Armando Cossutta (2 September 1926 – 14 December 2015) was an Italian communist politician.

Biography

Born 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 ...

, Cossutta 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) in 1943, and took part in the Italian resistance movement as a partisan. After

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 ...

, he became one of the leading members of the party, representing the most pro-

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, ...

tendency; his belief in that country as the "''Leading state''" of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

led him to criticize

Enrico Berlinguer Enrico Berlinguer (; 25 May 1922 – 11 June 1984) was an Italian politician, considered the most popular leader of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), which he led as the national secretary from 1972 until his death during a tense period in Ital ...

. Later in life, although he did not regret the choice he made, Cossutta considered that he was mistaken in opposing Berlinguer. Opposed to Achille Occhetto's 1991 proposal to dissolve the PCI, he founded, together with

Sergio Garavini Sergio Garavini (18 May 1926 – 7 September 2001) was an Italian politician, writer and trade unionist. Biography Garavini was born in Turin. At a very young age, he entered the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the trade union Italian Gene ...

, Nichi Vendola and some others, the Communist Refoundation Party, of which he became the president. When

Fausto Bertinotti Fausto Bertinotti (born 22 March 1940) is an Italian politician who led the Communist Refoundation Party (''Partito della Rifondazione Comunista'') from 1994 to 2006. On 29 April 2006, after the centre-left coalition's victory in the Italian ...

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...

of the party, voted against a motion of confidence to the 1996

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...

, Cossutta opposed his stance, and left the party along with Oliviero Diliberto and others to found the

Party of Italian Communists The Party of Italian Communists ( it, Partito dei Comunisti Italiani, PdCI) was a communist party in Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located i ...

. Afterwards, Cossutta was president of the Party of Italian Communists, and Member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. He also served as

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

during the 5th European term (1999–2004). He died on 14 December 2015 in

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 ...

. He was an atheist.

Post-Cold War allegations

In 1991, a Russian journalist claimed, by citing documents from the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

, that Cossutta received more than 2 million dollars from Russia, for propaganda reasons, during the 1980s. Cossutta dismissed these claims though, saying that he "had never received money from the Soviet Union." In 1999, Cossutta appeared on a list of alleged Italian KGB spies.

References

Works

*''Vecchio e nuovo corso''. Vangelista,

. *''Dissenso e unità''. Teti, Milan, 1986. *''Una storia comunista'' (with Gianni Montesano). Rizzoli, Milan, 2004.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cossutta, Armando 1926 births 2015 deaths Italian resistance movement members Italian Communist Party politicians Communist Refoundation Party politicians Politicians from Milan Italian atheists Communist Refoundation Party MEPs MEPs for Italy 1999–2004 Party of Italian Communists politicians Members of the Senate of the Republic (Italy)