GOBETTI, PIERO

(1901–1926)

In his tragically brief life, Piero Gobetti was the author of some of the most thought-provoking political philosophy written in Italy in the 20th century. Born in Turin in 1901, he was a child prodigy—Antonio Gramsci made him the theater critic of the journal Ordine nuovo when he was just 18 years old. While still a student, he founded and edited the antifascist periodical Rivoluzione liberale (Liberal Revolution), which was banned by Benito Mussolini in 1925. In 1923, he became a publisher: “Piero Gobetti editore” specialized in printing works by antifascist writers, including the poet and future Nobel laureate Eugenio Montale. Gobetti’s most famous essay, also called La rivoluzione liberale, was published in 1924; his other works include Dal bolscevismo al fascismo (From Bolshevism to Fascism, 1923) and Risorgimento senza eroi (The Risorgimento without Heroes, 1926). Gobetti’s thought was characterized by an abiding faith in individualism and a profound suspicion of all bureaucratic and hierarchical forms of society. For this reason, he famously identified the Bolshevik revolution in Russia as “an experience in liberalism,” since he regarded the Soviets established in St. Petersburg and Moscow as the embryo of a higher, more dynamic form of democracy than the parliamentarianism that had delivered Italy into the hands of Mussolini.

The violence of the Fascist squads forced Gobetti to immigrate to Paris in January 1926, where he died from the effects of a beating only a few weeks after his arrival. He was survived by his wife, Ada Prospero, who became a leading figure in the resistance to Fascism.