Leonida Bissolati

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Leonida Bissolati

Leonida Bissolati (born February 20, 1857 in Cremona , † March 6, 1920 in Rome ) was an Italian politician ( Partito Socialista Italiano ) and in 1912 the founder of the Socialist Reform Party of Italy ( Partito Socialista Riformista Italiano ).

Career

Bissolati was an illegitimate child who was named Leonida Bergamaschi until she was 18. He was then adopted by Stefano Bissolati (* 1823), who had resigned his priesthood at the age of 37 and had become director of the Cremona city library. Bissolati graduated from the University of Bologna with a law degree at the age of 20 and became a socialist councilor in his hometown. As a practicing lawyer , he published numerous specialist articles. From 1889 to 1895 he initiated a project to improve the living conditions of farm workers. In 1889 he founded the newspaper L'eco del popolo (People's Echo), which subsequently became the official organ of the Partito Socialista Italiano in Cremona. Among other things, he published the Communist Manifesto . In 1896 he became editor-in-chief of the party organ Avanti! , which he directed until 1903 and then again from 1908 to 1910. In 1897 he was posted to the Camera dei deputati by the constituency of Cremona . His refusal to stand up against the war in Libya resulted in his expulsion from the faction of the Socialist Party in February 1912. In March he was also expelled from the party, whereupon he immediately founded the Partito Socialista Riformista Italiano .

In the parliamentary elections in 1913 Bisolatti was re-elected to parliament as a member of the Socialist Reform Party. When the First World War broke out , he initially supported the neutral stance of the Kingdom of Italy , but was then one of the first advocates of Italian entry into the war on the side of the Entente . He saw the First World War primarily as a conflict between authoritarian and democratically ruled states, in which Italy should not pursue national interests, but instead stand up for freedom and civil coexistence among peoples.

After the Italian entry into the war on May 23, 1915, he volunteered at the age of 58. As a noncommissioned officer in the 6th Alpini Regiment, he was injured twice and was awarded the Silver Medal for Bravery . In 1916 he retired from active service and in June 1916 received a post as minister without portfolio in the cabinet of Paolo Boselli . After the Italian defeat at Good Freit and the resignation of the Boselli government, he was appointed Minister for War Welfare and War Pensions in the cabinet of Vittorio Emanuele Orlando .

After the end of the First World War he pleaded for the new borders to be drawn according to the principles of the League of Nations , i.e. ethnically. When he could not get away with this principle, he resigned his offices at the end of 1918. He died after a post-operative infection.

literature

Web links

Commons : Leonida Bissolati  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Leonida Bissolati  - Quotes (Italian)
  • Entry for Leonida Bissolati Bergamaschi in the Portale storico of the Camera dei deputati

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Angelo Ara:  Leonida Bissolati. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI).
  2. According to Ara in the DBI, Bissolati is not mentioned in the Boselli cabinet list in the Portale storico della Camera.