Secchia, Pietro

Born Dec. 19, 1903, in Occhieppo Superiore, near the city of Biella; died July 7, 1973, in Rome. Figure in the Italian labor movement.

Secchia joined the socialist youth movement in 1919. He was a member of the Italian Communist Party (ICP) from its very founding in 1921 and was one of the organizers and leaders of the communist youth movement. In 1924 he was elected to the Central Committee and Secretariat of the Italian Communist Youth Federation, and later he participated in the work of the Fifth Congress of the Comintern. In 1926 he became a member of the Internal Center of the Communist Party, which directed underground activity of communists in Italy during the fascist regime.

In 1928, Secchia became a member of the Central Committee of the ICP and later joined its Politburo. He was arrested in April 1931 and remained in prison and exile until 1943. From 1943 to 1945, following the collapse of Italian fascism and the occupation of Italy by fascist German troops, he helped lead the partisan movement, serving as general commissar of the Garibaldi Brigades and as a member of the ICP directing center in northern Italy. In 1946 he was a deputy to the Constituent Assembly, and in 1948 he became a senator. From 1948 to 1955 he held the post of deputy general secretary of the ICP. From 1945 to 1956 he was also a member of the Leadership of the ICP.