Lost Generation? Nicolò Carandini, the Decline of New Liberalism and the Myth of a New Europe

Blasberg, Christian

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-77422-0_6

Christian Blasberg⁴

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements ((PSHSM))

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Abstract

Blasberg analyzes the figure of Nicolò Carandini, a leader of Italian post−World War II liberalism, who—representing a social−liberal idea—stood in contrast to the prevailing national−conservative liberalism of the 1940s and 1950s as well as the generation of old liberals around Benedetto Croce. An anti-fascist since the early days of Mussolini’s regime and leader of the Roman Resistance, Carandini later became a promoter of the Radical Party, which prepared the ground for the Italian center-left governments of the 1960s. Blasberg highlights Carandini’s international orientation since his experience as first Italian post-war ambassador to Great Britain. A champion of European Federalism, Carandini had thus always been concerned to break up the Cold-War division by means of a Third Force.

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Notes

1.
Pannella, Marco. “La sera non andavamo in Via Veneto.” Il Foglio, 27.08.2009. It is presumed that communist Giancarlo Pajetta invented the rhyme.
2.
http://www.pasolini.net/luoghiPPP_caffeRosati-Roma.htm (01.02.2013).
3.
Longo, Oddone. “Breve storia della bonifica di Torre in Pietra, 1926–1944.” In id., ed. Albertini, Carandini. Una pagina della storia d’Italia. Venice: IVSLA, 2005, 51–74.
4.
Riccardi, Luca, ed. Nicolò Carandini. Il liberale e la Nuova Italia [1943–1953]. Florence: Mondadori, 1992, 6 (prefazione di Giovanni Spadolini).
5.
Filippone-Thaulero, Giustino. Diario 1944–1945 di Nicolò Carandini. Nuova Antologia 2145 (31.03.1945), 228.
6.
Riccardi, Nicolò Carandini, 9.
7.
Quaglieni, Pier Franco. Nicolò Carandini. Centro Pannunzio Web site: www.centropannunzio.it/mondo/NicoloCarandini.html (22.03.2013).
8.
He was furthermore president of the SIOI (Italian Society for International Organization) and president of the Istituto di Credito Fondiario Bank; see Blasberg, Christian. “Nicolò Carnadini.” In Dizionario del Liberalismo Italiano. Tomo II. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 2015, 247–251.
9.
Benedetto Croce ironically stated: “On 40 million Italians, the antifascists are 40, inevitably they know and meet each other.” See: La Repubblica, 22.02.1990.
10.
Lanaro, Silvio. “Nicolò Carandini politico liberale.” In Oddone, Longo, ed. Albertini, Carandini. Una pagina della storia d’Italia. Venice: IVSLA, 2005, 76.
11.
Carandini, Nicolò. Primi Chiarimenti. Movimento Liberale Italiano. Rome, 1943.
12.
Ibid.
13.
Nicolosi, Gerardo. “Il nuovo liberalismo.” In Grassi Orsini, Fabio/Nicolosi, Gerardo, eds. I liberali italiani dall’antifascismo alla Repubblica. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 2008, 249.
14.
Carandini, Primi Chiarimenti.
15.
Nicolosi, Il nuovo liberalismo, 250.
16.
Carandini, Primi Chiarimenti.
17.
Setta, Sandro. Croce, il liberalismo e l’Italia postfascista. Rome: Bonacci, 1979, 14–26; see also Jannazzo, Antonio. Croce e il prepartito della cultura. Rome: Carucci, 1987.
18.
See the last edition of Croce’s work: Galasso, Giuseppe, ed. Benedetto Croce: Storia d’Europa nel secolo decimonono. Milan: Adelphi, 1999.
19.
“…the ‘religion of liberty’ by Croce had been serving to keep alive and educate souls and intelligences…,” writes Novelli , Claudio. Il Partito d’Azione e gli italiani. Moralità, politica e cittadinanza nella storia repubblicana. Milan: La Nuova Italia, 2000, 8, “… but in particular to the young liberal socialists it seemed insufficient from the point of view of political commitment and the concrete action to take against the regime ….”
20.
De Giorgi, Maria, ed. Il Movimento Liberale Italiano (Roma 1943–1944). Galatina: Congedo, 2005.
21.
Carandini Albertini, Elena. Dal terrazzo. Diari 1943–1944. Bologna: Il Mulino, 1997, 17 f. (entry of 19.08.1943).
22.
Filippone-Thaulero, Giustino, ed. “Diario 1944–1945 di Nicolò Carandini.” Nuova Antologia 2146 (1983), 177; Carandini wrote further: “The country needs to feel governed. The renewal has to come from above.”
23.
Risorgimento Liberale mentioned him on 27.07.1944 as having been the “President of the Clandestine National Council” of the PLI.
24.
On Pannunzio, see: Cardini, Antonio. Mario Pannunzio. Giornalismo e liberalismo. Cultura e politica nell’Italia del Novecento (1910–1968). Naples: Edizioni scientifiche italiane, 2011.
25.
Carandini Albertini, Dal terrazzo, 56–58 (04.11.1943).
26.
Carandini Albertini, Elena. Passata la stagione…. Diari 1944–1947. Florence: Passigli, 1989, 20 (09.06.1944).
27.
Ibid., 21 (09.06.1944); the southern, mainly Neapolitan branch of the PLI was led by Renato Morelli and 31-year-old Giovanni Cassandro , both close disciples of Croce ; Carandini’s predominant role in the early organizational stages of the PLI has been highlighted by: Pallini , Renato. “Vita organizzativa e diffusione territoriale del PLI.” In Grassi Orsini, Fabio and Nicolosi, Gerardo, eds. I liberali italiani dall’antifascismo alla Repubblica. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 2008, 109–130.
28.
On 13 July, Carandini—faced with the request by Croce —“[…] eschewed this office and proposes Soleri, liberating him from the Treasury. He doesn’t see how to be useful in this ministry disempowered from the start.” Only after another visit to Croce on 20 July and the refusal by Enrico De Nicola did he accept (Ibid., 33, 35 [13 and 21.07.1944]).
29.
Ibid., 40 (01.08.1944); Umberto , at a meeting with Carandini on 1 August, is said to have told him: “If the choice will be for the Republic, dear Carandini, you shall be sure that I will be a good republican like you […].”
30.
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando was intent on modifying the program of the Liberal Party “[…] which is not the one of Croce and Carandini, who are not clear about the institutional question.” See Lucifero , Falcone. L’ultimo Re. I diari del ministro della Real Casa, 1944–1946. Milan: Mondadori, 2002, 114 (31.08.1944).
31.
Carandini Albertini, Passata la stagione …, 39 (06.08.1944); the quote refers to the old liberal senator Alberto Bergamini and Raffaele De Caro , leader of the southern Partito della Democrazia Liberale.
32.
Carandini, Nicolò Paolo. “Il partito liberale e i problemi italiani.” Risorgimento Liberale, 04.09.1944; he though defended the integration of the monarchist Partito Democratico Liberale into the P LI as a first step “[…] on the way of a simplification of our political life, a way on which the most advanced democratic nations have preceded us […],” referring with much evidence to Great Britain.
33.
Ibid.
34.
Ibid.
35.
Ibid.; “I have been indicated by certain press as the head of the republican faction within the Liberal Party […],” Carandini said, not denying this; but instead of tending to either position, “[…] we don’t ask the adherents of our party if they are republicans or monarchists. We ask them if they […] have the intention to fight […] for freedom in the future political assemblies in which the Italians will be called to deliberate about the institutional form of the state.”
36.
Lucifero, L’ultimo Re, 140 (03.10.1944).
37.
The thesis cannot be proven with certainty; Lucifero himself seems to have been convinced by Carandini’s purpose to keep the Monarchy, if wanted by popular decision and in a democratic regime, thinking of him and De Gasperi as possible successors of Prime Minister Bonomi. See ibid., 178 (27.10.1944).
38.
Carandini Albertini, Passata la stagione …, 61 (21.10.1944).
39.
Lucifero, L’ultimo Re, 142 (04.10.1944).
40.
“That my person is now aside is a good thing…”, Carandini thought already in December 1944, “[…] I encumbered the street to the others.” Filippone-Thaulero , Giustino. “Diario 1944–1945 di Nicolò Carandini.” Nuova Antologia 2144, 348 (27.12.1944).
41.
Blasberg, Christian. “La crisi del PLI. I liberali tra CLN e qualunquismo.” In Monina, Giancarlo, ed. 1945–1946. Le origini della Repubblica. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 2008, 178.
42.
Andreotti, Giulio. Visti da vicino. Volume 2. Milan: Rizzoli, 1982, 46.
43.
B. Croce to N. Carandini, 09.07.1946. Archivio Centrale dello Stato [ACS], Carte Carandini, file 17.
44.
Riccardi, Nicolò Carandini il liberale, 87.
45.
See: Blasberg, Christian. Die Liberale Linke und das Schicksal der Dritten Kraft im italienischen Zentrismus, 1947–1951. Frankfurt a.M.: P. Lang, 2008, 97–106.
46.
“I don’t allow myself in no way to think that you might not have listened to your conscience […],” Croce wrote to Carandini many months after his split from the party, “[…] but I think that your intellect this time did not well advise your good will.” B. Croce to N. Carandini, 30.12.1948. ACS, Carte Carandini, file 18.
47.
Croce ’s 1942 notes for a political “program” were published only in 1966: “Croce politico.” Il Mondo, 01.03.1966.
48.
Setta, Sandro. Croce il liberalism e l’Italia postfascista. Rome: Bonacci, 1979, 27–41.
49.
Carandini Albertini, Elena. Le case, le cose, le carte, Diari 1948–1950. Padua: Il Poligrafo, 2007, 166 (31.08.1948).
50.
Carandini Albertini, Passata la stagione…, 273–275 (“Fine gennaio” 1947).
51.
Carandini Albertini, Le case, le cose, le carte, 66 (25.01.1948).
52.
For the Uomo Qualunque movement, see: Setta , Sandro. L’Uomo qualunque, 1944–1948. Bari/Rome: Laterza, 2000.
53.
The most recent edition: Spinelli, Altiero/Rossi, Ernesto, eds. Il Manifesto di Ventotene. Milan: RCS Quotidiani, 2011.
54.
Riccardi , 54 f.; after a colloquium with Ernest Bevin in summer 1945, Carandini “[…] is convinced that our destiny does not depend so much on the English, but on the complex general politics of peace which is in the hands of America. But in the big bargain, it could cede to Ru ssia on the point of Italy in compensation for positions in the Pacific or other.” See Carandini Albertini, Passata la stagione…. 152 (29.08.1945).
55.
Filippone-Thaulero, NA n. 2145, 194.
56.
According to Leone Cattani , Carandini considered the Peace Treaty “[…] unjust and wrong, but he thinks that one couldn’t have obtained more and that in the current conditions he thinks it’s wiser to accept, reserving to try and make oneself worthy in the best way within UNO.” See De Felice , Renzo “L’Italia postfascista vista da Parigi e da Londra. Pagine di diario di Leone Cattani, febbraio-marzo 1947.” Storia Contemporanea XV (1984), 1009 (10.03.1947).
57.
Filippone-Thaulero, NA n. 2145, 206 (26.02.1945).
58.
Ibid., 210 (02.03.1945).
59.
Ibid., 214 (09.03.1945); 225 (28.03.1945); Leo Valiani favoured Carandini as the next Prime Minister after the liberation “[…] because he was above the melee, appreciated in the anglo-saxon world and disinterested.” See Altarocca , Claudio. “Carandini. Un “conte rosso” per De Gasperi.” La Stampa, 11.06.1994.
60.
Filippone-Thaulero, NA n. 2145, 215 (13.03.1945).
61.
Carandini Albertini, Passata la stagione…, 129 (04.06.1945).
62.
Cabona, Maurizio. “‘Mio nonno cercò invano di dividere Duce e Führer’.” Il Giornale, 06.05.2006.
63.
Carandini Albertini, Le case, le cose, le carte, 166 (31.08.1948).
64.
Filippone-Thaulero, NA n. 2145, 200 (14.02.1945).
65.
Mercuri, Lamberto, ed. Sulla ‚Terza Forza’. Rome: Bonacci, 1986, 59 f.
66.
Blasberg, Die Liberale Linke, 124–135.
67.
Ibid., 136.
68.
Carandini, Nicolò. “L’Inghilterra e l’Europa.” Iniziativa Socialista, 27.01.1948.
69.
Mercuri, Sulla ‚Terza Forza’, 60–65; Carandini showed indulgence towards the US SR, whereas he accused the U SA of not having given the necessary guarantees to the Soviets in order to allow them to accept Marshall-Plan aid.
70.
Varsori, Antonio. “Il Congresso dell’Europe dell’Aja (7–10 maggio 1948).” Storia Contemporanea 21 (1990), 478.
71.
Carandini, Nicolò. L’Unità Europea e il Congresso dell’Aja. Discorso tenuto alla Manifestazione federalistica di Firenze, 13 giugno 1948. Rome: Athenais, 1948, 10.
72.
[n.a.] “Carandini l’apostolo.” L’Europeo, 10–17.10.1948.
73.
Iniziativa Socialista, 11.11.1948.
74.
[n.a.] Solo la Federazione europea può risolvere la questione tedesca. La Voce Repubblicana, 12.11.1948; the British delegation on that occasion was led by Miss Frances L. Josephy , a liberal activist for European Federalism.
75.
Carandini Albertini, Le case, le cose, le carte, 483 (16.06.1950).
76.
Blum, Léon. “La troisième force internationale.” Le Populaire, 06.01.1948.
77.
Carandini, Nicolò. Responsabilità Europea. Discorso tenuto al Teatro Sistina di Roma il 4 novembre 1950 a chiusura della campagna per la petizione in favore di un Patto d’unione federale europea. Rome: Emer, 1950, 9 f.
78.
Ibid., 11.
79.
Ibid., 12; Carandini would thus be instrumental behind De Gasperi’s initiative for a European Political Community (EPC) in May 1952; see Risso , Linda. The [Forgotten] European Political Community, 1952–1954. EFPU Conference Paper, 2004.
80.
“It’s necessary to offer to Germany the occasion we are able to offer it, that is its trustful acceptance within a solid family of not daunted peoples where she can develop her great virtues and see corrected her brutal defects”; see Carandini, Responsabilità Europea, 15.
81.
Carandini, Nicolò. “L’occasione offerta.” Il Mondo, 25.05.1954.
82.
An Italian analysis of Mendès France ’s role in the failure of the EDC in: Brizzi, Riccardo. Il governo Mendès France. Bologna: CLUEB, 2010.
83.
On the De Gasperi-Gruber agreement, see: Steininger , Rolf. Autonomie oder Selbstbestimmung? Die Südtirolfrage 1945/46 und das Gruber-De Gasperi-Abkommen. Innsbruck et al.: Studienverlag, 2008.
84.
Carandini, Nicolò. The Alto Adige. An Experiment in the Devaluation of Frontiers. Rome: Ed. Il Mondo, 1958.
85.
Carandini Albertini, Le case, le cose, le carte, 224 (27.01.1949).
86.
Blasberg, Die Liberale Linke, 170–180.
87.
Blasberg, Die Liberale Linke, 417–519.
88.
About the so-called “fraud-law” (“legge truffa”), see: Quagliariello, Gaetano. La legge elettorale del 1953. Dibattiti storici in Parlamento. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2003.
89.
Carandini, Nicolò. “Cosa vuole quest’Italia?” Il Mondo, 28.06.1952.
90.
Carandini explained his candidacy in Milan with the will “… to give to the list […] an equilibrium and an appeal to all the currents of a liberalism that […] is not all launched towards the right-wing or towards certain economic super-interests.” N. Carandini to B. Villabruna, 24.03.1953. ACS, Carte Carandini, file 21.
91.
Blasberg, Christian. “Liberali per il centrosinistra: Radicali e Democrazia liberale.” Ventunesimo Secolo 7: 1 (2008), 62–67.
92.
Carandini, Nicolò. “Il tempo delle scelte.” Il Mondo, 20.09.1955.
93.
Carandini, Nicolò. “Una grave disavventura.” Il Mondo, 05.07.1955.
94.
Taccuino. Il Mondo, 08.03.1955.
95.
Orsina, Giovanni. L’alternativa liberale. Malagodi e l’opposizione al centrosinistra. Venice: Marsilio, 2010, 29.
96.
Carandini, Una grave disavventura.
97.
Blasberg, Liberali per il centrosinistra, 67.
98.
Zanuttini, Annalisa. “L’organizzazione del partito radicale (1955–1962).” In Vallauri, Carlo, ed. L’arcipelago democratico. Organizzazione e struttura dei partiti italiani del centrismo (1949–1958). Rome: Bulzoni, 1979.
99.
Carandini, Nicolò. “L’appello dei giovani.” Il Mondo, 10.06.1958.
100.
Un articolo del radicale Pannella: la ‘sinistra democratica’ e il PCI. Paese Sera, 22.03.1959.
101.
Carandini, Nicolò. “La polemica radicale.” Il Mondo, 06.06.1961.
102.
De Felice ’s revelations about Leopoldo Piccardi had first appeared in: De Felice, Renzo. Storia degli Ebrei Italiani sotto il Fascismo. Turin: Einaudi, 1961.
103.
Carandini, Nicolò. “Italia smaniosa.” Il Mondo, 04.03.1958.
104.
Carandini, Nicolò. “I pericoli dell’inazione.” Il Mondo, 29.07.1958. Taken “[…] anti-imperialism in terms of democratic affirmation […]”, Carandini claimed, “[…] we, at least we, have to remind that the United States and Engl and are democracy itself, are the best that democracy was able to give in the modern world.”
105.
Ibid.
106.
Carandini, Nicolò. “Un filo tra l’Oriente e l’Occidente: Lo spirito di Camp David.” Il Mondo, 16.02.1960. Interestingly, Carandini now appreciated the diplomacy of mutual state visits by ideologically opposed leaders including the Italian President Giovanni Gronchi ’s visit to Moscow.
107.
Carandini, Nicolò. “Un filo tra l’Oriente e l’Occidente: Energica America.” Il Mondo, 31.05.1960.
108.
See: Carandini, Nicolò. “I tre mondi in crisi. Il conto sulle dita.” Il Mondo, 15.01.1963; Carandini, Nicolò. “L’occhio dell’America. Acheson risponde.” Il Mondo, 16.04.1963; Carandini, Nicolò. “L’occhio dell’America. I piani di McNamara.” Il Mondo, 23.04.1963.
109.
Carandini, Nicolò. “Un filo tra l’Oriente e l’Occidente. L’altra faccia della terra.” Il Mondo, 17.05.1960.
110.
Carandini, Nicolò. “Un filo tra l’Oriente e l’Occidente: Energica America.” Il Mondo, 31.05.1960; see also numerous short films on keywords: ‘Nicolò Carandini’ and ‘Alitalia’ by Istituto Luce, available at: http://www.archivioluce.com/archivio/.
111.
A confrontation between Carandini and Cattani is well illustrated by Renzo De Felice in his edition of Cattani ’s diaries during a trip to France and Great Britain in early 1947: De Felice , Renzo. “L’Italia postfascista vista da Parigi e da Londra: Pagine di diario di Leone Cattani, febbraio-marzo 1947.” Storia Contemporanea XV (1984), 973–1014.

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Christian Blasberg

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Modern and Regional History, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
Jens Späth

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Blasberg, C. (2018). Lost Generation? Nicolò Carandini, the Decline of New Liberalism and the Myth of a New Europe. In: Späth, J. (eds) Does Generation Matter? Progressive Democratic Cultures in Western Europe, 1945–1960. Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77422-0_6

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