Bettino Craxi
Bettino Craxi was a prominent Italian politician who served as the head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993 and as Prime Minister from 1983 to 1987. Born into a socialist family, Craxi became politically active from a young age, eventually leading his party to significant political power. His tenure was marked by both notable achievements, such as Italy's inclusion in the G7 and reforms of the Vatican concordat, and significant controversies.
Craxi's premiership faced major challenges, particularly surrounding the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship, which raised tensions between Italy and the United States due to differing approaches to terrorism. His leadership style was often described as quasi-dictatorial, which, combined with his handling of political opponents, contributed to a backlash against him.
In the 1990s, he became embroiled in a corruption scandal that led to the widespread investigation known as Mani pulite, which exposed systemic corruption within Italian politics. In 1992, he admitted to accepting illegal contributions but claimed that such practices were widespread among politicians. Ultimately, he was convicted and sentenced to prison in absentia, fleeing to Tunisia, where he remained until his death in 2000. Craxi's legacy is complex; he is often seen as a symbol of political corruption in Italy, while also being recognized for his role in modernizing the Italian political landscape.
Subject Terms
Bettino Craxi
Italian Socialist Party chairman (1976-1993); prime minister of Italy (1983-1987)
- Born: February 24, 1934
- Birthplace: Milan, Italy
- Died: January 19, 2000
- Place of death: Al-Hammamet, Tunisia
Major offenses: Bribery and corruption
Active: 1979-1993
Locale: Milan and Rome, Italy
Sentence: Tried in absentia and convicted to five years’ imprisonment; fled to Tunisia to avoid jail time
Early Life
The son of a socialist lawyer, Bettino Craxi (beht-TEE-noh KRAHK-see) received an antifascist upbringing. From childhood, he took an active part in Socialist Party campaigns. Not given to scholarly pursuits, Craxi managed to pass the admission test to university; he left its law school not long afterward. A student trip to Prague converted Craxi into a fervent anticommunist, and he immediately rededicated himself to Socialist Party work, thereby gaining party office. In that capacity, he helped eliminate the communist, left-leaning wing of his party and later allied it with the capitalist forces of northern Italy.
Political and Criminal Career
Craxi was appointed the head of the Socialist Party in 1976, a position in which he served until 1993. A decade earlier, Craxi effected a historical coup. The collapse of the government and the resulting political paralysis enabled the first Socialist president of Italy, Alessandro (Sandro) Pertini, to charge Craxi with forming a coalition government, which Craxi succeeded in doing. His vigor, quasidictatorial leadership of the party, maltreatment of his enemies, badgering public speeches, and grandstanding appearances on television, however, created a backlash among the public and his fellow politicians.
The 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship proved to be the most significant international event of Craxi’s premiership. Three Arab men representing the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) took control of the ship, held all passengers hostage, and murdered a Jewish American man, Leon Klinghoffer, who was confined to a wheelchair. Craxi maintained that Italian jurisdiction prevented him from handing over the terrorists to the United States, who wanted the men because of Klinghoffer’s murder. In part because Craxi had been supporting fellow socialist leaders in the Arab-Muslim world, he arranged to fly the perpetrators to Africa in order to stand trial there. American president Ronald Reagan’s response was to order U.S. fighter jets to force the Italian plane to the ground at the U.S. military base in Sicily. Incensed by this infraction of Italian sovereignty, Craxi had Italian troops surround the base. Reagan initially backed down, a move that raised Craxi’s standing in the Muslim world and in some Western countries. However, shortly thereafter, Western fear of terrorism, renewed pro-American sentiment, and early signs of Craxi’s corruption initiated Craxi’s downfall.
In the 1990’s, judges in Milan began to investigate political party financing in an initiative called Mani pulite (Italian for “clean hands”). Craxi quickly became a target of the investigation in part because of his residence in an expensive Rome hotel and his ownership of a villa in Tunisia. The investigation also alleged that Craxi used personal acquaintance rather than merit to appoint political colleagues and granted political favors to people, especially within the media. Any support that Craxi had maintained to that point withered, and he was publicly accused of corruption and bribery.
Legal Action and Outcome
Brought up on corruption charges in 1992, Craxi delivered a notorious speech in parliament, his last, admitting that he had indeed accepted illegal contributions but maintained that every other member of the Chamber of Deputies had also done so. In effect, he did not proclaim himself innocent but pointed out that all politicians were guilty of corruption. Craxi challenged any fellow legislator who had not accepted bribes to stand up. Nobody did.
Craxi was tried for bribery and corruption in 1993 and sentenced in absentia to a prison term of five years. He escaped imprisonment by fleeing to his villa in Tunisia in 1994, where, under the protection of socialist dictator Ben Ali, he remained until his death from complications of diabetes in January, 2000.
Impact
Bettino Craxi was the longest governing post-World War II Italian prime minister. He became the most visible symbol of a widespread system of political corruption, which came to be known as tagentopoli (Italian for “bribeville”). Although he accomplished many of his goals during his tenure—including attaining Group 7 (G7) membership for Italy and renegotiating Benito Mussolini’s 1929 concordat with the Vatican, thereby removing Roman Catholicism as the official state religion—Craxi earned the distrust and enmity of Italians both for damaging relations with the United States during the Achille Lauro incident and for his blatant corruption.
Bibliography
Bufacchi, Vittorio, and Simon Burgess. Italy Since 1989: Events and Interpretations. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Chapter 4 illuminates the culture of big-business bribery in northern Italy, particularly within Italy’s business center, Milan.
Di Scala, Spencer M. Renewing Italian Socialism: Nenni to Craxi. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Contains many references to Craxi, including an authoritative description of the reformation of his party and his personal influence on its electoral gains, enabling his rise to power.
Ginsborg, Paul. A History of Contemporary Italy. London: Macmillan, 1990. Provides good context for the years of Craxi’s rule. Includes an excellent bibliography.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Italy and Its Discontents: Family, Civil Society, State, 1980-2001. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Another good contextual study of the years surrounding Craxi’s rise to and fall from political prominence.