Enrico Berlinguer

Enrico Berlinguer (May 25, 1922 - June 11, 1984), was an Italian politician and was national secretary of the Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano or PCI) from 1972 to 1984.

A party leader

Berlinguer's career was obviously carrying him towards the highest positions in the party. After having held many responsible posts, in 1968 he was elected a deputy for the first time for the electoral district of Rome. The following year he was elected deputy national secretary of the party (the secretary being Luigi Longo). In this role he took part in the 1969 international conference of the Communist parties in Moscow, where his delegation disagreed with the "official" political line, and refused to support the final report.

Related Topics:
1968 - Deputy - Rome - Luigi Longo - 1969 - Moscow

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Berlinguer's unexpected stance made waves: he gave the strongest speech by a major Communist leader ever heard in Moscow. He refused to "excommunicate" the Chinese communists, and directly told Leonid Breznev that the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact countries (which he termed the "tragedy in Prague") had made clear the considerable differences within the Communist movement on fundamental questions such as national sovereignty, socialist democracy, and the freedom of culture.

Related Topics:
Leonid Breznev - Czechoslovakia - Warsaw Pact - Prague - Sovereignty - Socialist democracy

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In 1970 Berlinguer engaged in an unexpected opening towards the world of industry, and towards the country's conservative forces more generally, publicly declaring that the PCI would look with favour on a new model of development, concepts that were part of the program of the industrialists.

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