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The Communist
An NYRB Classics Original
Walter Ferranini has been born and bred a man of the left. His father was a worker and an anarchist; Walter himself is a Communist. In the 1930s, he left Mussolini’s Italy to fight Franco in Spain. After Franco’s victory, he left Spain for exile in the United States. With the end of the war, he returned to Italy to work as a labor organizer and to build a new revolutionary order. Now, in the late 1950s, Walter is a deputy in the Italian parliament.
He is not happy about it. Parliamentary proceedings are too boring for words: the Communist Party seems to be filling up with ward heelers, timeservers, and profiteers. For Walter, the political has always taken precedence over the personal, but now there seems to be no refuge for him anywhere. The puritanical party disapproves of his relationship with Nuccia, a tender, quizzical, deeply intelligent editor who is separated but not divorced, while Walter is worried about his health, haunted by his past, and increasingly troubled by knotty questions of both theory and practice. Walter is, always has been, and always will be a Communist, he has no doubt about that, and yet something has changed. Communism no longer explains the life he is living, the future he hoped for, or, perhaps most troubling of all, the life he has led.
Walter Ferranini has been born and bred a man of the left. His father was a worker and an anarchist; Walter himself is a Communist. In the 1930s, he left Mussolini’s Italy to fight Franco in Spain. After Franco’s victory, he left Spain for exile in the United States. With the end of the war, he returned to Italy to work as a labor organizer and to build a new revolutionary order. Now, in the late 1950s, Walter is a deputy in the Italian parliament.
He is not happy about it. Parliamentary proceedings are too boring for words: the Communist Party seems to be filling up with ward heelers, timeservers, and profiteers. For Walter, the political has always taken precedence over the personal, but now there seems to be no refuge for him anywhere. The puritanical party disapproves of his relationship with Nuccia, a tender, quizzical, deeply intelligent editor who is separated but not divorced, while Walter is worried about his health, haunted by his past, and increasingly troubled by knotty questions of both theory and practice. Walter is, always has been, and always will be a Communist, he has no doubt about that, and yet something has changed. Communism no longer explains the life he is living, the future he hoped for, or, perhaps most troubling of all, the life he has led.
324 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
About the author
Guido Morselli
20 books50 followersGuido Morselli (1912–1973) spent his youth in Milan, where his father was an executive with a pharmaceutical company. When he was twelve his mother died from Spanish flu, an event that devastated the reserved child. After attending a Jesuit-run primary school and a classical secondary school, Morselli graduated from the Università degli Studi di Milano with a law degree in 1935. Instead of practicing law, however, he embarked on a long trip around the Continent. Though he wrote consistently from the remote town in the lake region of Lombardy where he lived alone, Morselli succeeded in publishing only two books over the course of his life: the essays Proust o del sentimento (Proust, or On Sentiment, 1943) and Realismo e fantasia (Realism and Invention, 1947). His many works of fiction, journalism, and philosophy were repeatedly rejected by publishers, and, frustrated by his perceived failures, he committed suicide in 1973. Hanging in his library was the motto Etiam si omnes, ego non (Though all do it, I do not). In fact, Morselli’s nine posthumously published novels, among them Roma senza papa (Rome Without the Pope, 1974), Divertimento 1889 (1975), and Dissipatio H.G. (The Dissolution of the Human Race, 1977), enjoyed considerable critical success. Morselli left his farm and lands to the town of Gavirate in his will, and today Parco Morselli looks south onto Lago di Varese and north toward the Alpine foothills.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
July 20, 2023
Follows an Italian Communist member of parliament as he waffles between different perspectives on his relationships and political commitments. None of this ever gets too deep but I liked the little world it constructs. Pokes fun at the PCI without ever descending into trite anti-communism. I probably gave it an extra star because I relate to the grumbling Marxist in his 40's with ambiguous health problems plodding through life.
December 27, 2018
I'd never heard of The Communist or its author Guido Morselli. But this another of those gems from NYRB that transports the reader into unfamiliar territory while delivering a fertile and hugely entertaining fiction. The Communist is a novel about a deputy in the Italian parliament and a member of the Communist Party, the ICP, which at the time of the novel's setting was the 3d largest Communist party in the world. Walter Ferranini is from a Communist family and has been a Party member his entire adult life. But now in middle age he's suffering some disillusion. He's begun to think the Party more self-serving and counterfeit than devoted to a better world order. Because he's suffering a crisis of belief which shows in his actions and writings, he's in disfavor with the Party. Just as important, the Party disapproves of Walter's romance with Nuccia, who's separated but not divorced. The Party is forcing him to choose between his politics and his love.
Paraphrased that way the novel seems lighter than it is. It's about Walter's midlife crisis, an often-visited theme to be sure, but it's impressively rich in character and circumstance. At first I struggled with reading it. In the early going, maybe as much as the first third, I was immersed in the details of ICP doctrine and technical jargon. I was unable to engage in the political maneuverings swirling in the parliamentary proceedings around him as characters argue this position or that, let along the Communist doctrine and theory they discuss so intensely. I found it difficult to relate to these unfamiliar topics, and so I struggled with making sense of it all. Once the lines of conflict became clear, however, both those within Walter himself and those exerting political pressure on him, I began to sympathize with him. I saw him as a man grappling with issues and opponents he's not certain he can overcome. He's the everyman that every man can pull for.
Paraphrased that way the novel seems lighter than it is. It's about Walter's midlife crisis, an often-visited theme to be sure, but it's impressively rich in character and circumstance. At first I struggled with reading it. In the early going, maybe as much as the first third, I was immersed in the details of ICP doctrine and technical jargon. I was unable to engage in the political maneuverings swirling in the parliamentary proceedings around him as characters argue this position or that, let along the Communist doctrine and theory they discuss so intensely. I found it difficult to relate to these unfamiliar topics, and so I struggled with making sense of it all. Once the lines of conflict became clear, however, both those within Walter himself and those exerting political pressure on him, I began to sympathize with him. I saw him as a man grappling with issues and opponents he's not certain he can overcome. He's the everyman that every man can pull for.
May 5, 2020
walter ferranini is a newly elected mp for the pci, from the reddest province in the country, where he's spent the last decade building co-operatives and organizing workers. before that was the experience of going to spain to fight for the republic and living in exile in america, where he married and lived on his wife's father's farm. he misses america a lot and also hates himself for it (he feels guilty enjoying his time in the country that killed sacco and venzetti), one of the many anxieties that give him increasing trouble as the novel progresses.
morselli wasn't a communist as far as i can tell but he makes ferranini sympathetic. ferranini misses his hometown and his time with 'the base' the more he stays in rome, and sees his efforts to contribute either ignored or rejected. he's discouraged from proposing a comprehensive worker safety bill because its not the sort of thing the pci is in parliament to do (meanwhile, one of his friends who works in a printing press dies at 30 of a heart attack) he participates in a disciplinary hearing for a young, motivated worker who has honest concerns about careerism, self-aggrandizement and bureaucratization in the party and is more or less forced to go along with sanctioning him for ideas ferranini agrees with. later, a brief article he writes that suggests that work and mans struggle to control nature will always be alienating and exhausting, gets him an official reprimand from a board of stodgy do-nothing bureaucrats he has no respect for. that, combined with the party's surveillance and disapproval of him seeing a married woman (a woman who's been separated from her husband, in an italy that wouldn't have legal no-fault divorce for another twelve years), leads him to question his loyalty, not really to socialism so much as the organization he thought was capable of implementing it.
the book ends weirdly as other people have remarked. it involves a trip back to america, nearly dying, and an ambiguous final flight to milan. whether ferranini breaks with revisionism completely and joins the red brigades later on is a question left tantalizingly unresolved.
morselli wasn't a communist as far as i can tell but he makes ferranini sympathetic. ferranini misses his hometown and his time with 'the base' the more he stays in rome, and sees his efforts to contribute either ignored or rejected. he's discouraged from proposing a comprehensive worker safety bill because its not the sort of thing the pci is in parliament to do (meanwhile, one of his friends who works in a printing press dies at 30 of a heart attack) he participates in a disciplinary hearing for a young, motivated worker who has honest concerns about careerism, self-aggrandizement and bureaucratization in the party and is more or less forced to go along with sanctioning him for ideas ferranini agrees with. later, a brief article he writes that suggests that work and mans struggle to control nature will always be alienating and exhausting, gets him an official reprimand from a board of stodgy do-nothing bureaucrats he has no respect for. that, combined with the party's surveillance and disapproval of him seeing a married woman (a woman who's been separated from her husband, in an italy that wouldn't have legal no-fault divorce for another twelve years), leads him to question his loyalty, not really to socialism so much as the organization he thought was capable of implementing it.
the book ends weirdly as other people have remarked. it involves a trip back to america, nearly dying, and an ambiguous final flight to milan. whether ferranini breaks with revisionism completely and joins the red brigades later on is a question left tantalizingly unresolved.
August 20, 2021
Una macchina del tempo. Un delizioso romanzo di una rara e terribile efficacia che mette a fuoco quel supremo ma controverso valore che e' la coerenza. La coerenza delle proprie azioni con i propri ideali, dell'onesta' non intesa banalmente come il non commettere reati, ma della sincerita'; con se stessi innanzitutto, il non riversare vigliaccamente le proprie frustrazioni sugli altri. Ferranini, il funzionario e parlamentare comunista perno del romanzo, incarna bene queste dinamiche. Lo fa sia dal punto di vista personale (anche se il "personale" e' "politico" in questo caso), sia dal punto di vista ideologico. Un periodo come la fine degli anni '50 offre uno sfondo perfetto per queste tensioni. Aldila' di tutto, della qualita' narrativa e dei contenuti, si impone una piccola riflessione sul senso di straniamento riguardo le dinamiche di vita rappresentate che consentivano (imponevano?) il confronto con ideali e principii lontani dall'immediato tornaconto personale e che avevano l'ardire di aspirare a un futuro collettivo e universale pur viaggiando con le gambe e nelle teste di persone normali, con le meschinita' e i difetti del caso.
May 19, 2022
Walter Ferranini si è da sempre visto come un uomo del popolo, vicino alla base, agli operai che faticano nella laboriosa Emilia Romagna e che poco capiscono delle teorie marxiste di cui sono pieni i vecchi tomi polverosi.
Ciò che i lavoratori capiscono realmente, l’unico linguaggio che è loro familiare, è la fatica, lo sforzo, il lavoro che debilita e consuma.
“Il lavoro degli operai, il lavoro dei lavoratori, non fa bene. Qualche volta ammazza. Quasi sempre, in un modo o nell’altro, àltera. Fa scadere, debilita. Ottunde.”
Ferranini sa bene cosa sia la fatica, sa bene cosa voglia dire non avere nulla, rinunciare agli studi, all’università, alla sua passione per la biologia, per farsi strada nella vita attraverso lavori umili e pesanti, al solo scopo di mantenere una madre improvvisamente vedova e priva di mezzi.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
Ciò che i lavoratori capiscono realmente, l’unico linguaggio che è loro familiare, è la fatica, lo sforzo, il lavoro che debilita e consuma.
“Il lavoro degli operai, il lavoro dei lavoratori, non fa bene. Qualche volta ammazza. Quasi sempre, in un modo o nell’altro, àltera. Fa scadere, debilita. Ottunde.”
Ferranini sa bene cosa sia la fatica, sa bene cosa voglia dire non avere nulla, rinunciare agli studi, all’università, alla sua passione per la biologia, per farsi strada nella vita attraverso lavori umili e pesanti, al solo scopo di mantenere una madre improvvisamente vedova e priva di mezzi.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
June 17, 2012
Bel romanzo di idee, in primo luogo, ma anche di cose e persone, tutte ben delineate senza privilegiare troppo un aspetto a scapito degli altri. Certo, la preoccupazione teorica e l’intento di evidenziare una supposta contraddizione del comunismo innescano e sostengono la storia, ma le idee in lotta si incarnano spontaneamente nella dialettica concreta che lacera, senza composizione, l’animo del protagonista, deputato del PCI alla fine degli anni Cinquanta.
(Volendo a tutti i costi trovare un difetto, potrei forse indicare certi dialoghi un po’ irreali che privilegiano lo sviluppo della riflessione – del punto teorico – rispetto all’andamento naturale del discorso fra umani. Ma neanche più di tanto: la concretezza/vicinanza dei personaggi è salvaguardata.)
(Volendo a tutti i costi trovare un difetto, potrei forse indicare certi dialoghi un po’ irreali che privilegiano lo sviluppo della riflessione – del punto teorico – rispetto all’andamento naturale del discorso fra umani. Ma neanche più di tanto: la concretezza/vicinanza dei personaggi è salvaguardata.)
January 29, 2020
this one took me places! ideologically, geographically. perfectly describes the natural inner transition from one ideology to another with exceptional inner dialogue and true political theory with I dare say an apolitical conclusion while intertwining this his personal and political journey. Amazing insight on America from a foreigner's perspective and how timely, must add. Quite a surprise with this one. Learned a lot, about myself.
November 30, 2020
Il più belllo dei libri di Morselli letti fin ora, un libro che chiunque si vanti di definirsi comunista dovrebbe leggere.
February 4, 2021
Communism in 1950s Italy was a complicated and inconsistent creed, as Walter Ferranini, a ICP member of Parliament, steadily discovers. All a bit too much for me to chew.
June 8, 2023
Love a marxist mid life crisis
June 5, 2019
(Premessa: trovato su una bancarella sperduta con una copertina, sempre Adelphi, molto più bella di quest'ultima, un manifesto sovietico conservato nel museo di Zurigo).
Considerazione iniziale: scorre come un filo d'olio (industriale). Bene dirlo perché Morselli, poco conosciuto ma ampiamente pubblicato, ha nella sua scrittura un certo ingrippo, restando in tema di macchinari, che lo fa procedere a singhiozzi, come tante isole tropicali scarsamente collegate, o durante la stagione dei tifoni.
"Il comunista" è un treno, nel quale il protagonista, un giunco in balia del vento dei tempi della Riappacificazione prima e della Destalinizzazione poi, fa i conti con la dottrina che ha faticosamente introiettato, e con la sua vita stessa.
Walter Ferranini si stupisce lui per primo di essere vivo, e deputato della Repubblica nel Partito, proprio lui, il Partito, guidato da Lui, proprio lui, il professore Olinto. Così, come un morto che ha avuto licenza, dopo una giovinezza dedita alla fatica e che lo ha portato in Spagna a combattere, in Russia a imparare, negli Stati Uniti a sposarsi, continua, in maturità, a tenersi libero dal fardello psicologico e si dedica anima e corpo al suo sogno cooperativistico (è un emiliano, meglio: reggiano) e a una esaustiva legge anti-infortunistica. Legato come il suo idolatrato capo a una relazione più o meno extraconiugale con la Nuccia, continua a macerarsi nel suo peccato originale, che a qualcosa gli serve, come potremo leggere in uno dei passaggi più struggenti del romanzo, il processo al povero compagno Mazzola di Rivoli (o Collegno, non ricordo).
Nel quadro di una Italia povera e dignitosa, memore della fatica agricola che si è traslata pari pari nel lavoro industriale, Ferranini ha il cuore debole, la fibra forte, un sonno che è morte, un appetito ancestrale. Sono le sue sicurezze, che nemmeno i più grandi scienziati, né della politica né della biologia, riescono ad intaccare, e nemmeno la già strutturata ala intellettuale capeggiata da Moravia (che interpreta se stesso) e che lo invita a scrivere un pezzo sull'"essere marxisti" per la sua rivista "Nuovi Argomenti"; un pezzo magistrale sull'ineluttabilità del lavoro come espiazione da pagare a una Natura che poco ci tollera, e che sarà la sua rovina.
"Parabole strette, ascensioni erte, iniziative e speranze e poi inevitabile, la caduta".
Considerazione iniziale: scorre come un filo d'olio (industriale). Bene dirlo perché Morselli, poco conosciuto ma ampiamente pubblicato, ha nella sua scrittura un certo ingrippo, restando in tema di macchinari, che lo fa procedere a singhiozzi, come tante isole tropicali scarsamente collegate, o durante la stagione dei tifoni.
"Il comunista" è un treno, nel quale il protagonista, un giunco in balia del vento dei tempi della Riappacificazione prima e della Destalinizzazione poi, fa i conti con la dottrina che ha faticosamente introiettato, e con la sua vita stessa.
Walter Ferranini si stupisce lui per primo di essere vivo, e deputato della Repubblica nel Partito, proprio lui, il Partito, guidato da Lui, proprio lui, il professore Olinto. Così, come un morto che ha avuto licenza, dopo una giovinezza dedita alla fatica e che lo ha portato in Spagna a combattere, in Russia a imparare, negli Stati Uniti a sposarsi, continua, in maturità, a tenersi libero dal fardello psicologico e si dedica anima e corpo al suo sogno cooperativistico (è un emiliano, meglio: reggiano) e a una esaustiva legge anti-infortunistica. Legato come il suo idolatrato capo a una relazione più o meno extraconiugale con la Nuccia, continua a macerarsi nel suo peccato originale, che a qualcosa gli serve, come potremo leggere in uno dei passaggi più struggenti del romanzo, il processo al povero compagno Mazzola di Rivoli (o Collegno, non ricordo).
Nel quadro di una Italia povera e dignitosa, memore della fatica agricola che si è traslata pari pari nel lavoro industriale, Ferranini ha il cuore debole, la fibra forte, un sonno che è morte, un appetito ancestrale. Sono le sue sicurezze, che nemmeno i più grandi scienziati, né della politica né della biologia, riescono ad intaccare, e nemmeno la già strutturata ala intellettuale capeggiata da Moravia (che interpreta se stesso) e che lo invita a scrivere un pezzo sull'"essere marxisti" per la sua rivista "Nuovi Argomenti"; un pezzo magistrale sull'ineluttabilità del lavoro come espiazione da pagare a una Natura che poco ci tollera, e che sarà la sua rovina.
"Parabole strette, ascensioni erte, iniziative e speranze e poi inevitabile, la caduta".
August 22, 2019
The number of readers for a novel titled The Communist, in the United States, with its long history of bogeyman fears about the word itself, much less what it represents, would seem to be very few; an Italian communist at that! For all the enormous impact of communism on the world, the number of communist or socialist protagonists in American novels probably doesn’t amount to the fingers on four hands. Nevertheless New York Review Press was interested enough to publish Frederika Randall’s 2002 translation to English of Guido Morselli’s 1976 novel, along with an interesting introduction by Elizabeth McKenzie.
...
it’s an odd sort of novel, of slow loss of faith and direction, not through sudden realization or moment of crisis as for those in The God That Failed but as many have experienced after intense and committed work for an ideal or a cause, whether in youthful volunteer work, in Synanon-like cults, the Catholic Church or Silicon Valley start-ups. Such separation is sometimes fraught with moral struggle, the fear of loss of friends and purpose, or with anger and resentment, but for some, as with Walter, there is simply a recognition of its being over, of being tired, not furious.
What Morselli presents us with is not the romantic revolutionary, in the throes of organizing and beating back the capitalist exploiter or the Fascist gangs. What we have is a man struggling with existential indecision, in 1958, to be or not to be a communist any longer. As the Party and the militancy of his youth loses sap and vigor, as Communist Deputies go to the horse races instead of Party meetings, as a militant sidles up to ask a special favor for a relative, what is a man to do? He is, as he says of himself,
“Ex-proletariat, yes, with a bourgeois nervous system”
For a complete review see http://www.allinoneboat.org/the-commu...
...
it’s an odd sort of novel, of slow loss of faith and direction, not through sudden realization or moment of crisis as for those in The God That Failed but as many have experienced after intense and committed work for an ideal or a cause, whether in youthful volunteer work, in Synanon-like cults, the Catholic Church or Silicon Valley start-ups. Such separation is sometimes fraught with moral struggle, the fear of loss of friends and purpose, or with anger and resentment, but for some, as with Walter, there is simply a recognition of its being over, of being tired, not furious.
What Morselli presents us with is not the romantic revolutionary, in the throes of organizing and beating back the capitalist exploiter or the Fascist gangs. What we have is a man struggling with existential indecision, in 1958, to be or not to be a communist any longer. As the Party and the militancy of his youth loses sap and vigor, as Communist Deputies go to the horse races instead of Party meetings, as a militant sidles up to ask a special favor for a relative, what is a man to do? He is, as he says of himself,
“Ex-proletariat, yes, with a bourgeois nervous system”
For a complete review see http://www.allinoneboat.org/the-commu...
April 18, 2020
Halfway through this novel, I assessed it as an adequately engaging read whose denouement I sincerely looked forward to reading. Then the plot seemed to unravel in a way that struck me as the author trying to find some way bringing it to an end--which doesn't really happen, anyway. Towards the end of the novel (p.310), the main character, Ferranini, reflects, "The whole episode,...so strange and improbable, could not have ended otherwise." Yes, it could have. I don't know how, and it's not my role as the reader, either, but the ending felt illogical, contrived, unsatisfying, and even desperate. My frustration was exacerbated by the many different distracting mistakes about, for instance, the geography of Philadelphia (my bad luck that it's my hometown; otherwise, it would have passed unnoticed) or anachronistically placing Joseph McCarthy's anticommunist crusade in the same time frame as the Peace Corps. Until then, Morselli had rendered Ferranini's character with nuances that evoked sympathy and interest, placing him in a compelling web of political, personal, and existential dilemmas that might have resolved in any range of plausible ways--or at all. That's not what happened, though. Titles in this NYRB series tend to be hit or miss--as "forgotten classics", some of them are more justifiably the former than the latter--and this one turned out to be part hit and part miss.
June 26, 2022
Premetto che Morselli è un autore che amo molto e che credo sia ingiustamente sottovalutato o ignorato o comunque poco letto. Questo potrebbe influenzare il mio parere.
Quando leggo Morselli non so mai cosa aspettarmi: talvolta una storia e uno stile più tradizionali (vd. Uomini e Amori), talaltra sperimentali (vd. Roma senza Papa, ma così, per dirne uno). Certo è che so che leggerò pagine dotte, intelligenti, argute, ironiche e/o drammatiche all'occorrenza.
Il Comunista è un bel romanzo e tutto sommato anche autentico. Palesa l'abissale distacco tra teoria e praxis marxista, tra ideali e possibilità (ma sarebbe meglio dire 'impossibilità') di realizzarli. Walter Ferranini, comunista, crede in idee politiche inattuabili e a farglielo capire sono Montecitorio, il partito, una certa retorica e lo stile di vita di quei 'compagni' che vestono i panni del comunista pur essendo profondamente individualisti (contraddizione in termini): insomma la praxis stessa, ben diversa da quella teorizzata.
Ecco che la delusione di Walter e il suo disorientamento lo porteranno a inseguire il passato, a viaggiare in America e a ritornare più amareggiato che mai, ma anche più consapevole.
Quando leggo Morselli non so mai cosa aspettarmi: talvolta una storia e uno stile più tradizionali (vd. Uomini e Amori), talaltra sperimentali (vd. Roma senza Papa, ma così, per dirne uno). Certo è che so che leggerò pagine dotte, intelligenti, argute, ironiche e/o drammatiche all'occorrenza.
Il Comunista è un bel romanzo e tutto sommato anche autentico. Palesa l'abissale distacco tra teoria e praxis marxista, tra ideali e possibilità (ma sarebbe meglio dire 'impossibilità') di realizzarli. Walter Ferranini, comunista, crede in idee politiche inattuabili e a farglielo capire sono Montecitorio, il partito, una certa retorica e lo stile di vita di quei 'compagni' che vestono i panni del comunista pur essendo profondamente individualisti (contraddizione in termini): insomma la praxis stessa, ben diversa da quella teorizzata.
Ecco che la delusione di Walter e il suo disorientamento lo porteranno a inseguire il passato, a viaggiare in America e a ritornare più amareggiato che mai, ma anche più consapevole.
May 18, 2022
Dryly affectionate for its embattled protagonist, a staunch Communist in the Italian parliament of the mid to late '50s. While skeptical of the communist horizon - everything lapses into bourgeoise hierarchism - it still takes communism and its eponymous subject seriously, sympathetically, with a subtle sense of humor. The NYRB editions of Morselli's books have been some of my happiest discoveries lately. A lonely genius who never received the career or attention he deserved during his lifetime. I'm concerned I will need to learn Italian if I ever want to read his other seven books, but I am willing to take up the challenge for him.
August 20, 2020
Un romanzo ideologico prezioso, a tratti tragicomico e per altri versi serissimo, che ha toccato molti dubbi che coltivo personalmente da tempo sullo scontro continuo tra ideologia e pratica, tra il fine e il mezzo della propria azione sociale e politica.
Da un punto di vista puramente narrativo tuttavia non è senza pecche, e può risultare abbastanza lento. Lo consiglio quindi molto, ma solo a chi ha già qualche conoscenza e soprattutto un sincero interesse per il destino dell'ideologia comunista nella sua pratica quotidiana e nella sua incarnazione storico-politica nell'Italia post-bellica.
Da un punto di vista puramente narrativo tuttavia non è senza pecche, e può risultare abbastanza lento. Lo consiglio quindi molto, ma solo a chi ha già qualche conoscenza e soprattutto un sincero interesse per il destino dell'ideologia comunista nella sua pratica quotidiana e nella sua incarnazione storico-politica nell'Italia post-bellica.
September 4, 2021
“L’automazione è un fatto, tuonò Schiassi. No, non è un fatto ribadì tenace Ferranini, è un fantasma. Per costruire e mantenere un automa pseudo-intelligente, ci vuole il doppio del lavoro occorrente per avere i prodotti che esso potrà mai fabbricare. Vi dico che la tecnica non può fare quello che è assurdo. L’inevitabilità del lavoro, come la mortificazione che il lavoro determina, dipende da condizioni oggettive, ossia dalla posizione che la vita, non solo la vita umana, ha dentro la natura” [...] Io dico, seguitò Ferranini che la realtà è un pò diversa: il lavoro degli operai, il lavoro dei lavoratori, non fa bene, qualche volta ammazza. Quasi sempre, in un modo o in un altro, altera. Fa scadere, debilita. Ottunde.
In un regime capitalistico! - si oppose Schiassi.
Avrebbe voluto ribattere: sono capitalistici tutti i regimi dove è utile dire la menzogna che il lavoro fa bene, ma preferì stare zitto.”
Questa la descrizione di un processo di censura politica all’interno del PCI descritta nel romanzo Il Comunista, questo l’acume di uno scrittore per troppo tempo negletto (forse non a caso) ricordiamoci che questo libro è stato scritto nel 1964, cioè prima ancora delle elaborazioni del sessantotto.
In un regime capitalistico! - si oppose Schiassi.
Avrebbe voluto ribattere: sono capitalistici tutti i regimi dove è utile dire la menzogna che il lavoro fa bene, ma preferì stare zitto.”
Questa la descrizione di un processo di censura politica all’interno del PCI descritta nel romanzo Il Comunista, questo l’acume di uno scrittore per troppo tempo negletto (forse non a caso) ricordiamoci che questo libro è stato scritto nel 1964, cioè prima ancora delle elaborazioni del sessantotto.
June 6, 2023
The journey from idealist to pragmatist isn't an easy one. I disagree with the book description here, "Communism no longer explains the life he is living, the future he hoped for, or, perhaps most troubling of all, the life he has led." On the contrary, communism explains it completely.
It wasn't communism that failed the protagonist but his own idealism. I'm using idealism there in every sense of the word. Dwelling in hope is a mistake. It's easy to manipulate by others and even to become self-deluded, like all idealism. That doesn't necessarily make one a pessimist, but more of a realist. You need that ground under your feet to launch anything.
The discussions about marx, communism and politics between the characters were really interesting as was the view of party politics from the inside. The antagonisms between the Italian déclassé bourgeoisie, the intellectuals, petit-bourgeois opportunists using the party for their own ends, and the working class, especially those who had fought in Spain, were well illustrated. Then the contrast with the US Americans threw that all into another light. If one didn't know Marx they would have likely thought the ending was defeatist (as many reviewers seem to) rather than a somewhat subdued and necessary revelation.
It wasn't communism that failed the protagonist but his own idealism. I'm using idealism there in every sense of the word. Dwelling in hope is a mistake. It's easy to manipulate by others and even to become self-deluded, like all idealism. That doesn't necessarily make one a pessimist, but more of a realist. You need that ground under your feet to launch anything.
The discussions about marx, communism and politics between the characters were really interesting as was the view of party politics from the inside. The antagonisms between the Italian déclassé bourgeoisie, the intellectuals, petit-bourgeois opportunists using the party for their own ends, and the working class, especially those who had fought in Spain, were well illustrated. Then the contrast with the US Americans threw that all into another light. If one didn't know Marx they would have likely thought the ending was defeatist (as many reviewers seem to) rather than a somewhat subdued and necessary revelation.
June 16, 2021
A wonderfully affective portrait of an ordinary "good Italian Communist" and his psychological and ideological struggles. Ferranini is a surprisingly compelling character, and the world around him- the bourgoisifying realm of nominally radical electoral politics in mid-century Italy- is equally compelling.
I really enjoyed this book. As someone involved in radical politics and electoral politics, it deals with some sticky theoretical and practical questions. As someone concerned with theory and practical questions too, it gives the reader some well-crafted dilemmas to chew on too. The characters occasionally throw around Marxist jargon, but it only serves to clarify their points (if that's what you're in it for) and solidify the setting and the self-serving a absurdity of some of Morselli's cast of Deputies. I'm not sure if this is a case of "the right book at the right time" (I'm certainly far too young to be experiencing a mid-life crisis like Ferranini), but I think that this is a good book, and definitely worth your while.
I really enjoyed this book. As someone involved in radical politics and electoral politics, it deals with some sticky theoretical and practical questions. As someone concerned with theory and practical questions too, it gives the reader some well-crafted dilemmas to chew on too. The characters occasionally throw around Marxist jargon, but it only serves to clarify their points (if that's what you're in it for) and solidify the setting and the self-serving a absurdity of some of Morselli's cast of Deputies. I'm not sure if this is a case of "the right book at the right time" (I'm certainly far too young to be experiencing a mid-life crisis like Ferranini), but I think that this is a good book, and definitely worth your while.
November 25, 2021
È un libro noioso e scritto con prosa antiquata, ma ha un merito, anche se forse involontario: fa un ottimo lavoro a mettere in chiaro una volta per tutte, qualora ce ne fosse il bisogno, che il comunismo è una malattia mentale. Morselli presenta le gerarchie del PCI romano negli anni '50 come lontane dai valori originari del movimento, con l'intenzione di fare di Ferranini, il protagonista, una sorta di eroe disincantato. Ma la cosa bella è che seguendo la storia dal punto di vista di Ferranini non ci si può non rendere conto che l'ideologia gli ha completamente mangiato il cervello.
Ed è anche un romanzo profetico e di inquietante attualità, aggiungo. Perché sfido chiunque a leggerlo e a dirmi che i compagni descritti da Morselli a metà del secolo scorso sono poi così diversi dai cittadini del movimento cinque stelle di cinque/dieci anni fa.
Peccato, appunto, per lo stile pesante e che risente del passaggio del tempo.
Ed è anche un romanzo profetico e di inquietante attualità, aggiungo. Perché sfido chiunque a leggerlo e a dirmi che i compagni descritti da Morselli a metà del secolo scorso sono poi così diversi dai cittadini del movimento cinque stelle di cinque/dieci anni fa.
Peccato, appunto, per lo stile pesante e che risente del passaggio del tempo.
January 11, 2022
Non mi meraviglia il fatto che Calvino avesse respinto la pubblicazione del romanzo per Einaudi. Pur nella sua scrupolosissima "fiction", aderente alla temperie politica degli anni 50 e impietosa nel registrare tutte le incongruenze del milieu comunista, aveva probabilmente la pecca di non essere abbastanza "romanzato". Tuttavia il libro introduce una destabilizzazione più sottile e più pericolosa. Quella che concerne l'individuo, la persona; i suoi sentimenti e i suoi patimenti. E così Ferranini, comunista molto più allineato all'ideologia rispetto ai suoi superiori, è con la sua persona che farà i conti. Un grande romanzo.
July 28, 2022
Bisogna convincersi e ricordarsi che Morselli era un grande scrittore. E da grande scrittore aveva anticorpi potentissimi contro ogni forma di autobiografismo. Era bravissimo a usare il romanzo, come forma espressiva ideale per nascondersi e insieme rendere universale e generale quel che aveva capito e voleva raccontare di sé e del modo in cui vedeva il mondo e gli altri. Chi legge “Il comunista” non deve dimenticarselo e non deve fare l’errore di leggerlo come come se fosse un romanzo solo e nemmeno soprattutto politico. Perché sarebbe un abbaglio, un grosso errore.
Qui sotto cerco di spiegare perché
scarabooks.blogspot.com/2022/07/il-co...
Qui sotto cerco di spiegare perché
scarabooks.blogspot.com/2022/07/il-co...
January 19, 2024
a couple things I loved about this awesome book
- an intimate sense of the lived experience of a fellow traveler at a distinct and important moment in time of communist history
- a meditation on the personal ascetic ethic that accompanies class struggle, the constant self-examination needed to reject bourgeois ideals and habits, but how that nonetheless will drive you crazy living in a bourgeois world.
- the embarrassing, corrupting spectacle that is the American way of life
- the assurance that the conflict between shop-floor activism and electoral politics is constant and trans-historical
- an intimate sense of the lived experience of a fellow traveler at a distinct and important moment in time of communist history
- a meditation on the personal ascetic ethic that accompanies class struggle, the constant self-examination needed to reject bourgeois ideals and habits, but how that nonetheless will drive you crazy living in a bourgeois world.
- the embarrassing, corrupting spectacle that is the American way of life
- the assurance that the conflict between shop-floor activism and electoral politics is constant and trans-historical
August 15, 2022
While a touch dry in places and laden in context that can be difficult even with the political understanding of just reading the Neapolitan Novels, this is a really insightful over-the-shoulder look at how a ruminative introvert wrestles with The Problem of Being a Person. Thus, instantly relatable content. Doesn't hurt that it engages leftist politics and how to marry the ideal and the practical against the daily temptations of the physical world. A really underrated find!
March 2, 2023
felt the need for a break from fantasy novels and this obscure book I saw in the discount section at waterstones immediately caught my eye. very different to the books I normally read but I really enjoyed it, the protagonist Walter is immensely sympathetic as he struggles with questions of politics and his personal life. as a communist myself I found the discussions of theory between characters very thought-provoking as well.
September 11, 2022
(3.5 stars)
This took me longer than usual to read due to the unfamiliar nature of the Italian and political terms. However, once Ferranini’s political life collided with his personal and he dealt with his mid-life crises, I understood much better and really enjoyed the remainder of the novel.
This took me longer than usual to read due to the unfamiliar nature of the Italian and political terms. However, once Ferranini’s political life collided with his personal and he dealt with his mid-life crises, I understood much better and really enjoyed the remainder of the novel.
July 26, 2023
I enjoyed it, though it was nearly 2/5 of the way through before I totally got into it. A lot of ruminating on contradictions. I think some of the jokes, and most of the political references, went over my head.
October 17, 2017
Rather routine story about a Italian man, who is a Communist and his thoughts and feelings. Mostly political diatribes with an occasional story line.
October 25, 2017
Got this in the mail through my NYRB classics subscription.
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