Filippo Turati (; 26 November 1857 – 29 March 1932) was an Italian sociologist,

criminologist Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

, poet and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

politician.

Early life

Born in

Canzo Canzo (; , ; Canzés, locally: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Italian province of Como. It is the last town north of the historical Brianza region of Lombardy, capital of the Lake Como Triangle community and a regional tourism destinat ...

province of Como The province of Como (; Comasco dialect, Comasco: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. It borders the Switzerland, Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grisons, Grigioni to the north, the Italian provinces of Province of ...

, he graduated in law at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

in 1877, and participated in the ''

Scapigliatura ''Scapigliatura'' () is the name of an artistic movement that developed in Italy after the Risorgimento period (1815–71). The movement included poets, writers, musicians, painters and sculptors. The term Scapigliatura is the Italian equivalent ...

'' movement with the most important artists of the period in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. Turati became interested in politics, being attracted to the democratic movement before joining the more specific socialist groups. In 1886, Turati wrote the words of the '' Workers' Hymn'', a popular socialist

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

that was set to music by Amintore Galli, and is considered among the most significant historic songs of the Italian workers' movement. By this time, Turati was associated with the Milanese Socialist League, a supporting group of Costantino Lazzari's Italian Workers' Party. Turati was reluctant to compose the anthem, but was persuaded by his mother, Adele. He was ashamed of the final text, and promised Lazzari, who commissioned it, that he would rewrite it, but Lazzari accepted it. The anthem was published on 7 March 1886 in

ese newspaper ''La Farfalla'', crediting Turati. Despite the anthem's success, Turati later called the anthem "a juvenile poetic sin", retorting in his 1898 trial:His most important sociological work of this period is ''Il Delitto e la Questione Sociale'', in which he examines how social conditions affect crime. He met Anna Kulischov while working on a survey of social conditions in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. Kulischov was an exile from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

who had become the companion of Andrea Costa, an

Anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

leader – when she converted to non-Anarchist Socialism, Costa followed, sending an important letter to his anarchist comrades in which he abandoned the movement. Kulischov and Costa had split by the time she met Turati. The two immediately fell in love, and lived together until her death in 1925. In France, Turati had a close relationship with the Italian lawyer Giuseppe Leti (1866–1939), former head of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite national Freemasonry who resided in France from 1929 to 1937. Leti was familiar with other Italian

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 op ...

politicians such as Francesco Saverio Nitti, Alberto Cianca, Pietro Nenni, Emanuele Modigliani and

Emilio Lussu Emilio Lussu (4 December 1890 – 5 March 1975) was a Sardinian people, Sardinian and Italian writer, anti-fascist intellectual, military officer, Italian resistance movement, partisan, and politician. He is also the author of the novel ''One Yea ...

Socialist Party

Turati and Anna Kulischov were the most instrumental

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

s involved in the founding of the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...

(PSI) in 1892 (it took that name in 1895). They were

reformists Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political establishment , political or religion , religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. ...

, believing that Socialism would come about gradually, primarily through action in the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...

, labour organization, and education, spreading their ideas through their journal '' Critica Sociale'' – a review founded by their friend Arcangelo Ghisleri under the title ''Cuore e Critica''. It was the most influential

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

review in Italy before World War I. Shut down by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

's Fascist regime, it was reestablished after World War II and is still in print. In the years following the party's foundation, the Italian government attempted to suppress it. Turati advocated alliances with other Italian democratic forces, meant to defeat the government's

reactionary In politics, a reactionary is a person who favors a return to a previous state of society which they believe possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary.''The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought'' Third Edition, (1999) p. 729. ...

policies, and to advance

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

causes. In 1898 Turati was arrested and charged with being the inspirator of the popular riot that broke out in the whole country against the rise of the bread price. He was freed the following year. Under

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Luigi Pelloux, the country was governed by highly

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politicians who were met with stiff resistance from the left, and in 1899 they were defeated thanks in large part to the PSI's policies. In 1901, Giuseppe Zanardelli, a Liberal, became Prime Minister – accompanied by

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. He is the longest-serving democratically elected prime minister in Italian history, and the sec ...

as the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

– Giolitti who would dominate Italian politics until 1915. This Liberal cabinet risked losing a vote in Parliament, with the possibility that a more conservative politician, Sidney Sonnino, would come to power; Turati urged that the Socialist deputies vote for the Zanardelli government. When the party Directorate refused to sanction the vote, he convinced the deputies to do so anyway. The vote brought the incipient split in the party between right and left wings to a head, even if the Liberal government had allowed workers the right to strike, and despite the fact that the subsequent strike wave resulted in improved conditions in industry and on the land. Between 1901 and 1906, power in the party seesawed between the Turati-led reformists and the revolutionaries under various leaders. After 1906, splits surfaced among the reformists themselves. In 1912, as a result of the Socialist reaction against the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish (, "Tripolitanian War", , "War of Libya"), also known as the Turco-Italian War, was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911 to 18 October 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy captur ...

(1911–1912), revolutionaries took over the party.

, one of their leaders, became editor of the party newspaper '' Avanti!''; Turati opposed Mussolini, but proved unable to dislodge him. He had opposed the conflict, and would oppose Italy's entrance into World War I – while Mussolini moved to an

irredentist Irredentism () is one state's desire to annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the population of the parent state. Hist ...

position (and came to be expelled from the PSI after arguing for Italy to join the Entente Powers). Despite the fact that he was a pacifist in June 1918 he strongly supported the

Italian Army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

that was fighting the Battle of Solstizio.

Opposition to Fascism

Following World War I, Mussolini created the

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

Fasces of Revolutionary Action, then renamed Fasces of Italian Combat in 1919 and finally

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party (, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian fascism and as a reorganisation of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The party ruled the Kingdom of It ...

in 1921, and he came to power in 1922 (after the

March on Rome The March on Rome () was an organized mass demonstration in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (, PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fascist Party leaders planned a march ...

). Filippo Turati and Anna Kulischov, who knew Mussolini well, were major opponents of

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

, and lived under constant surveillance and threats. In a series of prescient speeches, Turati argued that the new revolutionary program adopted by the PSI in 1919 would lead to disaster, and he advocated political alliances with other opponents of Fascism. This policy was rejected and the PSI split in 1921, with the formation of the Communist Party of Italy. In 1922, Turati's group was expelled and a new group, the Unitary Socialist Party (PSU), was established. In 1924, Turati's disciple and Secretary of the PSU, Giacomo Matteotti, was assassinated by Mussolini's '' Ceka''; this seminal event prompted Mussolini to formalize his

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

between 1925 and 1926. Rosselli Turati

In 1926, Turati fled Italy in a dramatic escape to France – aided by Riccardo Bauer, Carlo Rosselli, Ferruccio Parri, Sandro Pertini (the future President of the Italian Republic) and

Adriano Olivetti Adriano Olivetti (11 April 1901 – 27 February 1960) was an Italian engineer, entrepreneur, politician, and industrialist. He was known worldwide during his lifetime as the Italian manufacturer of Olivetti brand typewriters, calculators, and com ...

, of the eponymous typewriter company. In Paris, he was the soul of the non-

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

resistance, travelling across Europe and alerting democrats to the Fascist danger – which he saw as a phenomenon with far-reaching consequences. He died in the French capital in March 1932. After World War II, Turati's remains were transferred to Milan's Cimitero Monumentale, where he was buried next to Anna Kulischov. In the Florestano Vancini film '' The Assassination of Matteotti'' (1973), Turati is played by Gastone Moschin.

Electoral history

;Notes

References