Lucio Magri

{{Short description|Italian journalist and politician (1932–2011)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Lucio Magri | image = Lucio_Magri.jpg | caption = Lucio Magri in 1976. | order = Member of the Chamber of Deputies | term_start = 5 July 1976 | term_end = 14 April 1994 | constituency = Rome (1976–1979) Turin (1979–1992) L'Aquila (1992–1994) | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1932|8|19}} | birth_place = Ferrara, Italy | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2011|11|28|1932|8|19}} | death_place = Bellinzona, Switzerland | party = DC {{small|(until 1958)}} PCI {{small|(1958–1969; 1984–1991)}} PdUP {{small|(1974–1984)}} PRC {{small|(1991–1995)}} MCU {{small|(1995–1998)}} | occupation = Journalist, politician }}

'''Lucio Magri''' (19 August 1932 – 28 November 2011) was an Italian journalist and politician.<ref>{{cite web|author=Redazione Online |url=http://www.corriere.it/cronache/11_novembre_29/magri-suicidio-assistito_a6f690f8-1a59-11e1-a0da-00d265bd2fc6.shtml |title=Suicidio assistito per Lucio Magri - Corriere della Sera |publisher=Corriere.it |date=2009-12-24 |accessdate=2011-11-29}}</ref>

==Biography== Magri was born in Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna, one of the most left-wing regions of Italy, but grew up in the strongly Catholic Bergamo, Lombardy. His first involvement in politics was as a member of the Christian Democrats, taking up positions firmly on the left wing of the party. However, in 1958 he was one of a number of Catholic intellectuals who joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI). In 1969, he was one of the founders of the far-left newspaper ''il manifesto'', co-editing it with Rossana Rossanda. The newspaper's work was controversial with the Communist Party's leadership, and by the end of that year Magri had been expelled from the party.<ref name=obit>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/07/lucio-magri |title=Lucio Magri obituary |last=Sassoon |first=Donald |date=7 December 2011 |website=theguardian.com |access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref>

He was co-founder (in 1974) and secretary of the Proletarian Unity Party (PdUP), which later merged with the PCI in 1984. When the latter renounced communism to become the Democratic Party of the Left in 1991, Magri joined the newly-established Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), founding an internal movement within the party whose structure recalled that of the PdUP.

In 1995 he left the PRC to form the Movement of Unitarian Communists, established to support a centrist cabinet led by Lamberto Dini. When the Movement entered the newly formed Democratic Party of the Left in 1998, Magri abandoned it, devoting himself only to ''il manifesto''.

In 2009 he published an essay on the history of the Italian Communist Party, entitled ''Il sarto di Ulm. Una possibile storia del PCI'' ("The Tailor of Ulm. A possible history of the PCI"). In 2011, Verso Books published ''The Tailor of Ulm: Communism in the Twentieth Century''. Reviewing the book, John Green praised it as 'an invaluable platform for understanding the apparent impasse of the present global and systemic crisis'.

In his later years, Magri suffered from depression, exacerbated by the death of his wife Mara in 2008. He chose to take up assisted suicide, dying in Zurich, Switzerland. He was survived by a daughter, Jessica, and a granddaughter, Emma.<ref name=obit />

== Electoral history == {|class=wikitable style="width:65%; border:1px #AAAAFF solid" |- ! width=10%|Election ! width=20%|House ! width=40%|Constituency ! width=5% colspan="2"|Party ! width=9%|Votes ! width=22%|Result |- ! 1976 | Chamber of Deputies | Rome–Viterbo–Latina–Frosinone | bgcolor="{{party color|Proletarian Democracy}}" | | DP | 10,369 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 1979 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | bgcolor="{{party color|Proletarian Unity Party (Italy)}}" | | PdUP | 2,472 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 1983 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | bgcolor="{{party color|Italian Communist Party}}" | | PCI | 46,878 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 1987 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | bgcolor="{{party color|Italian Communist Party}}" | | PCI | 13,073 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 1992 | Chamber of Deputies | L'Aquila–Pescara–Chieti–Teramo | bgcolor="{{party color|Communist Refoundation Party}}" | | PRC | 2,446 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- |}

==Gallery== <gallery> File:Political graffiti in Rome.jpg|Pro-communist graffito in Rome commemorating Lucio Magri, 2013 </gallery>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Sources== * [http://review31.co.uk/article/view/15/retracing-a-century 'Retracing a Century', Review 31]

==External links== *[http://legislature.camera.it/chiosco.asp?cp=1&position=VII%20Legislatura%20/%20I%20Deputati&content=deputati/legislatureprecedenti/Leg07/framedeputato.asp?Deputato=1d15880 Official biography at Italian Parliament website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magri, Lucio}} Category:1932 births Category:2011 suicides Category:2011 deaths Category:Deaths by euthanasia Category:Politicians from Ferrara Category:Italian Communist Party politicians Category:20th-century Italian politicians Category:Communist Refoundation Party politicians Category:20th-century Italian journalists Category:Italian male journalists Category:Italian politicians who died by suicide Category:Suicides in Switzerland