Arturo Labriola (; 21 January 1873 – 23 June 1959) was an Italian revolutionary

syndicalist Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...

and

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 ...

politician and journalist.

Biography

Early political activity (until 1897)

Labriola was born in

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 ...

on 21 January 1873 to Luigi Labriola, an artisan. While studying

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

, Arturo Labriola started his political activity. In 1891 he joined the Republican-Socialist University Circle. Between 1892–1895, he collaborated on various periodicals: ''Socialismo Popolare'', edited by Carlo Monicelli, ''Rivista Popolare di Politica, Litteratura e Scienze Sociali'', edited by

Napoleone Colajanni Napoleone Colajanni ( Castrogiovanni, 27 April 1847 – Castrogiovanni, 2 September 1921) was an Italian writer, journalist, criminologist, socialist and politician. In the 1880s he abandoned republicanism for socialism, and became Italy's leadin ...

and ''

Critica Sociale ''Critica Sociale'' is a left-wing List of newspapers in Italy, Italian newspaper. It is linked to the Italian Socialist Party. Before Benito Mussolini banned opposition newspapers in 1926, ''Critica Sociale'' was a prominent supporter of the ori ...

'', edited by

Filippo Turati Filippo Turati (; 26 November 1857 – 29 March 1932) was an Italian sociologist, criminologist, poet and socialist politician. Early life Born in Canzo, province of Como, he graduated in law at the University of Bologna in 1877, and participa ...

. In 1894–1895, Labriola was involved with the ''

Fasci Siciliani The Fasci Siciliani , short for Fasci Siciliani dei Lavoratori (Sicilian Workers Leagues), were a popular movement of democratic and socialist inspiration, which arose in Sicily in the years between 1889 and 1894. The Fasci gained the support o ...

'' and therefore was suspended for one year from university studies. In 1897, Labriola joined

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...

(PSI) and fought in the Greco-Turkish War in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

Life in exile (1898–1900)

In May 1898, workers in Milan organized strikes and protests to demonstrate against the government. The riots were brutally repressed: troops fired on demonstrators, and Filippo Turati was arrested, accused of inspiring the riots. Labriola fled to Geneva in order to elude arrest. There, he taught at

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

and worked with

Vilfredo Pareto Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto ( , , , ; born Wilfried Fritz Pareto; 15 July 1848 – 19 August 1923) was an Italian polymath (civil engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist, and philosopher). He made several important contribut ...

. Labriola was expelled from Switzerland in the same year and moved to Paris. In Paris he met the socialists

Georges Sorel Georges Eugène Sorel (; ; 2 November 1847 – 29 August 1922) was a French social thinker, political theorist, historian, and later journalist. He has inspired theories and movements grouped under the name of Sorelianism. His social and p ...

Hubert Lagardelle Hubert Lagardelle (8 July 1874 – 20 September 1958) was a pioneer of French revolutionary syndicalism. He regularly authored reviews for the Plans magazine, was co-founder of the journal Prélude, and Minister of Labour in the Vichy regime. ...

and

Paul Lafargue Paul Lafargue (; 15 January 1842 – 25 November 1911) was a Cuban- Haitian revolutionary Marxist socialist, political writer, economist, journalist, literary critic, and activist; he was Karl Marx's son-in-law having married his second dau ...

Revolutionary syndicalist period

He returned to Italy in 1900, and in 1902 published a weekly called ''Avanguardia Socialista'' which became the center of activity for Italian revolutionary syndicalism. From 1910 to 1911 he was one of the leading contributors of '' La Lupa'', a weekly magazine supporting the revolution. He later withdrew his support for revolution, and adopted

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 ...

Reformism Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement. Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...

, becoming a member of the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitiona ...

as an independent. Favourable to Italy's participation in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Labriola also served as Minister of Labor in the last of

Giovanni Giolitti Giovanni Giolitti (; 27 October 1842 – 17 July 1928) was an Italian statesman. He was the Prime Minister of Italy five times between 1892 and 1921. After Benito Mussolini, he is the second-longest serving Prime Minister in Italian history. A pr ...

's cabinets (1920). An opponent 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 ...

, he had to take exile in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

after

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

came to power, but returned in 1935. In 1946 he was elected member of 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 ...

as a National Democratic Union candidate. In 1948 he became a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of the new Republic. As it was confirmed by the former President of the

Grand Orient of Italy The Grand Orient of Italy (GOI) ( it, Grande Oriente d'Italia) is an Italian masonic grand lodge founded in 1805; the viceroy Eugene of Beauharnais was instrumental in its establishment. It was based at the Palazzo Giustiniani, Rome, Italy fr ...

, he was one of the eight father constituents belonging to the main Italian Masonic organization.

Works

*''La teoria del valore di C. Marx, Studio sul III libro del Capitale'' (1899) *''Riforme e rivoluzione sociale'' (1904, 1906) *''

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

, L'Économiste, Le Socialiste'' (1910) *''Storia di dieci anni'' (1910) *''La guerra di Tripoli e l'opinione socialista'' (1912) *''Spiegazioni a me stesso'' (1945)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Labriola, Arturo 1873 births 1959 deaths 19th-century Neapolitan people Italian Socialist Party politicians Italian Ministers of Labour Deputies of Legislature XXIV of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXV of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXVI of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXVII of the Kingdom of Italy Members of the Constituent Assembly of Italy Senators of Legislature I of Italy Politicians of Campania Italian syndicalists 20th-century Italian journalists Italian male journalists Italian anti-fascists Italian Aventinian secessionists