Angelo Corsi and Cocco Ortu junior in memory of Rino Formica: «That time at the Cln congress...»
The former PSI minister Formica remembers the two Sardinian politicians, their anti-fascist commitment and their contribution to the republican cause
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Angelo Corsi, socialist, and Francesco Cocco Ortu, liberal. Both anti-fascists with courage and consistency. Sardi (Corsi adopted because the Iglesiente was the scene of his strenuous political and trade union activity) who fought, from different ideological sides, their battle against the dictatorship.
Stories recalled by Rino Formica, 97 years old in March, in the interview with Corriere Sera. This is how the former PSI minister responded to Aldo Cazzullo's question about the great congress of the National Liberation Committee of 1944 in Bari: «I was 17 years old, I was in charge of security. The left was very active; less popular and moderate. Then two Sardinian delegates, the socialist Corsi and the liberal Cocco Ortu.... They proposed to drop the republican ruling and to welcome the monarchists into the CLN as well. Two months later Togliatti arrived from Moscow and did just that. But at the moment poor Corsi was put on trial and told: go away and found a monarchist socialist party. Our curse had already begun." Here are Corsi and Cocco Ortu (Francesco Cocco Ortu junior, nephew of the liberal leader who said no, one of the few in his party, to the Mussolini government during the vote of confidence) brought to general attention.
The socialist
Angelo Corsi, born in Abruzzo, born in 1889, moved with his father to Iglesias at a very young age. He embraces the ideas of the Socialist Party and wins the trust of the workers of the mining area with whom he shares their struggles and requests. Mayor of Iglesias and provincial councilor of Cagliari, he ran against the fascist party in June 1924. He was attacked during the electoral campaign. He is an intransigent opponent of the black shirt regime. After the fall of fascism he was elected to the Constituent Assembly. A reformist socialist with a strong connection to Sulcis-Iglesiente. Corsi, who died in 1966, as Emilio Lussu recalls, "had organized assistance to the needy families of fighters during the war, in such a way as to impose it as a model on the mayors of other cities".
Angelo Corsi
The liberal
Francesco Cocco Ortu is named after his grandfather, deputy of the Kingdom, minister and founder of L'Unione Sarda. Born in 1912 in Cagliari, lawyer and journalist , he opposed Mussolini's power, following the lessons of Cocco Ortu senior. When the regime falls he leads the liberal party in Sardinia. In public life he also holds the roles of editor and director of the weekly "Rivoluzione liberal" and of the fortnightly "Italia liberal". In 1954 he challenged Giovanni Malagoli in the race for the secretariat of the Pli. He was defeated by a few votes. Regional councilor and member of parliament several times, he died suddenly in 1969. Angelo Corsi and Francesco Cocco Ortu united by history for their presence at the 1944 CLN congress and for the vote against the current expressed at that important turning point in Italy's political and institutional history.
Francesco Cocco Ortu
