Gobetti, Piero

Born June 19, 1901, in Turin; died Feb. 15, 1926, in Paris. Italian literary critic, publicist and historian.

In 1919 and 1920, Gobetti was the theatrical and literary critic for the weekly L’Ordine Nuovo, which was published in Turin under the direction of A. Gramsci. Because of his close association with the Turin proletariat and his personal association with Gramsci, Gobetti approached a Marxist understanding of the historical role of the working class. In his greatest historical work, The Liberal Revolution (1924), he sharply reproached the Italian ruling classes and attributed to the proletariat a special role in the solution of problems of the country’s economic and political revival. In February 1922 he founded the weekly Rivoluzione Liberale, which many progressive Italian social and political figures collaborated on. A resolute opponent of fascism, he was subjected to fascist persecution and died after a savage beating by fascists. In 1960 a scientific center for the study of the history of the antifascist movement was founded in Turin and named after Gobetti; it publishes the journal Centro Studi Piero Gobetti.