Stalin and Togliatti: Italy and the Origins of the Cold War
Elena Agarossi, professor of contemporary history at the Scuola Superiore di Pubblica Amministrazione in Rome and member of the Wilson Center European Alumni Association will lead a panel discussion on her latest book entitled Stalin and Togliatti: Italy and the Origins of the Cold War.
Overview
Elena Agarossi, professor of contemporary history at the Scuola Superiore di Pubblica Amministrazione in Rome and member of the Wilson Center European Alumni Association will lead a panel discussion on her latest book entitled Stalin and Togliatti: Italy and the Origins of the Cold War.
The book was co-authored with Victor Zaslavsky, professor of political sociology at the Free International University for Social Sciences in Rome.
Stalin and Togliatti reveals the dependence of the Italian Communist Party on Soviet decisionmaking in the early Cold War and the willingness of Stalin to sacrifice the interests of the Italian Communist Party to Soviet interests. It explores the connection between Italian domestic politics and international affairs during the final phases of the Second World War and in the first years of the Cold War.
The authors employ previously classified documents in Russian and Italian archives, including reports to Stalin on the virtually daily meetings of Palmiro Togliatti, head of the Italian Communist Party, with Soviet diplomats. This recent, post-revisionist scholarship underscores the role of Stalin's ambitions and their incompatibility with liberal-democratic systems in the development of the Cold War. Stalin and Togliatti come out as shrewd politicians, implacable enemies of the capitalist West, yet acutely aware of the limits of their power.
Stalin and Togliatti is a translation and expansion of a prize-winning book published in Italian in 1997 and updated in 2007.
Joining Agarossi on the panel is Vladislav Zubok, associate professor in the department of history at Temple University and Mark Kramer, director of the Harvard Project for Cold War Studies.
Christian F. Ostermann, director of the History and Public Policy Program will chair the event.
Stalin and Togliatti: Italy and the Origins of the Cold War was co-published by the Wilson Center Press as part of the CWIHP book series.
To purchase the book visit The Wilson Center Press website.
Visit www.CWIHP.org for more information on the CWIHP Book Series.
Speakers
Elena Agarossi
Vladislav Zubok
Professor of International History, London School of Economics
Mark Kramer
Hosted By
History and Public Policy Program
The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs. Read more
Cold War International History Project
The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. Read more
Global Europe Program
The Global Europe Program is focused on Europe’s capabilities, and how it engages on critical global issues. We investigate European approaches to critical global issues. We examine Europe’s relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our initiatives include “Ukraine in Europe” – an examination of what it will take to make Ukraine’s European future a reality. But we also examine the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE, Europe’s energy security, transatlantic trade disputes, and challenges to democracy. The Global Europe Program’s staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media. Read more
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