Representation and Narrative of Soviet Political Repressions in Italian Newspapers: The Moscow Trials (1936-38) and the Kravchenko Case (1949)

The representation and narrative of Soviet political repressions in Italian newspapers played a decisive role in shaping the public opinion about the USSR in Italy. In order to illustrate the Italian reception of Soviet repressions during and after the Fascism, we consider two case studies: the Moscow trials (1936-1938) and the Kravchenko Case (1949). Our analysis focuses on the news relayed by Italian newspapers of different political orientation: regarding the Moscow trials, we analyse the news released by the official organ of the Fascist party («Il Popolo d’Italia»), by the then clandestine organ of the Italian Communist party («l’Unità») and by two liberal and moderate newspapers which, however, supported the Fascist regime until its collapse («Il Corriere della Sera» and «La Stampa»); as for the Kravchenko trial, we focus on the last three newspapers, which, during the postwar period, leaned respectively toward the left («l’Unità»), the center («Il Corriere della Sera») and the right («La Stampa»). With the help of these sources, we assess how Soviet political repressions were represented, focusing in particular on the lexicon and communicative strategies in order to determine if, and to what extent, the narrative of the trials was influenced by a particular political strategy. The final aim is to understand how the dynamics of representation and narrative of Soviet political repressions shaped the reader response and, consequently, the Italian public opinion.