Umberto Terracini

Umberto Terracini
President of the Constituent Assembly
In office
8 February 1947 – 31 January 1948
Preceded byGiuseppe Saragat
Succeeded byGiovanni Gronchi
Member of the Senate of the Republic
In office
25 June 1953 – 6 December 1983
ConstituencyLiguria (1953–1958)
Tuscany (1958–1983)
In office
8 May 1948 – 24 June 1953
(Ex officio)[1]
Member of the Constituent Assembly
In office
25 June 1946 – 31 January 1948
ConstituencyGenoa
Personal details
Born(1895-07-27)27 July 1895
Genoa, Kingdom of Italy
Died6 December 1983(1983-12-06) (aged 88)
Rome, Italy
Political partyItalian Communist Party
Spouse
​
(m. 1948)​
Alma materUniversity of Turin
ProfessionLawyer

Umberto Elia Terracini (27 July 1895 – 6 December 1983) was an Italian politician.

Biography

Early years

A young Terracini

Terracini was born in Genoa on 27 July 1895 to a Jewish family originally from Piedmont.[2][3] After completing his elementary education, Umberto attended a Jewish school, whose programs corresponded to the ministerial ones, except for the addition of the study of the language and the history of Israel; he did not derive any religious interest from his family or school, even though he regularly attended the synagogue. In those years, he began to attend the Civic Library, reading popular novels of authors like Victor Hugo, Edmondo De Amicis, Émile Zola and Eugène Sue.[citation needed]

Before the beginning of World War I, he approached the Italian Socialist Party and in 1913 he was enrolled in the Faculty of Law of the University of Turin.[4] Terracini immediately expressed his opposition to Italy's entry into the war. After a pacifist rally he held on 15 September 1916 he was arrested and sentenced to a month in prison. After release he was drafted and sent to the front in 1917 near Montebelluna.[5]

After the war, Terracini resumed his studies graduating in 1919 and began his career as a lawyer.[6] He also befriended Antonio Gramsci and Palmiro Togliatti, whom he worked as an aide for; the three of them would found L'Ordine Nuovo in 1919.[4] In 1921 Terracini, under Gramsci and Togliatti, contributed to the foundation of the Communist Party of Italy.[2][7] In September 1926, Terracini was arrested as an opponent of the fascist regime and sentenced to 22 years of prison: he spent 11 years in jail and subsequently was held in confinement in Ponza and on Santo Stefano Island.[7][8] He was freed by the partisans in 1943. In those years he expressed his opposition to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

Constituent Assembly

Terracini was elected Deputy and vice-president of the Constituent Assembly in 1946 and became president after the resignation of Giuseppe Saragat the following year.[6][9][10] He signed the Italian Constitution along with the Head of State Enrico De Nicola and the Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi.

Enrico De Nicola signs the Italian Constitution on 27 December 1947. Terracini is at the far right.

Later years

Terracini was favourable to the alliance with the socialists in the Popular Democratic Front, and after the shooting on Togliatti in July 1948, he presented a no-confidence motion to the government led by the Christian Democracy, which he believes has the moral and political responsibility on the attack to the Communist leader.[citation needed]

Terracini was very critical with Nikita Khrushchev for his report on the war crimes committed by Stalin, which he argued the secretary of the CPSU was too soft with his predecessor.[citation needed] He supported the intervention of Soviet troops against the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.[11]

Terracini confirmed his seat in the Senate of the Republic from 1948 until his death.[3] He became the party's candidate for President of Italy at the 1962 elections and the 1964 elections, but was defeated by Antonio Segni first and then by Giuseppe Saragat.[citation needed]

During the 1970s he was very critical of the Historic Compromise between the Communist Party and the Christian Democracy.

Terracini died in Rome on 6 December 1983, at the age of 88.[2]

Electoral history

Election House Constituency Party Votes Result
1946 Constituent Assembly Genoa–Imperia–La Spezia–Savona PCI 73,186 checkY Elected
1953 Senate of the Republic Liguria – Genoa I PCI 47,172 checkY Elected
1958 Senate of the Republic Tuscany – Livorno PCI 68,314 checkY Elected
1963 Senate of the Republic Tuscany – Livorno PCI 82,715 checkY Elected
1968 Senate of the Republic Tuscany – Florence II PCI 87,809 checkY Elected
1972 Senate of the Republic Tuscany – Livorno PCI 103,322 checkY Elected
1976 Senate of the Republic Tuscany – Livorno PCI 113,894 checkY Elected
1979 Senate of the Republic Tuscany – Livorno PCI 110,930 checkY Elected
1983 Senate of the Republic Tuscany – Livorno PCI 108,661 checkY Elected

References

  1. ^ As a member of the Constituent Assembly, he was automatically nominated senator.
  2. ^ a b c "Umberto Terracini, 88, An Italian Communist (Published 1983)". The New York Times. 8 December 1983. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b "senato.it - Scheda di attività di Umberto TERRACINI - IX Legislatura". www.senato.it. Italian Senate. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  4. ^ a b Martin, James (2002). Antonio Gramsci: Intellectual and political context. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-21748-4.
  5. ^ Agosti, Aldo (2019). "TERRACINI, Umberto in "Dizionario biografico"". treccani.it (in Italian).
  6. ^ a b Sansonetti, Piero (29 August 2020). "Le strane teorie del Fatto per giustificare il referendum: dalla dittatura all'abolizione del senato in Francia e Germania". Il Riformista (in Italian). Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  7. ^ a b Klopp, Charles (1 January 1999). Sentences: The Memoirs and Letters of Italian Political Prisoners from Benvenuto Cellini to Aldo Moro. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-4456-3.
  8. ^ Ginsborg, Paul (2003). A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics, 1943-1988. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-6153-2.
  9. ^ Cangini, Andrea (28 August 2020). "REFERENDUM, PERCHÉ NO/-23. M5S vuole un potere legislativo usurpato dall'esecutivo (di A. Cangini)". L'HuffPost (in Italian). Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  10. ^ Bertossi, Erika (1 September 2020). "Referendum taglio dei parlamentari, i NO: "La riforma agevolerebbe le formazioni politiche più potenti"". BolognaToday (in Italian). Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  11. ^ L'Unità, 5 November 1956, page 7.
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Political offices
Preceded by President of the Constituent Assembly
1947–1948 		Succeeded by
Giovanni Gronchi
as President of the Chamber of Deputies