chapter four What's in a Name?

David I. Kertzer

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chapter four What's in a Name?

David I. Kertzer
David I. Kertzer

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chapter fourWhat's in a Name?Power comes through becomingauthorized to provide a name for a thing, and thusto make it experienced in a new way.—Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of PracticeFor millions of Italians, from the end of the Second World Warthrough the 1980s, personal identity was rooted in the CommunistParty and its symbolism: "Sono comunista" (I am a Communist) wasa statement not only of people's political allegiance but of their coreidentity. For many, being identified as Communist was more salientand more satisfying than being identified as Italian.Party statutes expressed the all-encompassing social and moralnature of the Communist identity. The 1975 statute is typical inalerting members that other people viewed them as representativesof the party: "Each Communist Party member must understand thathis fellow workers and students, his neighbors, his acquaintances andrelatives all look on him as a combatant for a better world, for a morejust and saner society" Accordingly, each member was urged to "con-stantly strive to set an example with his private life, with his treat-ment of his family, his neighbors, his fellow workers, setting anexample of moral behavior, honesty, and a spirit of human and socialsolidarity."1Providing people with such a unitary identity entailed constantsymbolic work, primarily carried out at the local level. The party's64

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chapter fourWhat's in a Name?Power comes through becomingauthorized to provide a name for a thing, and thusto make it experienced in a new way.—Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of PracticeFor millions of Italians, from the end of the Second World Warthrough the 1980s, personal identity was rooted in the CommunistParty and its symbolism: "Sono comunista" (I am a Communist) wasa statement not only of people's political allegiance but of their coreidentity. For many, being identified as Communist was more salientand more satisfying than being identified as Italian.Party statutes expressed the all-encompassing social and moralnature of the Communist identity. The 1975 statute is typical inalerting members that other people viewed them as representativesof the party: "Each Communist Party member must understand thathis fellow workers and students, his neighbors, his acquaintances andrelatives all look on him as a combatant for a better world, for a morejust and saner society" Accordingly, each member was urged to "con-stantly strive to set an example with his private life, with his treat-ment of his family, his neighbors, his fellow workers, setting anexample of moral behavior, honesty, and a spirit of human and socialsolidarity."1Providing people with such a unitary identity entailed constantsymbolic work, primarily carried out at the local level. The party's64

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