Italian Left-Wing Politician Francesco Di Piazza and His 1964 "Diary"

The published documentary materials cover the life and work of the Italian left-wing politician Francesco Di Piazza (Palermo, Rome, San Gimignano). Of interest are his approaches and assessments of the political situation in the USSR and the prospects for the country's development after the removal of N. S. Khrushchev from his posts, the state of Soviet-Chinese relations, and the situation in the world communist movement. They are contained in the pages of his diary, part of which, with the permission of his son, Marco Di Piazza, is reproduced in this publication. The materials of the "Diary" are supplemented by three other documentary materials: these are the speeches of the authors of this publication- R. Alonzi and V. P. Lubin at the September 2021 celebrations in San Gimignano in honor of the centenary of its famous resident, honorary citizen of this city F. De Piazza, as well as a private letter from Marco Di Piazza to V. P. Lubin, explaining the idea of the full publication of the "Diary" and adding important touches to the portrait of his father. The very way of thinking of Francesco Di Piazza, his interesting and very accurate assessments of life in the USSR, which was perceived by representatives of the left in the mid-twentieth century as a stronghold of socialism, and which many of them oriented themselves to in their political and social activities in their countries, represent important documentary evidence and confirmation of the fact that the developments in the Soviet Union were closely followed in the world, especially among leftists sympathetic to it.