Towards and Beyond the Italian Republic: Adriano Olivetti's Vision of Politics

ISBN-13: 9783030761417 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022

Davide Cadeddu

Opis

This book examines the historical process that led to the foundation of the Italian Republic and its constitution, viewed through the personal experiences and political reflections of Adriano Olivetti (between 1919 and 1960), general manager and president of the well-known typewriter manufacturer “Ing. C. Olivetti & C.” An unbroken line of reasoning linked his maturing political reflections during the two post-war periods. The historical context of the 1950s did not prove to be very propitious, but the guidelines dispersed throughout the Italian cultural and political world from the movement that Olivetti founded were certainly seminal – generating a legacy of ideas that has only in part been recognized. What makes this study distinctive is the original approach to reading the history of Italy through Adriano Olivetti’s eyes and thoughts, far from the more common Christian Democratic or Communist perspective of those years. It is simply another view of what the Italian Republic could be and was not.

Spis treści

1

Introduction: A View of the Intellectual Biography

 

 

The Typewriter Company

From Ivrea to Champfèr

Organized Ideas for the Future

 

 

 

 

2

Gaetano Salvemini and the United States of America

 

 

Renewing National Politics

The Political Journalist Alef

Diogenes’ Political Views

The End of the Journalistic Experience

New York and Filippo Turati

 

 

 

 

 

3

Among Antifascists and Secret Services

 

 

The Memorandum

Office of Strategic Services Agent

Thinking in Switzerland

 

 

 

 

 

4

Self-Government in Constitutional Projects

 

 

Communities

Actual Self-Government

The Socialist Party

Other Political Orientations

Olivetti’s Plan and the Constituent Assembly

 

 

 

 

 

5

A New Political Movement?

 

Christian-Social Party to Community Movement

October 28, 1947

Ends and End of Politics

New Times New Methods

 

 

 

 

6

The Misunderstood Legacy

 

 

Communities and Constitution

The Italian Historiography

Political Ideologies

In Search of Polity

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Index

O autorze

Davide Cadeddu is Associate Professor of History of Political Theory at the University of Milan, Italy. He is author of Reimagining Democracy: On the Political Project of Adriano Olivetti (Springer, 2012) and editor of several Olivetti’s books, such as L’ordine politico delle Comunità (Edizioni di Comunità, 2021) and Società Stato Comunità (Edizioni di Comunità, 2021).

Blurb

This book examines the historical process that led to the foundation of the Italian Republic and its constitution, viewed through the personal experiences and political reflections of Adriano Olivetti (between 1919 and 1960), general manager and president of the well-known typewriter manufacturer “Ing. C. Olivetti & C.” An unbroken line of reasoning linked his maturing political reflections during the two post-war periods. The historical context of the 1950s did not prove to be very propitious, but the guidelines dispersed throughout the Italian cultural and political world from the movement that Olivetti founded were certainly seminal – generating a legacy of ideas that has only in part been recognized. What makes this study distinctive is the original approach to reading the history of Italy through Adriano Olivetti’s eyes and thoughts, far from the more common Christian Democratic or Communist perspective of those years. It is simply another view of what the Italian Republic could be and was not.

Davide Cadeddu is Associate Professor of History of Political Theory at the University of Milan, Italy. He is author of Reimagining Democracy: On the Political Project of Adriano Olivetti (Springer, 2012) and editor of several Olivetti’s books, such as L’ordine politico delle Comunità (Edizioni di Comunità, 2021) and Società Stato Comunità (Edizioni di Comunità, 2021).