Emilio Lussu
Emilio Lussu (December 4, 1890 - March 5, 1975) was a prominent Sardinian soldier, politician, and writer known for his passionate advocacy of Sardinian culture and his staunch opposition to Fascism in Italy. Born in Armungia, Sardinia, he received a law degree and later volunteered for military service during World War I, serving in the renowned Brigata Sassari and experiencing the brutal realities of trench warfare. After the war, Lussu engaged in politics, founding a Sardinian nationalist party and becoming a member of Parliament, where he vocally opposed Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. His political activism led to imprisonment after he killed an assailant during a physical attack, but he escaped and continued his fight against Fascism from Paris.
Lussu's literary contributions include "La catena," which detailed his exile experiences and critiques of oppressive regimes, and the acclaimed memoir "Un anno sull'Antipiano," which vividly depicted the horrors of war and its impact on soldiers. He remained active in resistance efforts during World War II and held various government positions after the war, contributing to the drafting of the Italian constitution. Despite his significant influence, Lussu faced political isolation in his later years and passed away in Rome. His life and works provide critical insights into 20th-century European politics and the experiences of war, earning him recognition as a significant voice in pacifist literature.
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Emilio Lussu
Writer
- Born: December 4, 1890
- Birthplace: Armungia, Sardinia
- Died: March 5, 1975
- Place of death: Rome, Italy
Biography
Emilio Lussu was born December 4, 1890, in Armungia, a mountain village in the southeast corner of Sardinia, an Italian possession in the Mediterranean Sea. After schooling in Rome, Lussu returned to Sardenia where he earned a law degree from the University of Cagliari in 1915. An advocate for Italian participation in World War I, Lussu volunteered for the military. He served as a second lieutenant in the famous Brigata Sassari. He saw four years of trench warfare in the Alps against troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, during which more than five hundred thousand Italians were killed or wounded.
After the war, Lussu returned to Cagliari to practice law. Well-educated, a charismatic war hero, and a passionate proponent of Sardinian culture, Lussu became involved in politics, founding a Sardinian nationalist party. In 1921, he was elected to Parliament where he opposed the growing influence of the Fascists under Benito Mussolini. He was rebuked and physically attacked for his aggressive stand—during one such attack, in 1926, Lussu killed his attacker and he was subsequently tried.
Although acquitted, he was condemned to detention as an administrative bureaucrat in the island of Lipari off Sicily far from Sardenia. Determined not to accept what he saw as an attempt to silence him, Lussu executed a dramatic escape from the island in 1929 and surfaced in Paris, where he maintained his campaign against Fascism. La catena (the chain), Lussu’s first publication, recounted his experience as a political exile and voiced his considerable objections to fascism, concluding that its oppression could only be toppled by sacrifice and heroic defiance.
Living off a modest income as a political journalist, Lussu, despite precarious health, continued his tireless campaign against Fascism in print, castigating cooperation with Mussolini as immoral. Committing himself to a tuberculosis sanatorium in Switzerland in late 1935, Lussu turned from political writing to a memoir of his war years. Un anno sull’Antipiano (translated as Sardinian Brigade) was an international sensation when it appeared in 1938—an intelligent, starkly realistic account of Lussu’s Sardinian infantry experience that, in turn, became an impassioned analysis of the irrational degradations and routine brutality of trench warfare and its impact on soldiers, most often poor and illiterate peasants.
During World War II, Lussu maintained an active profile in resistance efforts in both occupied France and Italy. Following the war, Lussu served in a variety of government positions, becoming a leading voice for southern Italy and specifically the socialist agenda (as a senator he helped draft the Italian constitution). Ironically, his estrangement from the party in the mid-1960’s left Lussu in isolation, forgotten by the very island whose culture he had championed. Retiring in 1968, he worked on numerous political histories. He died far from Sardenia in Rome on March 5, 1975. Although a contradictory figure—advocating organized resistance while at the same time revealing the devastating horrors of armed conflict—Lussu is remembered as a compelling voice in understanding twentieth century European politics and the author of a landmark work of pacifist literature.