He was among those who left the Italian Socialist Party in 1912, supporting the Italian invasion of Libya. He saw the new land as essential to relieving southern Italy of the rising cost of bread which had caused riots in the south, and advocated a "war of revolution". He joined the Italian Reformist Socialist Party of Ivanoe Bonomi and Leonida Bissolati and supported Italy's participation in World War I on the side of the Triple Entente. He volunteered to fight at the front.