ABSTRACT
Politician One of the most popular and prestigious leaders of the PCI (Italian Communist Party), Giancarlo Pajetta was first jailed for subversive activities at the age of sixteen. During the Resistance, as a leader of the CLNAI (National Liberation Committee), he was responsible for agreements in which the Allies and the caretaker Italian government recognized the CLNAI as their representative in the North, in return for a guarantee to relinquish authority after Liberation. While Pajetta claimed that it had been impossible to achieve more, the socialists considered this price for support of the partisan struggle too high. A member of parliament from 1945 onwards, as well as editor of L’Unità and Rinascita for long periods, Pajetta was known for his corrosive wit and fiercely combative spirit. Within the party, he played a key role in organizational affairs and foreign policy development.
