Alessandro Natta (7 January 1918 – 23 May 2001), was an Italian politician and secretary of 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) from 1984 to 1988.

Before and during the World War

Born in

Oneglia Oneglia ( lij, Inêia or ) is a former town in northern Italy on the Ligurian coast, in 1923 joined to Porto Maurizio to form the Comune of Imperia. The name is still used for the suburb.Roy Palmer Domenico, ''The regions of Italy: a referenc ...

, Natta attended the

Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa (commonly known in Italy as "la Normale") is a public university in Pisa and Florence, Tuscany, Italy, currently attended by about 600 undergraduate and postgraduate (PhD) students. It was founded in 181 ...

together with the future

President of the Italian Republic 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 ...

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician and banker who was the prime minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and the president of Italy from 1999 to 2006. Biography Education Ciampi was born ...

, and in that city he began taking part in the opposition to

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 ...

Fascist regime 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 and th ...

. During

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he was sent to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, and in the chaos following Italy's armistice with the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, took part in the defence of Gaddurà airport in

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

from

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attacks. Captured, he refused to collaborate with the Germans and the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

and was consequently interned first in a prison camp on the island, then subsequently sent to a lager in Germany.

Role in the PCI

Natta returned to Italy only in August 1945, and joined the PCI in Imperia, dedicating himself to the party full-time. He was in turn a

Comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

councillor, secretary of the local PCI federation, and in time a leading participant in the party's internal life, becoming a member of its main organs along with

Luigi Longo Luigi Longo (15 March 1900 – 16 October 1980), also known as Gallo, was an Italian communist politician and secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1964 to 1972. He was also the first foreigner to be awarded an Order of Lenin. Early ...

. A strong supporter of the "''Italian road to

Socialism 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 th ...

''", he was close to

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 ...

, and gained a position in the party

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...

. In 1969, he drew up the report proposing the expulsion from the party of the ''Manifesto'' group. In 1984, after Berlinguer's death, Natta was elected as party secretary. While still following Berlinguer's party line, he tried to improve the party's tense relations with the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspape ...

. To this end he supported a trip to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

organised by

Armando Cossutta Armando Cossutta (2 September 1926 – 14 December 2015) was an Italian communist politician. Biography Born in Milan, Cossutta joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1943, and took part in the Italian resistance movement as a partisan. Aft ...

, which generated considerable controversy inside the party.

Split in the PCI

Natta was confirmed as leader during the

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

Congress in 1986, but in 1988 he was forced to resign by a heart attack and was succeeded by

Achille Occhetto Achille Leone Occhetto (; born 3 March 1936) is an Italian political figure. He served as the last secretary-general of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) between 1988 and 1991, and the first leader of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), the ...

. Along with Cossutta, he strongly opposed Occhetto's proposal in the historic "Bolognina split" to change the party's name. The dissolution of the PCI subsequent to Occhetto's victory led to the birth of two different parties, the majority Democratic Party of the Left under Occhetto and the hardline minority

Communist Refoundation Party The Communist Refoundation Party ( it, Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, PRC) is a communist political party in Italy that emerged from a split of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1991. The party's secretary is Maurizio Acerbo, who repla ...

founded by Cossutta,

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 ...

, Lucio Libertini and others. Natta, like

Pietro Ingrao Pietro Ingrao (30 March 1915 – 27 September 2015) was an Italian politician and journalist who participated in the resistance movement. For many years he was a senior figure in the Italian Communist Party (PCI). Political career Ingrao was bo ...

, chose to remain a member of the main party, as he was not optimistic about the prospects of the new communist party.

References

*Article by Luca Molinari a
cronologia.leonardo.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Natta, Alessandro 1918 births 2001 deaths People from Imperia Italian male journalists Italian resistance movement members Italian Communist Party politicians University of Pisa alumni Democratic Party of the Left politicians 20th-century Italian politicians 20th-century Italian journalists