Palmiro Togliatti dies. Born in Genoa in 1893 to a Piedmontese family, he was one of the founders of the Italian Communist Party, becoming its undisputed leader after Gramsci’s arrest. He served as secretary from August 8, 1945, until his death. Togliatti died of a cerebral hemorrhage while vacationing with his partner, Nilde Iotti, in Yalta, then in the Soviet Union. According to some of his associates, Togliatti was traveling to the Soviet Union to support the election of Leonid Brezhnev as Nikita Khrushchev’s successor as leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. His favorite student, Enrico Berlinguer, would later be elected, following Longo, as his successor as National Secretary of the PCI (Italian Communist Party), although Berlinguer’s tenure in office would see him reject some of Togliatti’s policies.
