Camilla Ravera

Camilla Ravera (born June 18, 1889 in Acqui Terme , † September 18, 1988 in Rome ) was an Italian politician. In 1982 she became the first woman to be appointed senator for life .

Life

Ravera was the daughter of an officer in the Treasury and had seven brothers. She first worked as a teacher in Turin and joined the Partito Socialista Italiano in 1918 . Between 1919 and 1920 Ravera was a member of the editorial board of L'Ordine Nuovo magazine .

In 1921 Ravera was one of the founders of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI) and was delegated to various congresses of the Communist International , where she also met Lenin and Stalin . After Gramsci was arrested in 1926, she was the only member of the PCI Politburo who could work underground. In 1930 Ravera was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison. She spent five years in a prison cell in Trani ; the other years she was exiled to Ponza and Ventotene .

In 1939 Ravera took a stance against the German-Soviet non-aggression pact and was expelled from the Italian Communist Party along with Umberto Terracini . In 1945 she was re-admitted to the party and was elected a member of the Central Committee.

Between 1948 and 1958 she was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies . On January 8, 1982 Camilla Ravera was Alessandro Pertini for senator for life appointed. She was the first woman to hold this position.