taken from "Romolo Murri, a radical choice", Rome 1993

A history that needs to be re-written. The up-to-dateness of his political ideas

ABSTRACT: The author maintains, at the conclusion of a long essay on the priest from the Marches, that research on his work should not be done with pre-established barriers, as done so far".

(1994 - IL QUOTIDIANO RADICALE, 28 October 1993)

Can we say that the events of the century proved he was wrong?

Don't the democratic, lay, Christian and radical ideals and objectives he expressed, the analyses, the judgments, the forecasts, the attitudes such as can emerge even from the quotes of this research and even the choice of the most circumscribed subjects for his parliamentary interventions, reflect the realism--as well as the extraordinary intelligence--of this politician, his wisdom, his power of persuasion?

Perhaps the way to find an answer to this and other questions is that of a different approach to the study of the personality of Romolo Murri. A careful interpretation of his thought and his works can only lead to the conclusion that Murri's contribution in terms of political ideas, which are mostly up-to-date, did not change the transition from Christian democracy to the radical choice. Research should not be done, therefore, with pre-conceptions, separating the social worker from the politician, the thinker from the writer or the man of action, the religious man from the lay man, the Christian democrat from the radical. A research on Murri should be made with a global approach, without surrendering the temptation of using fragments that can be used for biased interpretations.