The Approaches of Italian Historians to Chinese History in the Early Cold War Period (1950–1960s)
From Firenze University Press Book: East and West Entangled (17th-21st Centuries)
Guido Samarani, Ca’ Foscari Università di Venezia
After the birth of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on 1 October 1949, most Western countries, including Italy, decided not to recognise the new state. In such a difficult period marked by the intensification of the Cold War, several Italian intellectual associations and groups — often politically and ideologically linked to the Italian Left (communist and socialist parties, independent personalities, etc.) — made growing efforts to develop contacts and dialogue with China, while working hard to inform Italian intellectuals, politicians and, more broadly, the general public in Italy of the main cultural aspects and characteristics of the «New China». I will focus here on those Italian historians who, in those years, were able to produce interesting analyses and studies of Chinese history, thereby contributing positively to achieving a better understanding in Italy of China and its long and rich history.
Culture and Politics in the Early Cold War Period: A Few Introductory Remarks
At the end of 1953, the Centro italiano per le relazioni economiche e culturali con la Cina (Italian Centre for Economic and Cultural Relations with China) — later known as Centro per le relazioni con la Cina (Centre for Relations with China, hereafter Centro Cina) — was established in Rome, at a time that was potentially the beginning of a new era for both Italy and China. In Italy, the early 1950s was a period when foreign policy was marked by a strong Atlanticist orientation. Rome was clearly committed to being one of the main actors in post-war Europe and was making great political and diplomatic efforts to enter the United Nations1 (Varsori 1998). Also, in 1953, Ferruccio Parri (1890–1981), who was to become one of the main actors in the creation of Centro Cina, joined the newly created Unità popolare (People’s Unity) movement, which arose from the union of different political tendencies (Colozza 2011). In Unità popolare, Parri met Piero Calamandrei (1889–1956), Carlo Cassola (1917–1987) and other leading intellectuals who visited China in the 1950s and, in some cases, also wrote about their experiences in that country (De Giorgi and Samarani 2011, chap. 5). Although, formally speaking, Centro Cina had no political aims, there was a clear link between its economic and cultural initiatives and the political and parliamentary activity of Ferruccio Parri and others, with the common aim of making political parties, associations, chambers of commerce, universities and intellectuals aware of the need to develop a strong and profound relationship with the People’s Republic of China, thus creating the basis for its official recognition by Italy (Meneguzzi Rostagni and Samarani 2014). Descriptions of the main activities and initiatives of Centro Cina can be found in the Bollettino di informazioni (Information Bulletin), whose first issue was published in the autumn of 1953. In the following years, the Bollettino was not published regularly and it was later turned into a regular newspaper called La Cina d’oggi (Today’s China). The Bollettino, especially the first issues, included translations of documents and news from Chinese sources (in particular, Xinhua News Agency). La Cina d’oggi was first published in 1957 and continued until the early 1960s. The journal was published every three months, mainly under the direction of Sergio Segre (1926–2022), who, in the 1970s would head the foreign affairs bureau of the Italian Communist Party (Samarani 2014). As for China, by 1953–54 it had largely left behind the difficult and dramatic years following the foundation of the PRC. In July 1953, the Panmunjon Truce Agreement practically marked the end of the Korean War and of China’s involvement in it, while the introduction of the first Constitution in September 1954 would lead to the stabilisation of China’s policies and institutions, marking the start of the period of «transition to socialism». A mostly ambivalent policy towards the intelligentsia was developed during those years. On the one hand, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) required their services, but on the other, serious suspicions were spread that many of them were untrustworthy, given their urban and bourgeois backgrounds. After 1949, the CCP launched major campaigns to «re-educate» intellectuals and later on the emphasis shifted to an intensive thought-reform movement.
DOI: 10.36253/979–12–215–0242–8.14
Read Full Text: https://books.fupress.it/chapter/the-approaches-of-italian-historians-to-chinese-history-in-the-early-cold-war-period-1950-1960s/14122
