Angelica Isaakovna Balabanova
Анжелика Исааковна Балабанова
The Comintern's first secretary, who taught Mussolini and branded him traitor
"I had never seen a more wretched human being" — on first meeting Mussolini in Lausanne
Russian-born Italian socialist. First secretary of the Comintern, she taught Mussolini Marxism and publicly denounced him as a traitor when he embraced fascism. She broke with Bolshevism in 1922 and led Italy's maximalist socialist faction.
Career timeline
- 1897Left Russia for Brussels; earned a doctorate in philosophy and literature at the New University
- 1900Joined the Italian Socialist Party (PSI); organised immigrant textile workers
- 1912–1914PSI Central Committee member and Avanti! editor; worked alongside Mussolini
- 1915–1916Participated in the Zimmerwald and Kienthal anti-war conferences
- 1917Returned to Russia and joined the Bolshevik Party
- 1919–1920First secretary of the Comintern; organised the 1st and 2nd Congresses
- 1922–1930Broke with Bolshevism; returned to Italy to lead the PSI maximalist faction
- 1930–1945Led the PSIm (Maximalist Socialist Party); anti-fascist work in Swiss, French, and US exile