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.
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
Professor of International History, London School of Economics
Hosted By
History and Public Policy Program
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Cold War International History Project
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Global Europe Program
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