Carlo Rosselli: Socialist heretic and antifascist exile.
Item
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Title
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Carlo Rosselli: Socialist heretic and antifascist exile.
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Identifier
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AAI9605650
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identifier
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9605650
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Creator
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Pugliese, Stanislao Giambattista.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Bernard Semmel
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Date
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1995
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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History, European | History, Modern | Biography | Political Science, General
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Abstract
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Carlo Rosselli (1899-1937) was one of the most important protagonists of the antifascist struggle in Europe. Born into a family with strong ties to the Risorgimento, Rosselli abandoned a promising career as a professor of political economy to devote himself to the antifascist cause. In 1925 he was instrumental in creating one of the first underground publications, Non Mollare!; the following year he directed a more theoretical journal, Il Quarto Stato, which sought a renewal of Italian socialism. Rosselli's critique of Italian liberalism, socialism and Marxism challenged accepted theoretical positions and common assumptions. This study examines Rosselli's attempt to re-define European socialism after the rise of fascism. Central to his thought was the desire to overcome the theoretical antagonism between liberalism and socialism--hence his unique formulation of a "liberal socialism.".;Rosselli was also a man of action, believing that fascism could be defeated only through an active, revolutionary and "illegal" movement. In 1929 he managed a daring and dramatic escape from prison to Paris where he founded the antifascist movement Giustizia e Liberta. From Paris, Rosselli continued his analysis of Italian socialism and the rise of fascism. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in the summer of 1936, he was in Catalonia within weeks organizing a volunteer force to defend the Republic. In June of 1937, he was assassinated, along with his historian brother Nello, by French fascists on orders from Mussolini.;As an intellectual biography, this work seeks to integrate Rosselli's ideas with his political activism; indeed, he himself stated that the two were inseparable. His various types of writing--political, autobiographical, theoretical and even literary--are examined in detail through three interpretive keys: heresy, exile, and tragedy. I argue that Rosselli's critical stance and theoretical formulations were more radical than previously thought and offer insights into a contemporary revisioning of the socialist tradition.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
