Togliatti, Palmiro (1893–1964)

Italian politician who was a founding member of the Italian Communist Party in 1921 and effectively its leader for almost 40 years from 1926 until his death. In exile 1926–44, he returned after the fall of the Fascist dictator Mussolini to become a member of Badoglio's government and held office until 1946.

Togliatti trained as a lawyer, served in the army, and was wounded during World War I. He was associated with the revolutionary wing of the Italian Socialist Party that left to form the Communist Party in 1921. He edited the newspaper Il Comunista 1922–24 and became a member of the party's central committee. He was in Moscow when Mussolini outlawed the party, and stayed there to become a leading member of the Comintern, joining the Secretariat in 1935. Returning to Italy after Mussolini's downfall, he advocated coalition politics with other leftist and democratic parties, a policy that came to fruition in the elections of 1948, where the communists won 135 seats.