In 1957, disillusioned by the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, Calvino left the Italian Communist Party. In his letter of resignation published in "L'Unità" on 7 August, he explained the reason of his dissent (the violent suppression of the Hungarian uprising and the revelation of Joseph Stalin's crimes) while confirming his "confidence in the democratic perspectives" of world Communism. He withdrew from taking an active role in politics and never joined another party. Ostracized by the PCI party leader Palmiro Togliatti and his supporters on publication of "Becalmed in the Antilles" ("La gran bonaccia delle Antille"), a satirical allegory of the party's immobilism, Calvino began writing "The Baron in the Trees". Completed in three months and published in 1957, the fantasy is based on the "problem of the intellectual's political commitment at a time of shattered illusions". He found new outlets for his periodic writings in the journals "Città aperta" and "Tempo presente", the magazine "Passato e presente", and the weekly "Italia Domani". With Vittorini in 1959, he became co-editor of "'Il Menabò", a cultural journal devoted to literature in the modern industrial age, a position he held until 1966.