«From a Merely Political to a Social Democracy». Wolfgang Abendroth, Palmiro Togliatti and the Constitutional Anti-Fascism in Post-War Italy and West Germany

2024/08/12 by Becher, Phillip

paper · doi:10.14276/2531-9582.4709

Abstract

This contribution offers a comparative reading of Italian communist leader Palmiro Togliatti’s and German Marxist political scientist Wolfgang Abendroth’s seminal texts on constitutional anti-fascism and their recommendations for societal transformation based on the post-war (West) German respective the Italian constitution as a means of safeguarding and deepening democracy. The contribution further seeks to illuminate how the currently resurgent doctrine of totalitarianism in the alleged name of “democracy” lends a liberal attire to a philo-fascist core.   Wolfgang Abendroth; Anti-Fascism; Basic Law; Lelio Basso; Constitution; Democracy; Historical Revisionism; Giorgia Meloni; Palmiro Togliatti; Totalitarianism; Transformation.

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