Palmiro Togliatti

"Togliatti is an educated, cultured Stalinist. Unfamiliar with Russian conditions and traditions, for several years he does not see the need to extend the Russian model to the entire communist movement; then he resigns himself to it, but without being completely convinced. It is not that he disputes or repudiates the great Stalinist cuts imposed with “just” and necessary violence; it is that he does not feel the need to add terror to terror, he remains free from persecutory mania, master of his roguish instincts, normal in terms of intelligence. And it is this normality of his in a world deformed by madness or tragedy that makes him appear more democratic than he really is."

"Togliatti was hated; he was considered an enemy, indeed the enemy, the cynical and diabolically skilled calculator who, against all tradition, against the established order, against the interests of the country, against the most deeply rooted beliefs and the most respected ideals, conspired to subvert, destroy and dismantle, using the most basic passions, exploiting misery and social resentment, intent solely on implementing the directives that came to him from a foreign country."

"Togliatti was a small, cold man, sharply intelligent, with an amused smile in private, which when speaking in public could turn into scathing sarcasm."

"One day, Togliatti held a rally in Castellammare and many people went to hear him speak. The communist spoke outdoors, near the seashore, on the slopes of Mount Faito. He was sturdy and wore glasses. While he was giving his speech in the square, several thousand people gathered. They listened in silence under the sun. Togliatti spoke of how bad things were in Italy, but one fine day he and the communists would take power and everything would change, everything would be better, much better. A group of policemen arrived in red jeeps. They stopped at the corner of the street and waited motionless. No one approved. No one protested."

"Vittorio Emanuele rarely talks about politics today, but he cannot be described as apolitical. He follows the life of Italian parties from afar and has different feelings about each of them. He hates Togliatti and Nenni unreservedly, has a modest opinion of the right-wing parties, ignores the populists and the minor nuances of the Italian political rainbow, Saragattiani, Azionisti, Democrazia del Lavoro; however, he considers Pacciardi, whom he does not know personally, an adversary to be respected."

"Togliatti had a certain aristocratic air about him, a nineteenth-century taste that meant he did not always appreciate certain avant-garde artistic experiments."

"As an intellectual, Togliatti had the heroism to sacrifice his creative, philosophical and cultural potential to the demands of political leadership."

"Togliatti's greatest intellectual creation was the new party, the PCI as we know it today."

"They spoke of his ties to Stalin and his reverence, even in difficult times. In reality, he knew him little: they had met on three or four occasions. He admired him as a tough and tenacious fighter, but he understood the revelations of the 20th Congress and was shocked by them. [...] He had a keen sensitivity, a strong propensity to understand. I know that the image of him is different, but I knew him in another way. He defended himself against facts that deeply disturbed him, but his intelligence forced him to accept them as moments in the journey of civilisation."

"We loved the mountains. Togliatti was a great walker, and so was I."

"(About Togliatti's failure to participate in the Italian Resistance) I assure you that Togliatti was not far from the Resistance. He was a cold man by nature, I agree. But he hated badges, and the only one he always wanted to show off was the one given to him by the Volunteer Corps of Freedom. If he could have, he would have parachuted into northern Italy. Cold, yes, but he had utopia inside him."

"(Regarding the Yalta Memorial) It is not true that Togliatti was exploited, that the memorial was used against Khrushchev. I see no connection between the memorial and the fall of Khrushchev. The great process that would lead to this event was already underway in the USSR."

"To think that it was possible for me to make a sentimental ultimatum such as “if you stay in Russia, I'll leave you” is to ignore what our relationship was like and what Togliatti's temperament was like."

"(Regarding the attempt on his life in 1948) When, a few days after his surgery, he was allowed to read the newspapers, Togliatti wanted to read the reports of the assassination attempt. He was struck by a nine-column headline in L'Unità: “Down with the government of civil war”. I remember his comment: if they had written “Down with the Home Secretary”, that would have been a request that was not only plausible but also acceptable! And in fact, it later emerged that in the Council of Ministers, which met urgently on the same day as the attack, the Foreign Minister Carlo Sforza and his undersecretary, a very young Aldo Moro, had raised the issue of the Interior Minister's resignation."

"(Regarding the Sino-Soviet crisis) Togliatti was concerned about relations between the USSR and China, and about the situation between the party and intellectuals that had arisen after Khrushchev had taken a very rigid and harsh stance."

"Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of Pietro Valdoni's death, and we would like to recall an episode involving the great surgeon. As everyone will remember, it was he who operated on Palmiro Togliatti, saving his life after he was wounded in the head by Pallante's revolver. When he received the bill, Togliatti found it steep and accompanied the payment with these words: “Here is the balance, but it is stolen money”. Valdoni replied: “Thank you for the cheque. I am not interested in where it came from”."

"It is difficult to know what Togliatti was like, because Togliatti left no memoirs, no diary. No one ever knew what Togliatti thought, not even his partner Nilde Iotti. It can be said that he was a faithful executor of Stalin's orders. He always was, and for this reason he enjoyed Stalin's trust. [...] Interviewer: Was he a great diplomat? Montanelli: He was a diplomat in his own right, above all because he was a man who survived twenty-five or thirty years in Moscow without ending up in prison, on trial, or against the wall. Well, that makes him one of the great figures. There are few of them. Interviewer: Was he not a statesman, for example? Montanelli: He could not be a statesman because communists do not have the state in their blood; communists have the Party. Stalin was never head of state, nor even head of government; he was head of the Party. Power in communist regimes lies neither in the state nor in the government, but in the Party."

"In the history of the Italian nation, I see few men who qualify as enlightened right-wingers who not only accept but want reforms. [...] And, now I don't want to shock people, but I would say that Togliatti was also a right-wing man because of his concept of the State and power. And this shows that you can be a right-wing man even on the left."