Catalogue Number
NMLH.2022.134.17
Object Name
Poster
Title
Le elezioni del 18 Aprile una battaglia perduta
People
Pietro Nenni
Date
1991
Description
This poster is the 16th in a collection of posters about Pietro Nenni, an Italian socialist politician who was also the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and a lifetime Senator since 1970. The title of this poster reads: "The elections of April 18th are a losing battle " and features photographs of Nenni campaigning on behalf of the PSI. Text underneath reads: "On February 2, 1947 with the formation of the 30th De Gasperi government, Nenni left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to devote himself to the Party Organization. Three months later, on May 31, De Gasperi constitutes his 4th government excluding socialists and communists. On 28 December of the same year at the Planetary theater in Rome, the Popular Front for freedom and work was formed which, in view of the political elections, united PCI, PSI and independent leftists. At the end of January 1948 the 26th national congress of the PSI takes place in Rome; Nenni is confirmed as Party President and becomes Director of Avanti! while Basso remains secretary. In the elections of 28 April, the Front Popular is beaten. For Nenni it is the most bitter defeat, but also the beginning of a long rethinking of Italian problems and the most suitable means to solve them. "After the elections of 2 June I entitled 'A battle won' a small book in which I had collected speeches and writings on the Constituent Assembly and the Republic. If it happened to me to do the same with the speeches and writings that constitute my contribution to the formation and struggle of the Front, this time I should title the book "a lost battle". I know the price of lost battles and I am not such as to evade responsibility. But as always, it is a question of not losing heart, of not losing the way because an unexpected obstacle blocks the path, of not losing sight of the goal just because the half-employees were found to be inadequate or due to a lack of setting or, more likely by default of execution" " and the image caption reads: "In the photos some moments of the 1948 election campaign and a photo of Nenni in the Avanti! in December 1948" (all text translated from Italian)
