"The son of a primary school teacher and a clerk, [...] he had been with Gramsci in Turin during the Red Biennium and was one of the founders of the party in 1921. Having taken refuge in Russia after the victory of fascism, he quickly rose in importance to become deputy secretary-general of the Comintern. Astute, prudent, cultured and haughty, he possessed an innate ability to survive all political storms: a quality that helped him in Moscow in the 1930s. Although he was obviously a loyal supporter of Stalin, Togliatti was able to think creatively and had a strategic overview, and these merits made him stand out within an international communist movement famous for its dogmatism and fideism."