Valentino Pittoni
Valentino Pittoni | |
---|---|
![]() Valentino Pittoni c. 1907 | |
Member of the Austrian Imperial Council | |
In office 1907–1918 | |
Constituency | Trieste (Old City and San Giacomo) |
Personal details | |
Born | Brazzano, Cormons | 23 May 1872
Died | 11 April 1933 Vienna | (aged 60)
Political party | Social Democratic Workers Party of Austria |
Children |
|
Valentino Pittoni (
Increasingly isolated after World War I, Pittoni was uncompromising in demanding Trieste's autonomy within Austria, and eventually its independence from the Kingdom of Italy. He was a noted adversary of Italian fascism, who lived his later life in exile in Vienna. His final contributions were as a newspaper editor and doctrinaire of interwar Austrian socialism.
Early life
Pittoni was born on 23 May 1872, in Brazzano, part of the Cormons municipality. His father was a textile trader. During his childhood the family moved to Trieste.[2] He studied at the Trade Academy (Accademia di Commercio e Nautica) in Trieste,[1] and worked on his father's business.[2] During his youth, Pittoni sympathized with irredentism.[1] He was called for military service in the Austro-Hungarian Army, and was discharged with the rank of Second Lieutenant.[2]
Later, Pittoni joined the Trieste Workers Society, which, despite the name, was a moderate nationalist group with only some socialist members.[3] In 1896 he befriended the Austrian socialist leader Victor Adler, who invited him to join SDAPÖ that same year.[4] For the next twenty years, Pittoni was strongly influenced by Adler's Austromarxist ideological line.[1][5] He lobbied for the transformation of the Austro-Hungarian empire into a Danubian Confederation of non-territorial nationalities.[1][6] A staunch internationalist, he opposed any Italian irredentist moves.[7][8][9] For Pittoni, irredentism was promoted by Italian capitalists to weaken unity of the working class.[10] Nonetheless, he and his movement had only marginal contacts with the Slovene neighbours, as Pittoni resented Slovenian nationalism and opposed the Slavic claims over Trieste (or "urban Slavism").[11]
Pittoni joined the Social Democratic League, a Triestine branch of the SDAPÖ, and, by 1902, was involved in mediating between the socialists and organised labour. That year, he helped the senior socialist leader Carlo Ucekar in directing the Österreichischer Lloyd stokers strike, but lost control of it to anarchist agitators.[12] The strike ended in bloodshed. The authorities were lenient toward the socialists, and willing to blame the strike on anarchists, but made a point of warning Pittoni to comply in the future.[13]
Later that year, Ucekar died; Pittoni vied for and won the post as leader of the Social Democratic League.[4][14][15] With Pittoni at the helm, the Triestine socialists moved closer to the Austromarxist centre,[4][14][16] holding the 1905 anti-war and anti-irredentist demonstration which coincided with the official launch of SMS Erzherzog Ferdinand Max.[9]
Parliamentarian
The 1907 Austrian general election was the first to be held with universal male suffrage. Pittoni was elected to the Imperial Council with an absolute majority, representing the first constituency of Trieste (covering the old city and the suburb of San Giacomo).[17][18] Although this was a major victory for his version of socialism, Pittoni noted that his League lacked cadres, and reached out to members of Italian Socialist Party (PSI), in the Kingdom of Italy, proposing that they should relocate their militancy to Trieste.[19] He allowed a measure of nationalism to seep into his discourse, noting: "It is up to us to also deal with the national issue."[20] In August, he represented his party at the Stuttgart Congress of the Second International.[19]
Like other SDAPÖ deputies, Pittoni demanded the introduction of universal suffrage in
From 1907 onwards Cesare Battisti, a left-wing intellectual inside the party from
Pittoni was elected municipal councillor of Trieste in 1909,[28] and promoted labour management initiatives. Chief editor of the party organ, Il Lavoratore, and a key figure in the Social Studies Circle, Pittoni also founded the Workers Cooperative of Trieste, Istria and Friulia.[1][29] His participation in such causes increased the cultural and educational prestige of socialism, solving many of the movement's teething problems, and helping to spread the cooperative ideals among the Slovene population.[30] He conditioned affiliation to these cooperatives on the desegregation and inter-ethnic solidarity of candidate unions.[31] He also campaigned for the establishment of Workers Club and an Italian university in Trieste.[1]
Pittoni retained his parliamentary seat in the 1911 Austrian general election. This time he was supported by mainstream Slavic parties, opposed to Felice Venezian's Italian national-liberals,[18] but could not count on the regular Slovene voters, who withdrew their support.[11] As leader of the Italian parliamentary club,[1][4] Pittoni supported an inquiry into the affairs of Transleithania, where, according to fellow deputy George Grigorovici, the Hungarian Post was censoring the correspondence of left-wing opponents, including Austrian subjects.[32]
Like the rest of his party, Pittoni issued protests against Rudolf Montecuccoli's plan to modernize and increase the Austro-Hungarian Navy.[33] Together with Adler and with members of the PSI, he co-founded an anti-war congress that would report on any rearmament on either side of the Italian–Austrian conflict.[4] During October 1912, he participated in the mass rallies opposing Austria-Hungary's involvement in the First Balkan War, and petitioned the government on that subject.[34]
World War
In 1914, just before the start of World War I, Pittoni began cooperating with the Yugoslav Social-Democratic Party (JSDS), which had recently relocated in Trieste, and set up a shared bureau to oversee common operations. However, he insisted that the common slogan was that of "national toleration [and] workers solidarity", and that the status of Trieste as an Austrian port could not expect to change.[35]
In May 1915, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. The violence of the subsequent "
Probably as a result of this nonconformism, Pittoni was again conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army and sent to the front, before returning to Trieste as cooperative leader, working to ensure the city's supply in food and basic goods.
Faced with the challenges of Yugoslavism and Austro-Hungarian dissolution, Pittoni called for the creation of an independent Istrian state[46] or a "Republic of Venezia Giulia".[47] It was to demand protection from the League of Nations,[48] but Pittoni also spoke of other diplomatic alternatives, including an American or a Bolshevik occupation.[49] In late 1918, as the Slovene National Council prepared to assume control of the region, he publicized the manifesto of Emperor Charles, which proposed an Austrian confederation and a special role for Trieste.[50] However, he faced increased opposition within the Trieste socialist movement from the Giuseppe Tuntar–Ivan Regent faction (which favoured an Italo-Slavic Soviet Republic)[47] and from irredentist or "socialist-nationalists" such as Edmondo Puecher, who had organised the strike of January 1918.[8] He responded by purging Il Lavoratore staff of suspected irredentists, including writer Bruno Piazza.[8]
In October 1918, during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the Imperial Council's Italian club dissolved: a "national fascio" was formed, unilaterally proclaiming the annexation of Istria and South Tyrol by the Kingdom of Italy. Pittoni condemned the move, as did the Friulian deputies Luigi Faidutti and Giuseppe Bugatto.[51] However, he agreed to become a member of the Italian deputies' Permanent Commission, which was led by the fascio's spokesman, Enrico Conci.[52] Although stranded in Vienna, he communicated with his Triestine faction: his second-in-command, Alfredo Callini, was a member of the Committee of Public Safety, formed after Governor Alfred von Fries-Skene abandoned Trieste.[53] Pittoni had by then lost all footing inside the JSDS, with Ferfolja accusing him of being a covert irredentist.[54]
Exile
In early 1919, following the
In 1922 Pittoni resigned from his posts in the party, complaining that the socialist movement had fallen prey to "the most arrogant and greedy kind of capitalism".
Pittoni remained in Italy after the
Pittoni died in Vienna on 11 April 1933.[1][4] The funeral oration was given by SDAPÖ colleague Wilhelm Ellenbogen, who called Pittoni's fight against irredentism "one of the most glorious actions in the history of Austria's workers movement", and praised his "intimate affinity with the Austro-German thought and sentiment".[70] As argued by researcher Gilbert Bosetti, Pittoni's death "put an end to all hopes of a reform-minded Triestine socialism that supported peace among peoples."[60]
Bianca went on to fight for the
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m E. Maserati, "Pittoni, Valentino (1872–1933), Politiker", entry in the Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950, Vol. 8
- ^ a b c Giuseppe Piemontese (1974). Il Movimento operaio a Trieste: dalle origini all' avvento del fascismo... Editori Riuniti. p. 146.
- ^ Bosetti, p. 195
- ^ a b c d e f Klinger, p. 85
- ^ Cuomo, pp. 31–32, 72; Klinger, pp. 85–88
- ^ Klinger, pp. 85–86; Sluga, p. 24
- ^ Apih, pp. 92–95; Bosetti, pp. 197–198; Cuomo, pp. 31–32; Klinger, pp. 85, 88, 105, 108–109
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8204-8872-1.
- ^ a b "Congresul internațional socialist" (PDF). Tribuna Poporului. Arad. May 25, 1905. p. 4.
- ^ a b c Labour History Review. Society for the Study of Labour History. 1992. p. 22.
- ^ a b Cuomo, p. 32
- ^ Klinger, pp. 82–83
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 154–155
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7546-5247-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-967204-2.
- ISBN 978-3-486-56486-0.
- ^ Sluga, p. 24
- ^ ISBN 978-3-205-98063-6.
- ^ a b Klinger, p. 87
- ^ Bosetti, p. 199
- ^ "Austriacii cer votul universal pentru Ungaria" (PDF). Tribuna Poporului. Arad. October 13, 1908. p. 4.
- ^ "Coroana și votul universal" (PDF). Tribuna Poporului. Arad. September 30, 1908. pp. 1–3.
- ^ Apih, pp. 92–93; Cuomo, pp. 31–32
- ^ Bosetti, p. 240
- ^ Dan Amedeo Lăzărescu (1980). "Recenzii. Keith Hitchins, Studies in East European History, Vol. I". Revista de Istorie. 33 (4). Romanian Academy of Social and Political Sciences: 15.
- ^ a b "Aperto dissenso fra socialisti d'Austria e socialisti d'Italia". Il Paese. No. 248. Udine. October 19, 1908. p. 1.
- ^ Cuomo, pp. 31–32
- ^ Bosetti, p. 205
- ^ Klinger, pp. 87, 88
- ^ Apih, pp. 92–93; Klinger, pp. 87–88, 110
- ^ Apih, p. 92
- ^ Graur, p. 444
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 196
- ISBN 90-04-08635-8.
- ^ Apih, pp. 94–95
- ^ Bosetti, p. 267
- ^ Bosetti, p. 267; Pirjevec, pp. 82, 86
- ^ Pirjevec, p. 82
- ^ Klinger, pp. 95–97
- ^ Kacin-Wohinz, p. 116
- ^ Klinger, p. 97
- ^ Klinger, pp. 85, 87
- ^ Pirjevec, p. 83
- ^ Klinger, pp. 97, 100–101
- ^ Klinger, p. 101
- ^ Alessi, pp. 29, 34; Kacin-Wohinz, pp. 115–118; Bosetti, p. 267
- ^ a b Sluga, p. 41
- ^ Sluga, p. 41; Kacin-Wohinz, p. 118
- ^ Klinger, pp. 100–101
- ^ Klinger, pp. 106–107
- ^ a b Branko Marušič (2000). "Gli sloveni di Trieste e del Goriziano alla fine della prima guerra mondiale" (PDF). Il Territorio. 13. Consorzio Culturale del Monfalconese: 11–12. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
- ^ Sergio Benvenuti; Andreina Mascagni (1999). "L'archivio della famiglia Conci". Archivio Trentino. 49 (2). Museo Storico in Trento: 120. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
- ^ Alessi, pp. 28–34
- ^ Kacin-Wohinz, p. 119
- ^ Bosetti, p. 270
- ^ Alessi, pp. 28–30; Cuomo, pp. 71–72
- ^ Dupont (April 18, 1919). "Les socialistes de Trieste font "barre à gauche"". Le Populaire. p. 1.
- ^ Alessi, pp. 29–30; Klinger, p. 85; Sluga, p. 41
- ^ Sluga, p. 38
- ^ a b Bosetti, p. 269
- ^ Klinger, pp. 111–112
- ^ Klinger, pp. 85, 114; Bosetti, p. 269
- OCLC 797874034.
- ^ a b c d Giuseppe Muzzi, "Pittoni, Bianca, politica", biographical profile in SIUSA: Archivi di personalità. Censimento dei fondi toscani tra '800 e '900. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
- ^ Cuomo, p. 127; Klinger, pp. 85, 108–109, 114; Graur, p. 446
- ^ Cuomo, p. 127
- ISBN 978-88-7692-495-8. Graur, p. 446; Klinger, p. 85
- ^ ISBN 978-88-568-1510-8.
- ^ Carmela Maltone (2013). "Scrivere contro. I giornali antifascisti italiani in Francia dal 1922 al 1943". Line@editoriale. 5. University of Toulouse. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
- ^ Klinger, pp. 108–109
- ^ a b "Fondo Anita Pittoni", entry in the Catalogo integrato dei beni culturali, Commune of Trieste. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
- ISBN 1-84127-284-1. Sluga, p. 226
References
- Chino Alessi (1993). Rino Alessi. Edizioni Studio Tesi. ISBN 88-7692-369-1.
- Elio Apih (1979). "Sui rapporti tra socialisti italiani e socialisti sloveni nella regione Giulia (1888–1917)". Prispevki za zgodovino delavskega gibanja, Letnik XVII. Inštitut za zgodovino delavskega gibanja. pp. 89–96. OCLC 11668604.
- Gilbert Bosetti (2006). De Trieste à Dubrovnik: une ligne de fracture de l'Europe. ELLUG. ISBN 978-2-84310-080-2.
- Pasquale Cuomo (2012). Il miraggio danubiano: Austria e Italia, politica ed economia, 1918–1936. FrancoAngeli. ISBN 978-8820411480.
- OCLC 34613821.
- OCLC 11668604.
- William Klinger (2012). "Crepuscolo adriatico. Nazionalismo e socialismo italiano in Venezia Giulia (1896–1945)" (PDF). Quaderni. 23. Centro Ricerche Storiche Rovigno: 79–126. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
- OCLC 11668604.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-4824-3.
- Lawrence Sondhaus (1994). The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918: Navalism, Industrial Development, and the Politics of Dualism. Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-034-9.
- Daniel Winkler. "Valentino Pittoni und die italienisch-österreichische Arbeiter*innenbewegung. Ein Genossenschafter, Politiker und Zeitungsmacher zwischen Triest und Wien". Zibaldone. Zeitschrift für italienische Kultur der Gegenwart, 70 (Italienisch-österreichische Verflechtungen). pp. 47–62.