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Piero Gobetti (Italian:[ˈpjɛːroɡoˈbetti]; 19 June 1901 – 15 February 1926) was an Italian journalist, intellectual, andanti-fascist. A radical and revolutionary liberal, he was an exceptionally active campaigner and critic in the crisis years in Italy after theFirst World War and into the early years ofFascist Italy.
Gobetti was born inTurin. A student oflaw at theUniversity of Turin, he set up his own reviewEnergie Nove (New Energies) in 1918. There, he promoted the cause of radical cultural and political renewal, aligning himself with the many critics of liberal parliamentary politics. Drawing upon the idealist philosophy ofBenedetto Croce, Gobetti identified cultural change with a spiritual transformation that would unite public and private life. He also attached himself to causes such as educational reform and votes for women led by the independent deputyGaetano Salvemini.
In 1920, Gobetti was influenced byAntonio Gramsci, fellow ex-student andCommunist Party of Italy editor of theL'Ordine Nuovo (The New Order). Gramsci was the leading intellectual during theBiennio Rosso (1919–1920), a period of proletarian unrest in Turin that led to thefactory occupations in September 1920. Inspired by theworkers' movement and Gramsci's argument that they constituted a new revolutionary subject, Gobetti gave up editingEnergie Nove in order to rethink his commitments.
In 1922, Gobetti began publishing a new review,La Rivoluzione Liberale (Liberal Revolution). Here, he expounded a distinctive version ofliberalism, conceived as a philosophy of liberation rather than a party doctrine. Deeply moved by theRussian Revolution, which he understood as a liberal event, Gobetti conceived theworking class as the leading subject of a liberal revolution. In seeking to take over the factories and govern themselves, he argued that the workers expressed a desire for autonomy and collective freedom that could renew Italy. According to Gobetti, liberals should understand the termliberal as adaptable to different classes and institutional arrangements other than thebourgeoisie andparliamentary democracy.
Italian resistance movement leaderAda Gobetti was his wife and contributed toLa Rivoluzione Liberale as well as other magazines. Gobetti was highly attentive to the dangers ofBenito Mussolini and theNational Fascist Party, which entered government in October 1922. Whilstconservative liberals hoped to make temporary use of Mussolini's popularity in order to restore Parliament, Gobetti recognised the tyrannical orientation offascism. He argued thatItalian fascism represented the "autobiography of the nation", an accretion of all the ills of Italian society. In particular, he argued that fascism continued a political tradition of compromise, absorbing political opponents rather than allowing conflict to express itself openly, and that liberalism was anti-fascist insofar as, on his account, it recognised that liberty was achieved through struggle and conflict. In December 1924, Gobetti also began to edit a journal of European literary culture entitledIl Baretti.[1] He used the journal to put into practice his idea ofliberal anti-fascism and his conviction that the Italian people could learn to reject the insular nature of fascist culture by means of an education in European culture.
For his rigid opposition to fascism, Gobetti's review was closed down and he himself was assaulted by fascist thugs. He was beaten up in 1925 and escaped to Paris early the next year. He died at age 24 inNeuilly-sur-Seine of a heart attack in February 1926, perhaps brought on by the injuries he had received after the severe beating by fascistBlackshirts.[2][3] He is buried inPère Lachaise Cemetery.
Following his death and despite his relatively few writings, Gobetti became a symbol of liberal anti-fascism, inspiring intellectuals such asCarlo Levi andNorberto Bobbio. InFlorestano Vancini's filmThe Assassination of Matteotti (1973), Gobetti is played by Stefano Oppedisano.
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