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Napoleone Colajanni

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"NAPOLEONE COLAJANNI (1847-1921), Italian author and politician, was born at Castrogiovanni (Sicily) in 1847. He followed Garibaldi in his Sicilian expedition, and later at Aspromonte, when he was taken prisoner by the Royal troops and deported to Palmaria. Again in 1866 he fought under Garibaldi in the Trentino and was decorated with a silver medal for valour. Three years later, while a medical student, he was imprisoned for taking part in republican agitation. After graduating in medicine he took up the study of social science, and in 1892 was appointed professor of statistics at the university of Palermo. He published many books and essays on social and political problems, and exposed the fallacious and unscientific theories of Lombroso and Ferri on criminology. For many years he edited the Rivista popolare, by means of which he strove to improve the moral and intellectual standard of the masses and combated all forms of intolerance and hypocrisy. He began his public career as a municipal councillor in his native town in 1872; in 1882 he was elected provincial councillor and in 1890 deputy for the same place. In Parliament he sat as a Republican and showed Socialist tendencies. He was active in the exposure of the Banca Romana scandal, and a strong opponent of Crispi's somewhat autocratic tendencies. While he had always opposed militarism and had also attacked the army with much animus, on the outbreak of the World War he admitted his error in that connexion and became a warm supporter of Italian intervention. After the Armistice he conducted a vigorous campaign against the Socialist organ Avanti and the bolshevist tendencies of the Italian Socialist party. He died at Castrogiovanni Sept. 2 1921.