Altiero Spinelli - Early Life

Early Life

Spinelli was born in Rome, and joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI) at an early age in order to oppose the regime of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party. Following his entry into radical journalism, he was arrested in 1927 and spent ten years in prison and a further six in confinement. During the war he was interned on the island of Ventotene (in the Gulf of Gaeta) along with some eight hundred other political opponents of the regime. During those years, he broke with the Italian Communist Party over Stalin's purges (resulting in him being ostracised by many of the other prisoners), but refused to compromise with the fascist regime, despite offers of early release.

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