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

communist 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, ...

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 ...

, 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 The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Socia ...

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

, 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 transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

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, ...

led him to criticize Enrico Berlinguer. 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 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 p ...

'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 Nicola "Nichi" Vendola (; born 26 August 1958) is an Italian left-wing politician and LGBT activist who was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Apulia from 1992 to 2005 and President of Apulia from 2005 to 2015. He is one of the first o ...

and some others, the

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 ...

, of which he became the president. When Fausto Bertinotti,

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 i ...

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 Oliviero Diliberto (born 13 October 1956 in Cagliari) is an Italian politician. He has been leader of the Party of Italian Communists. Early life Oliviero Diliberto was born in a family of public servants (his father Marco was employed as att ...

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 established in October 1998 by splinters from the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC). The split was led by Armando Cossutta, founder and e ...

. 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 Engel ...

, 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)