Ignazio Silone Papers

Period 1942-1944 (-1954)
Total size 1 microfilm and 0.04 m.
Consultation  Not restricted

Biography

Pseudonym of Secondo Tranquilli; born in Pescina dei Marsi, Italy 1900, died in Geneva 1978; writer; secretary of the Abruzzi farm labourers' union in 1917; convicted for organizing antiwar demonstrations; joined the Partito Socialista Italiano (PSI) in 1918; leader in the Federazione Italiana Giovanile Socialista; editor of the Avanguardia Socialista; member of the Executive of the Communist Youth International; joined the Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) in Livorno in 1921; PCI delegate at the Third Congress of the COMINTERN; editor of the weekly L'Avanguardia Rome and later of the daily Il Lavoratore Triest; erected with Antonio Gramsci a communist underground organization; forced into exile by the fascists' laws in 1927; fled to Switzerland in 1928, where he wrote his internationally most well-known books 'Fontamara' 1930 and 'Pane e Vina' 1937; left the PCI in 1931; joined the PSI in 1940 and directed it from Switzerland; in 1946 member of the Executive of the PSI; editor of the daily Avanti!; founded the Partito Socialista Unitario, but withdrew from politics when this party joined Giuseppe Saragat's Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano.

Content

Documents mainly concerning the PSI during the Second World War, including clandestine correspondence (mainly copies) between the internal and foreign center (Switzerland) of the party 1942-1944; reports of activities in Italy, Switzerland and other countries; directives; microfilm of the handwritten manuscript of the first chapter of his book Fontamara.

Location of originals

Originals at the Fondo Manoscritti di Autori Moderni e Contemporanei, University of Pavia, Italy.