No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Political utopia or Potemkin village? Italian travellers to the Soviet Union in the early Cold War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 May 2016
Abstract
Situated on the border between the capitalist West and Communist East, and with the largest Communist party in Western Europe, Italy found itself at the centre of global ideological struggles in the early Cold War years. A number of Italian writers and intellectuals who had joined the PCI (Partito Comunista Italiano) during the Resistance had hoped that the party would play a central role in the post-war reconstruction of Italy and were attracted to the Soviet Union as an example of Communism in action. This article centres on accounts of journeys to the USSR by Sibilla Aleramo, Renata Viganò and Italo Calvino. It will argue that although their writings portray a largely positive vision of the USSR, they should not be dismissed as naive, or worse, disingenuous travellers whose willingness to embrace Soviet-style Communism was based on a wholescale rejection of Western society and its values (see P. Hollander's 1998 [1981] work, Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuals in Search of the Good Society). Rather, the article shows how their accounts of the USSR shed light on the writers' relationship with the PCI and argues that the views expressed in the travelogues emerge from the writers' personal experiences of war and resistance, a fervent desire to position themselves as anti-Fascist intellectuals, and their concerns regarding the direction that Italian politics was taking at a pivotal moment in the nation's history.
Situata tra l'occidente capitalista e l'oriente communista, l'Italia si trovò al centro di battaglie ideologiche nei primi anni della guerra fredda. Gli scrittori e intellettuali italiani, iscritti al Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) durante la Resistenza, si auguravano che il partito avrebbe avuto un ruolo centrale nella ricostruzione dell'Italia ed erano attirati dall'Unione Sovietica come esempio di comunismo in azione. Quest'articolo si concentra sui racconti di viaggio nell'URSS di Sibilla Aleramo, Renata Viganò e Italo Calvino. Afferma che sebbene questi viaggiatori dipingano l'URSS in modo positivo, non dovrebbero essere semplicemente considerati ingenui, o in malafede, e che la loro inclinazione ad accogliere il comunismo sovietico non era fondata sul rifiuto dei valori occidentali (Hollander, 1998). Bensì, l'articolo dimostra che i racconti dell'URSS gettano luce sul rapporto fra gli scrittori e il PCI e sostiene che le opinioni espresse negli appunti di viaggio derivano dalle esperienze personali di guerra e resistenza, dal desiderio di affermarsi in qualità di intellettuali anti-fascisti, e dalle apprensioni per il futuro politico del Paese in un momento così cruciale nella storia della nazione.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2015 Association for the study of Modern Italy
References
Aleramo, S. 1978. Diario di una donna – Inediti 1945-1960. Edited by Morino, A. Milan: Feltrinelli.Google Scholar
Andreucci, F. 2005. Falce e martello: identità e linguaggi dei comunisti italiani fra stalinismo e guerra fredda. Bologna: Bononia.Google Scholar
Ben Ghiat, R. 2004. Fascist Modernities: Italy 1922–1945. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Burdett, C. 2007. Journeys through Fascism: Italian Travel Writing between the Wars. New York: Berghahn.Google Scholar
Calvino, I. 1988. “Lightness.” In Six Memos for the Next Millennium, translated by Creagh, P., 3–29. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Calvino, I. 1995. “Taccuino di viaggio nell'Unione Sovietica.” In Saggi, 1945–85, edited by Barenghi, M., 2407–2496. Milan: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Calvino, I. 2003a. “Was I a Stalinist Too?” In Hermit in Paris: Autobiographical Writings, translated by McLaughlin, M., 192–199. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Calvino, I. 2003b. “The Summer of '56.” In Hermit in Paris: Autobiographical Writings, translated by McLaughlin, M., 200–206. London. Penguin.Google Scholar
Calvino, I. 2013. “The Old Woman in the Purple Kimono.” In Collection of Sand: Essays, translated by McLaughlin, M., 153–159. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Conti, B., and Morino, A., eds. 1981. Sibilla Aleramo e il suo tempo: vita raccontanta e illustrata. Milan: Feltrinelli.Google Scholar
David-Fox, M. 2012. Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union 1921–1941. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
De Pascale, G. 2001. Scrittori in viaggio: Narratori e poeti italiani del Novecento in giro per il mondo. Turin: Boringhieri.Google Scholar
Di Nucci, L. 1988. “Appendice: i pellegrinaggi politici degli intellettuali italiani.” In Pellegrini politici: Intellettuali occidentali in Unione Sovietica, Cina e Cuba, edited by Hollander, Paul, translated by di Nucci, L., 621–677. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Drake, R. 1990. “Sibilla Aleramo and the Peasants of the Agro Romano: A Writer's Dilemma.” Journal of the History of Ideas 51 (2): 255–272.Google Scholar
Duggan, C. 1995. “Italy in the Cold War Years and the Legacy of Fascism.” In Italy in the Cold War: Politics, Culture & Society, 1948–58, edited by Duggan, C. and Wagstaff, C., 1–24. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Flores, M. 1990a. L'immagine dell'URSS: L'Occidente e la Russia di Stalin (1927–1956). Milan: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Flores, M. 1990b. “‘Introduzione’ and ‘Fra modernizzazione e alternativa al capitalismo: l'URSS nella riflessione dei viaggiatori occidentali’.” In Il mito dell'URSS: La cultura occidentale e l'Unione Sovietica, edited by Flores, M. and Gori, F. Milan: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar
Flores, M. 1997. “Il PCI, il PCF, gli intellettuali: 1943-1950.” In L'altra faccia della luna: i rapporti tra PCI, PCF e Unione Sovietica, edited by Aga-Rossi, E. and Quagliariello, G., 101–117. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
Ginsborg, P. 1990. A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics 1943–1988. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Gundle, S. 2000. Between Hollywood and Moscow: The Italian Communists and the Challenge of Mass Culture 1943–1991. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Hanhimäki, J. M., and Westad, O. A., eds. 2003. The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Hollander, P. 1988. Pellegrini politici: Intellettuali occidentali in Unione Sovietica, Cina e Cuba. Translated by di Nucci, L. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
Hollander, P. (1981) 1998. Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuals in Search of the Good Society, 4th ed. New Brunswick: Transaction.Google Scholar
Johnson, C. D., and Johnson, V. 2002. The Social Impact of the Novel: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Levi, C. (1956) 1964. Il futuro ha un cuore antico: viaggio nell'Unione Sovietica. Turin: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Lucia, P. 2003. Intellettuali italiani del secondo dopoguerra: impegno, crisi, speranza. Naples: Guida.Google Scholar
Mee, C. 2005. “The Myopic Eye: Calvino's Travels in the USA and the USSR.” The Modern Language Review 100 (4): 985–999. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3737721.Google Scholar
Pischedda, B. 1995. Due modernità: Le pagine culturali dell'Unità, 1945–1956. Milan: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar
Pojmann, W. 2013. Italian Women and International Cold War Politics, 1944–1968. New York: Fordham University Press.Google Scholar
Polezzi, L. 2014. “A Double Taste of India: The Parallel Travels of Alberto Moravia and Pier Paolo Pasolini.” In India and the World: Postcolonialism, Translation and Indian Literature, edited by Vanita, R., 202–220. New Delhi: Pencraft International.Google Scholar
Pratt, M. L. 1992. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Re, L. 1990. Calvino and the Age of Neorealism: Fables of Estrangement. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Sassoon, D. 1995. “Italian Images of Russia, 1945-56.” In Italy in the Cold War: Politics, Culture & Society, 1948-58, edited by Duggan, C. and Wagstaff, C. R., 189–202. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Scarpa, D. 1990. “Come Calvino viaggiò in URSS senza vedere Stalin.” Linea d'ombra 52: 20–23.Google Scholar
Stern, L. 2007. Western Intellectuals and the Soviet Union 1920–1940: From Red Square to the Left Bank. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Viganò, R. 1950a. “Bimbi di guardia alle urne.” [Child Guards at the Ballot Boxes.] L'Unità (Edizione piemontese), May 6.Google Scholar
Viganò, R. 1950b. “Ho visto La caduta di Berlino, un film che farebbe impallidire Scelba.” [I Have Seen The Fall of Berlin, a Film that Would Shock Scelba.] L'Unità March 29.Google Scholar
Viganò, R. 1950c. “Il generale del ‘metro’ si chiama Zinaida Petrovna.” [The Manager of the Moscow ‘Metro’ is Called Zinaida Petrovna.] L'Unità, April 2.Google Scholar
Viganò, R. 1950d. “In ogni casa del colcos di Gorki la radio e uno scaffale di libri.” [Every Household in the Gorky Kolkhoz Has a Radio and a Bookshelf.] L'Unità, (Edizione piemontese), April 19.Google Scholar
Viganò, R. 1950e. “In un salotto volante verso la capitale dell'U.R.S.S.” [Heading to the Capital of the U.S.S.R. in a Flying Salon.] L'Unità, March 26.Google Scholar
Viganò, R. 1950f. “Ogni due minuti un autocarro nasce nelle officine ‘Stalin’.” [A Vehicle is Produced Every Two Minutes in the ‘Stalin’ Car Factory.] L'Unità, April 12.Google Scholar