( it, Partito Repubblicano Italiano, PRI) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Italy. Founded in 1895, the PRI is the oldest political party still active in Italy. The PRI has old roots and a long histo ...

(''Partito Repubblicano Italiano''; PRI).

Early years and anti-fascist resistance

La Malfa was born in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. After completing his secondary schooling, he enrolled in the Ca' Foscari University of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

in the Department of Diplomatic Sciences with professors

Silvio Trentin Silvio () is an Italian male name, the male equivalent of Silvia. Sílvio is a variant of the name in Portuguese. It is derived from the Latin "Silvius", meaning "spirit of the wood," and may refer to: People * Silvio Berlusconi (born 1936), Itali ...

and

Gino Luzzatto Gino Luzzatto, born on January 9, 1878, in Padua and deceased on March 30, 1964, in Venice, was an Italian economic historian. He initially worked as a teacher in southern Italy before joining an economic institute in Trieste and later relocated ...

. During his years at the university, he had contacts within the republican movement of

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

and other

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

groups. In 1924, he moved to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and participated in the foundation of the Goliardic Union for Freedom. On 14 June 1925, he took part in the first conference of the National Democratic Union, founded by

Giovanni Amendola Giovanni Amendola (15 April 1882 – 7 April 1926) was an Italian journalist, professor and politician, noted as an opponent of Italian Fascism. Biography Early life and education Amendola was born in Naples on 15 April 1882. He moved to Rome, ...

. The movement was later declared illegal under Mussolini's

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

government. In 1926 he graduated from university with a thesis dealing sharply with

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

. During his military service, he was transferred to

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

in order to disrupt the anti-fascist publication ''Pietre'', on which he worked. By 1928 he was among those arrested following the 12 April bombing in the Fiera di

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 ...

o for allegedly planning to assassinate Italian King

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, only to be interrogated and released. In 1929 he took a job editing the Treccani Encyclopaedia, working under the direction of the liberal philosopher

Ugo Spirito Ugo Spirito (September 9, 1896, Arezzo – April 28, 1979, Rome) was an Italian philosopher; at first, a fascist political philosopher and subsequently an idealist thinker. He has also been an academic and a university teacher. Early life Spiri ...

. At the request of Raffaele Mattioli he took a job with Mattioli's Italian Commercial Bank in 1933, of which he became director in 1938. During these years, he showed his expertise in both economics and leadership. There he forged relations between anti-fascist groups in order to build a web that formed the

Partito d'Azione The Action Party ( it, Partito d'Azione, PdA) was a liberal-socialist political party in Italy. The party was anti-fascist and republican. Its prominent leaders were Carlo Rosselli, Ferruccio Parri, Emilio Lussu and Ugo La Malfa. Other prominen ...

, over which he presided as a founder. On 1 January 1943, La Malfa and the lawyer Adolfo Tino succeeded in publishing the first of their clandestine publication, ''L'Italia Libera''. Later that year, La Malfa fled Italy to escape arrest, travelling to Switzerland, where he had contacts with representatives of the British

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

. With these he tried to organize a trip to London in order to make use of his personal influence at the Foreign Office. He tried to prevent the Allied invasion of Italy and to obtain a negotiated Italian retreat from the war.Mireno Berrettini, La Gran Bretagna e l’Antifascismo italiano. Diplomazia clandestina, Intelligence, Operazioni Speciali (1940-1943), Firenze, 2010 Later he returned to Rome in order to take part in the

resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...

with the Partito d'Azione and the

Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale The National Liberation Committee ( it, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against Nazi Germany’s forces during the German occup ...

Republican career

In 1945 under the reconstruction government of

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 w ...

, La Malfa assumed the role of Minister of Transportation. In the following government, under

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 ...

, he was Minister of Reconstruction, a position later renamed Minister of International Commerce. In February 1946 the first conference of the Partito d'Azione was held, during which

Emilio Lussu Emilio Lussu (4 December 1890 – 5 March 1975) was an Italian soldier, politician, anti-fascist and writer. Biography The soldier Lussu was born in Armungia, province of Cagliari (Sardinia) and graduated with a degree in law in 1914. Lussu ma ...

prevailed in determining party philosophy, and La Malfa and Parri left the party. In March he participated in the constitution of the

Republican Democratic Concentration The Republican Democratic Concentration ( it, Concentrazione Democratica Repubblicana, CDR) was a liberal and republican list which contested in the Italian general election of 1946. It was formed in February 1946 by Ferruccio Parri, a former Prim ...

, which supported the republican referendum in June and contested the related general election. La Malfa and Parri were both elected to the

Constituent Assembly of Italy The Italian Constituent Assembly (Italian: ''Assemblea Costituente della Repubblica Italiana'') was a parliamentary chamber which existed in Italy from 25 June 1946 until 31 January 1948. It was tasked with writing a constitution for the Italian ...

, and with the encouragement of

Randolfo Pacciardi Randolfo Pacciardi (1 January 1899 – 14 April 1991) was an Italian politician. He was a long-time member of the secular, centre-left Italian Republican Party. An ardent anti-fascist, he lived in exile for many years and was an officer of the ...

he joined the Italian Republican Party, commonly known as the PRI. Designated to represent

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

to the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

in 1947, he was named vice president of the Fund the following year. Meanwhile, with Giulio Andrea Belloni and

Oronzo Reale Oronzo Reale (24 October 1902 – 14 July 1988) was an Italian politician, who served as justice minister in the 1960s and 1970s. Biography Reale was born in Lecce on 24 October 1902. He received a degree in law. He was a member and the hea ...

, he assumed the temporary role of party secretary. Reelected to the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1948, and confirmed into the subsequent legislature, he held numerous positions, including as a "minister without portfolio" charged with reorganizing the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI), before in 1951 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Trade. His work on liberalizing the Italian economy and lowering import tariffs was fundamental to the "economic miracle." In 1952 he proposed, without success, a "constituent program" between the secular parties. In 1956, while maintaining the autonomy of the Republican Party from

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

economic theories and its position on the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

of the political spectrum, he favored the unification of the three major

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

schools to make the divide between his party and theirs more comprehensible. Ugo La Malfa

After the Republicans withdrew support for the government in 1957, Randolfo Pacciardi left as director of the party. La Malfa assumed direction of the party newspaper, ''La Voce Repubblicana'', in 1959. In 1962 he was named Minister of the Budget in the first center-left government under

Amintore Fanfani Amintore Fanfani (; 6 February 1908 – 20 November 1999) was an Italian politician and statesman, who served as 32nd prime minister of Italy for five separate terms. He was one of the best-known Italian politicians after the Second World War an ...

, following the socialist abstention. In May he introduced the ''Nota Aggiuntiva'', in which he supplied a general vision of the state of the Italian economy, including the inequalities which characterized it, and delineated the instruments and objects of their regime. Though criticized for his plan by the

Confindustria The General Confederation of Italian Industry ( it, Confederazione generale dell'industria italiana), commonly known as Confindustria, is the Italy, Italian employers' federation and national chamber of commerce, founded in 1910. It groups togeth ...

, the Italian employers union, he decided to nationalize the electricity industry. On the occasion of the 29th conference of the Republican Party, in March 1965, he was elected party secretary. The next year he opened a dialog with the help of his old friend

Giorgio Amendola Giorgio Amendola (21 November 1907 – 5 June 1980) was an Italian writer and politician. He is regarded and often cited as one of the main precursors of the Olive Tree. Born in Rome in 1907, Amendola was the son of Lithuanian intellectual Eva K ...

, son of

, between the republicans and communists, inviting them to leave behind their old orthodoxy and help develop a more pragmatic approach. During the tumultuous 1970s, the Republican party played a small but vital role in determining the government of Italy and maintaining continuity. Following the fall of

Mariano Rumor Mariano Rumor (; 16 June 1915 – 22 January 1990) was an Italian politician and statesman. A member of the Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democracy (DC), he served as the List of prime ministers of Italy, 39th Prime Minister of Italy fr ...

's third government in 1970, La Malfa refused the invitation of incoming

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Emilio Colombo Emilio Colombo (11 April 1920 – 24 June 2013) was an Italian politician, member of the Christian Democracy, who served as Prime Minister of Italy from August 1970 to February 1972. During his long political career, Colombo held many offices ...

to take the role of Minister of the Treasury. For him, the government was not in position to delineate a strategic plan for financing reforms with their education, health, and transportation services, and Colombo only lasted one year in the job. La Malfa pulled his party out of the subsequent

Giulio Andreotti Giulio Andreotti ( , ; 14 January 1919 – 6 May 2013) was an Italian politician and statesman who served as the 41st prime minister of Italy in seven governments (1972–1973, 1976–1979, and 1989–1992) and leader of the Christian Democra ...

government over the issue of state control of

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...

br>
Asked again in 1973 by Mariano Rumor's fourth government he accepted the job of Minister of the Treasury. In that position he blocked the request to grant increased emergency financing to Finambro, a bank owned by

Michele Sindona Michele Sindona (; 8 May 1920 – 22 March 1986) was an Italian banker and convicted felon. Known in banking circles as "The Shark", Sindona was a member of Propaganda Due (#0501), a secret lodge of Italian Freemasonry, and had clear connectio ...

, opening the door to the collapse of Sindona's banking empire and his eventual indictment. He resigned as Minister in February over disagreements in fiscal policy with the Minister of the Budget, pulling the PRI's support for that government and causing its collapse. That December he was named deputy Prime Minister in the fourth government of his friend

Aldo Moro Aldo Romeo Luigi Moro (; 23 September 1916 – 9 May 1978) was an Italian statesman and a prominent member of the Christian Democracy (DC). He served as prime minister of Italy from December 1963 to June 1968 and then from November 1974 to July ...

, and in 1975 he assumed the presidency of the Republican party with Oddo Biasini replacing him as secretary. The last years of his life were among his most productive. Upon defeating resistance from left-wing republicans in 1976, La Malfa brought the party into the pan-European federation which later became the

European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

. In 1978, his action was able to determine Italy's decision to join the

European Monetary System The European Monetary System (EMS) was a multilateral adjustable exchange rate agreement in which most of the nations of the European Economic Community (EEC) linked their currencies to prevent large fluctuations in relative value. It was initiate ...

. Following the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro, La Malfa gave a tearful and memorable speech in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

condemning

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

and the

Red Brigades The Red Brigades ( it, Brigate Rosse , often abbreviated BR) was a far-left Marxist–Leninist armed organization operating as a terrorist and guerrilla group based in Italy responsible for numerous violent incidents, including the abduction ...

. Though nominated by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Sandro Pertini Alessandro "Sandro" Pertini (; 25 September 1896 – 24 February 1990) was an Italian socialist politician who served as the president of Italy from 1978 to 1985. Early life Born in Stella (Province of Savona) as the son of a wealthy landown ...

as Prime Minister in early 1979, the first secular politician to reach this stage, he was unable to form a government, and later became deputy Prime Minister and then Minister of the Budget in Giulio Andreotti's second government. On 24 March 1979, he suffered a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

, and died two days later in Rome.

Legacy

For many, La Malfa was "the needle" that sewed the Italian republic together and kept it from coming undone, especially because of his role as a peacemaker between contrasting parties. He understood the futility and irresponsibility of governing without the communists, who held upwards of one third of the seats in parliament. His economic principles, though they often appeared unrealistic and visionary, such as a common European monetary system, were revolutionary and helped make Italy for many years second in economic growth only to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. His commitment to infrastructure within the

Mezzogiorno Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion A macroregion is a geopolitical subdivision that encompasses several traditionally or politically defined regions or countries. The meaning ...

has aided commerce there for fifty years. In Rome, Piazzale Romolo e Remo was renamed Piazzale Ugo La Malfa, and his hometown of Palermo named Via Ugo La Malfa in honor of him. His son

Giorgio La Malfa Giorgio La Malfa (born 13 October 1939 in Milan) is an Italian politician. Biography La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and minister. La Malfa served as secretary of the Italian Republican ...

is president of the PRI, and was Minister for European Affairs in Italy until 2006.

Notes

*Paolo Soddu, ''Ugo La Malfa. Il riformista moderno'', Carocci, Roma 2008.

References

External links