1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910815370603321

Autore

Rota Emanuel <1970->

Titolo

A pact with Vichy [[electronic resource] ] : Angelo Tasca from Italian socialism to French collaboration / / Emanuel Rota

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Fordham University Press, 2013

ISBN

0-8232-4567-5

0-8232-5282-5

0-8232-5065-2

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (232 p.)

Collana

World War II : the global, human, and ethical dimension

Disciplina

335.43092

B

Soggetti

Anti-fascist movements - Italy - History - 20th century

Journalists - France

Socialism - Italy - History - 20th century

Socialists - France

Socialists - Italy

World War, 1939-1945 - Collaborationists - France

France Intellectual life 20th century

France Politics and government 1940-1945

Italy Politics and government 1922-1945

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Into the Battlefield -- 2. Learning Russian -- 3. In Limbo -- 4. The Road to Vichy -- 5. A Socialist in Vichy -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Angelo Tasca, a pivotal figure in 20th-century Italian political history, and indeed European history, is frequently overshadowed by his Fascist opponent Mussolini or his Socialist and Communist colleagues (Gramsci and Togliatti). Yet, as Emanuel Rota reveals in this captivating biography, Tasca—also known as Serra, A. Rossi, André Leroux, and XX—was in fact a key political player in the first half of the 20th century and an ill-fated representative of the age of political extremes he helped to create. In A Pact with Vichy, readers meet the Italian intellect



and politician with fresh eyes as the author demystifies Tasca’s seemingly bizarre trajectory from revolutionary Socialist to Communist to supporter of the Vichy regime. Rota demonstrates how Tasca, an indefatigable cultural operator and Socialist militant, tried all his life to maintain his commitment to scientific analysis in the face of the rise of Fascism and Stalinism, but his struggle ended in a personal and political defeat that seemed to contradict all his life when he lent his support to the Vichy government. Through Tasca’s complex life, A Pact with Vichy vividly reconstructs and elucidates the even more complex networks and debates that animated the Italian and French Left in the first half of the 20th century. After his expulsion from the Italian Communist Party as a result of his refusal to conform to Stalinism, Tasca reinvented his life in Paris, where he participated in the intense political debates of the 1930's. Rota explores how Tasca’s political choices were motivated by the desperate attempt to find an alternative between Nazism and Stalinism, even when this alternative had the ambiguous borders of Vichy’s collaborationist regime. A Pact with Vichy uncovers how Tasca’s betrayal of his own ideal was tragically the result of his commitment to political realism in the brief age of triumphant Fascism. This riveting, perceptive biography offers readers a privileged window into one of the 20th century’s most intriguing yet elusive characters. It is a must-read for history buffs, students, and scholars alike.