Bordiga Beyond the Myth

By: Onorato Damen

Onorato Damen was one of the original members of the Communist Party of Italy, section of the Third International, founded at Livorno in 1921. Led by the Communist Left headed by Amadeo Bordiga, it was one of the strongest supporters of the October Revolution but also one of the first to oppose the path of degeneration which the revolution in Russia took both at home and abroad.

With Bordiga arrested by the Fascists in 1923, the Comintern imposed the more pliable leadership of Togliatti and Gramsci to "bolshevise" the party i.e. make it more compliant with the demands of the imminent Stalinist counter-revolution. Onorato Damen opposed this process from the beginning. Along with Bruno Fortichiari and Luigi Repossi and others he founded the Committee of Intesa (Alliance) to oppose Stalinisation in 1925. Arrested by the Fascists in 1926 he was expelled from the Communist Party whilst still in gaol for being part of the "Communist Left" in 1933.

Ten years later in the middle of the Second World War he was one of the principal founders of the Internationalist Communist Party. This was the only party which condemned the war as imperialist on all sides. It was in defence of this insight that Damen responded to Bordiga who, after 15 years of silence, was now trying to take the Party back to the positions of the 1920s. This was the first clash the two would have (see the "Five Letters" in this volume) but was followed by others, most of which are dealt with in this collection of Damen's contribution to revolutionary theory, now published in full for the first time in English.

Translated from the Italian by Jock Dominie, Anthony Pace and Liz Rayner.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HL75VV5Y
• ISBN13: 9798177417141
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"