The Image of Palmiro Togliatti in Italian Communism

di Sante Cruciani
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 34 (2010), p. 129

The construction of Togliatti’s image in accordance with the Communist political creed is still a largely unexplored issue. On the basis of some observations by Emilio Gentile and Franco Andreucci, this essay attempts to analyse the elaboration of Togliatti’s image in Pci publications. Through frequent references to Edoardo Novelli’s studies on propaganda and Sandro Bellassai’s on Communist morals, the essay covers a period from the foundation of the Pcd’I to the period of the Fronti popolari; from the “Salerno turning point” to the attack of July 14, 1948; from the celebrations for Togliatti’s sixtieth birthday to the development of his image in the Italy of television and the economic boom. The assumption of Togliatti into the Pantheon of the Communist political creed can be considered the highpoint of a plan carefully devised by the party’s ruling group, to strengthen the Communist political battle in Republican Italy and the international Communist movement by means of a rich production of symbolism and propaganda.