Giovanni Amendola

Giovanni Amendola (15 April 1882 – 7 April 1926) was an Italian journalist, professor, and politician. He is noted as an opponent of Italian fascism.

Biography

Early life and education Amendola was born in Naples on 15 April 1882. He moved to Rome, where he obtained the middle school diploma. At fifteen he joined the socialist youth. The following year he was an apprentice to the newspaper of the Italian Radical Party "La Capitale." He graduated with a degree in philosophy, he collaborated with such publications as Leonardo of Giovanni Papini and La Voce of Giuseppe Prezzolini. After that, he obtained the chair of theoretical philosophy at the University of Pisa. Between 1912 and 1914 Amendola was the editor of the Bologna-based daily Il Resto del Carlino.

Amendola formulated the notion of totalitarianism as total political power which is exercised by the state in 1923, describing Italian Fascism as a system which was fundamentally different from conventional dictatorships. The term was later assigned a positive meaning in the writings of Giovanni Gentile, Italy's most prominent philosopher and leading theorist of fascism. He used the term totalitario to refer to the structure and goals of the new state which was to provide the "total representation of the nation and total guidance of national goals."

Death Amendola died on 7 April 1926 at Cannes, France, in agony from violence inflicted when he was beaten by 15 Blackshirts with clubs.

Personal life Amendola married Eva Kuhn in 1906, and they remained together until Amendola's death in 1926. Together, they had four children: Giorgio Amendola (1907–1980), who became an important communist writer and politician, Adelaide (1910–1980), Antonio (1916–1953), and Pietro (1918–2007), who also became a journalist and politician.

In popular culture In the Florestano Vancini's film The Assassination of Matteotti (1973), Amendola is played by Damiano Damiani.