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.

Early Career

The son of Mario Berlinguer and Maria Loriga, Enrico was born in Sassari, Italy to a noble and important Sardinian family, in a notable cultural context and with familiar and political relationships that would have heavily influenced his life and his career.

Related Topics:
Mario Berlinguer - Sassari - Italy - Sardinia

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He was the first cousin of Francesco Cossiga (who was a leader of the Italian Christian Democrats and later became a President of the Italian Republic), and both were relatives of Antonio Segni, another Christian Democrat leader and President of the Republic. Enrico's grandfather, Enrico Berlinguer Sr., was the founder of La Nuova Sardegna, an important Sardinian newspaper, and a personal friend of Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini, whom he had helped in his parliamentary work on the sad conditions of the island.

Related Topics:
Francesco Cossiga - Italian Christian Democrats - President of the Italian Republic - Antonio Segni - Giuseppe Garibaldi - Giuseppe Mazzini

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In 1937 Berlinguer had his first contacts with Sardinian anti-Fascists, and in 1943 formally entered the Italian Communist Party, soon becoming the secretary of the Sassari section. The following year a riot exploded in the town; he was involved in the disorders and was arrested, but was discharged after 3 months of prison.

Related Topics:
1937 - Anti-Fascists - 1943 - Prison

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Immediately after his detention ended, his father brought him to Salerno, the town in which the Royal family and the government had taken refuge after the armistice between Italy and the Allies. In Salermo his father introduced him to Palmiro Togliatti, the most important leader of the Communist Party and a schoolfellow of Don Mario.

Related Topics:
Salerno - Royal family - Armistice - Palmiro Togliatti

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Togliatti sent Berlinguer back to Sardinia to prepare for his political career. At the end of 1944, Togliatti appointed him to the national secretariat of the Communist Organisation for Youth (FGCI); he was soon sent to Milan, and in 1945 he was appointed to the Central Committee as a member.

Related Topics:
1944 - Milan - 1945

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In 1946 Togliatti became the national secretary (the highest political role) of the Party, and called Berlinguer to Rome, where his talents let him enter the national leadership only two years after (at the age of 26, one of the youngest members ever admitted); in 1949 he was named national secretary of the FGCI, a post he held until 1956. The year after he was named president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, an international Communist front organisation. In 1957 Berlinguer, as a member of the central school of the PCI, abolished the obligatory visit to the Soviet Union, which included political training, that was until then necessary for admission to the highest positions in the PCI.

Related Topics:
1946 - Rome - 1949 - 1956 - World Federation of Democratic Youth - 1957 - Soviet Union

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