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Giorgio Amendola

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Giorgio Amendola
Amendola in 1972
Member of the European Parliament
In office
17 July 1979 – 5 June 1980
ConstituencySouthern Italy
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
8 May 1948 – 5 June 1980
ConstituencyNaples
Member of the Constituent Assembly
In office
25 June 1946 – 31 January 1948
ConstituencyNaples
Personal details
Born(1907-11-21)21 November 1907
Rome, Italy
Died5 June 1980(1980-06-05) (aged 72)
Rome, Italy
Political partyPCI
Spouse
Germaine Lecocq
(m. 1934)
RelativesGiovanni Amendola (father)
Eva Kühn [it] (mother)
OccupationPolitician, journalist

Giorgio Amendola (21 November 1907 – 5 June 1980) was an Italian writer and politician.[1] He is regarded and often cited as one of the main precursors of the Olive Tree.[2] Born in Rome in 1907, Amendola was the son of Lithuanian intellectual Eva Kühn [it] and Giovanni Amendola, a liberal anti-fascist who died in 1926 in Cannes after having been attacked by killers hired by Benito Mussolini. He secretly joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1929. After graduating in law, he started to propagandize opposition to the Mussolini regime.

Arrested and brought in exile in France, and successively banished to Santo Stefano Island in the Pontine Islands, Amendola was freed in 1943 by the resistance troops, which he then joined. After World War II, he served as a deputy in the Italian Parliament for the PCI from 1948 until his death in 1980. He became known especially in the 1970s as one of the leaders of the party's right-wing, which espoused gradual removal of the ideas of Soviet Communism and Leninism, and supported alliances with the more moderate parties, especially the Italian Socialist Party, a concept later called Eurocommunism. One of his main allies was Giorgio Napolitano, a member of the Chamber of Deputies who became President of Italy (2006–2015) and remained an avowed disciple and follower of Amendola.

From 1967 onwards, Amendola started to work as a writer; his most notable books include Comunismo, antifascismo e Resistenza ("Communism, Anti-Fascism and Resistance", 1967), Lettere a Milano ("Letters to Milan", 1973), Intervista sull'antifascismo[3] ("Interview on Anti-Fascism", 1976, with Piero Melograni), Una scelta di vita[4] ("A Choice of Life", 1978), and Un'isola ("An Island", 1980), which is considered to be his best work. Amendola died in Rome, aged 72, after a long illness. His wife Germaine Lecocq, whom he met during his French exile in Paris and who helped him to write his last work, died a few hours after Amendola.

Electoral history

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Election House Constituency Party Votes Result
1946 Constituent Assembly Naples–Caserta PCI 31,556 checkY Elected
1948 Chamber of Deputies Naples–Caserta FDP 99,051 checkY Elected
1953 Chamber of Deputies Naples–Caserta PCI 124,025 checkY Elected
1958 Chamber of Deputies Naples–Caserta PCI 141,958 checkY Elected
1963 Chamber of Deputies Naples–Caserta PCI 124,490 checkY Elected
1968 Chamber of Deputies Naples–Caserta PCI 131,469 checkY Elected
1972 Chamber of Deputies Naples–Caserta PCI 122,518 checkY Elected
1976 Chamber of Deputies Naples–Caserta PCI 154,750 checkY Elected
1979 Chamber of Deputies Naples–Caserta PCI 115,870 checkY Elected
1979 European Parliament Southern Italy PCI 805,449 checkY Elected

References

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  1. ^ Bosworth, R. J. B. (2023). Politics, Murder and Love in an Italian Family: The Amendolas in the Age of Totalitarianisms. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-28017-4.
  2. ^ "Massimo D'Alema on Amendola". YouTube. 5 June 2012. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021.
  3. ^ Amendola, Giorgio (1976). Intervista sull'antifascismo (in Italian). Laterza. ISBN 88-420-4487-3.
  4. ^ Amendola, Giorgio (1978). Una scelta di vita (in Italian). Rizzoli. ISBN 88-17-12610-1.

Bibliography

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