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Angelica BalabanovaRussian and Italian socialist
Date of Birth: 07.05.1978
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Content:
- Early Life and Education of Angelica Balabanoff
- Intellectual Awakening in Brussels and Italy
- Collaboration with Italian Socialists
- Internationalism and the Russian Revolution
- Involvement in the Comintern and the Italian Left
- Exclusion, Exile, and Later Years
- Balabanoff's Feminist Views
- Legacy and Impact
Early Life and Education of Angelica Balabanoff
Angelica Balabanoff, born into a wealthy, assimilated Jewish family in Russia, was the youngest of nine surviving children out of sixteen. After her father's untimely death, she received her early education from private tutors and attended a girls' school in Kharkiv. In 1894, she married Ukrainian Menshevik Mikhail Solomonovich Balabanov, a member of the Ukrainian Central Rada, but their relationship was short-lived.
Intellectual Awakening in Brussels and Italy
In 1897, Balabanoff severed ties with her aristocratic family and left Russia for Brussels, where she enrolled at the New University and earned a doctorate in philosophy and literature. She furthered her studies in economics in Germany (Leipzig and Berlin) and Italy (Rome), where she came under the influence of socialist ideas and associated with Russian émigrés. Her involvement in the Socialist movement led her to join the Union of Russian Social Democrats Abroad and the Italian Socialist Party (1900).
Collaboration with Italian Socialists
As a delegate for the Italian Socialist Party, Balabanoff engaged in propaganda and lecturing among Italian immigrant workers in Switzerland and other countries. During this period, she collaborated closely with prominent Italian socialists, including Antonio Labriola, Giacomo Menotti Serrati, Filippo Turati, Leonida Bissolati, and a then relatively unknown schoolteacher from Romagna named Benito Mussolini.
Balabanoff played a significant role in introducing Mussolini to Marxism and aiding his political development. Contrary to popular belief, they did not have an intimate relationship. In her memoirs, "My Life as a Rebel," she labeled Grigory Zinoviev "the most contemptible individual I have ever encountered," after Mussolini. From 1912, Balabanoff held a seat on the Central Committee of the Italian Socialist Party and served as editor of the party newspaper "Avanti!"
Internationalism and the Russian Revolution
Before World War I, Balabanoff aligned herself with the left wing of the Italian Socialist Party. She supported the expulsion of pro-war socialists during the Libyan War of 1912. Despite her sympathy for the left, she aimed to maintain organizational unity with reformists, a strategy that influenced her subsequent involvement in the international socialist movement.
Balabanoff attended the Fifth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in London (1907) as a "fraternal delegate." She maintained close relations with Russian social democrats. During World War I, she contributed to the Paris-based newspaper "Nashe Slovo" founded by Julius Martov and Leon Trotsky.
In 1915, Balabanoff actively participated in the organization and proceedings of the Zimmerwald Conference. She belonged to the "centrist" faction and was elected to the Executive of a newly established organization, the International Socialist Commission (ISC). The following year, she attended the Kienthal Conference, where she developed closer ties with the Zimmerwald Left, particularly the Bolsheviks.
After the February Revolution, Balabanoff returned to Russia in 1917 along with a group of Mensheviks, Inter-District members, and Socialist Revolutionaries. She joined the Bolshevik Party and enjoyed Lenin's favor. While working on behalf of the Bolsheviks in Stockholm as a representative of the Zimmerwald movement, she established friendships with Swedish socialists such as Ture Nerman, Frederick Ström, Zeth Höglund, and Kata Dalström, as well as the Soviet plenipotentiary, Vaslav Vorovsky.
Involvement in the Comintern and the Italian Left
In 1918, Balabanoff served as assistant to the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and Foreign Commissar of Soviet Ukraine, Khristian Rakovsky. She held positions as a member of the Executive and Secretary of the Communist International (Comintern). She played a role in the preparations for the First and Second Congresses of the Comintern. In Ukraine, she sat on the board of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs and chaired the Southern Bureau of the Comintern Executive.
Balabanoff returned to Moscow in January 1920. In 1922, her disagreements with the Soviet communists, particularly with Comintern leader Grigory Zinoviev's tactics, led her to resign from the Comintern and return to Italy. She joined Serrati's "maximalist" group, which opposed certain demands of the Comintern, and refused to leave even after Serrati returned to the Italian Communist Party.
Exclusion, Exile, and Later Years
In a resolution on N. I. Bukharin's report on the discussion within the Russian Communist Party, Balabanoff was identified as one of the supporters of the Trotskyist (Left) Opposition. She was subsequently expelled from the Communist Party in 1924 for "anti-Soviet statements." After the rise of fascism in Italy, Balabanoff was forced to leave the country. She lived in Switzerland, Austria, France, and the United States.
Balabanoff played a significant role in the "Two-and-a-Half International," a centrist organization positioned between social democrats and communists, and the Socialist Workers International. After World War II, she returned to Italy and opposed an alliance between Italian socialists and communists. In 1947, she joined the Italian Socialist Party of the Toiling Masses (Giuseppe Saragat's group), which evolved into the Italian Democratic Socialist Party in 1951. Balabanoff passed away in Rome and was laid to rest at the Cimitero Monumentale del Verano.
Balabanoff's Feminist Views
Balabanoff emphasized her "hostility to any form of feminism," asserting that "the struggle for the emancipation of women was only one aspect of the struggle for the emancipation of humanity." She believed that women, particularly working women, needed to understand this and fight alongside men against their common enemy: capitalism.
Legacy and Impact
Angelica Balabanoff's life and work left a remarkable legacy on the international socialist and communist movements. Her unwavering convictions, dedication to internationalism, and critical engagement with prominent figures shaped the course of political events in the early 20th century. Her writings and oral testimonies provide valuable insights into the complexities of the revolutionary era.