Giuseppe Di Vittorio Giuseppe Di Vittorio , also known under the pseudonym " Nicoletti " ( August 11 , 1892 – November 3 , 1957 ) , was an Italian syndicalist trade unionist and communist politician , one of the most influential leaders of the labor movement after World War I . Early activities . He was born at Cerignola , Apulia , into a family of poor agricultural day laborers . As an autodidact , Di Vittorio became active in the socialist movement from adolescence : at fifteen , he was a member of the Socialist Youth Circle in Cerignola , and , in 1911 , moved to lead the Camera del Lavoro in Minervino Murge , and then the one in Bari . Giuseppe Di Vittorio was among the most influential union leaders in the history of the labor movement , leading the Confederazione Generate Italiana dei Lavoratori ( CGIL ) in its refounding after Fascism and the powerful World Federation of Trade Unions ( FSM ) after World War II . After his father ' s death Di Vittorio was forced to leave school and work as a day laborer . He joined the May 1904 general strike , an event during which five workers were killed by troops in Cerignola . Di Vittorio was strongly influenced by the growth of peasants ' organizations and the spread of socialist ideas , giving rise to his participation in the local young socialist organization in Cerignola . He was radicalized by affiliating with the national Federazione Giovanile Socialista ( Federation of Young Socialists ) , an organization led by syndicalists in opposition to the official Socialist Party Youth Federation . As a native of the " Mezzogiorno " , Di Vittorio became involved in the syndicalist plans for solving the region ' s acute problems ( in the manner illustrated by the Fasci Siciliani in final decade of the 19th century ) . A partisan of insurgence , Di Vittorio became a leader of the anarcho - syndicalist trade union Unione Sindacale Italiana after its formation in 1912 . Unlike the majority of the group ( which opposed militarism and Italy ' s entry into World War I ) , Di Vittorio , Alceste De Ambris , and Filippo Corridoni advocated irredentism . He subsequently fought in the conflict , and was discharged after being gravely wounded . Opposition to Fascism . In 1921 , after the Italian Socialist Party ' s split at its Congress in Livorno , he joined the Communist Party of Italy ( PCd ' I ) . Di Vittorio joined the militant anti - fascist organization " Arditi del Popolo " , and was then elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies on the PCI list in 1924 . The new situation after the rise of Fascism and the March on Rome made him an enemy of Benito Mussolini ' s regime . Sentenced to twelve years in prison by a fascist special tribunal in 1925 , he managed to flee to France , where he refounded the dissolved Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro ( CGIL ) and led it into the Soviet - managed Profintern . Di Vittorio lived in the Soviet state from 1928 to 1930 , representing Italy to the Red Peasant International . He then returned to Paris , where he entered the Politburo of the PCI . He joined the Republican side fighting Francisco Franco ' s forces during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 . He was Political Commissar of the XI International Brigade . After the fall of the Republic , he headed the board of a Paris - based newspaper with an anti - fascist message . After the World War II Fall of France to Nazi Germany , Di Vittorio was arrested by Nazis , taken in custody by the Italian police , and detained on Ventotene . In 1943 , as the Fascist regime fell in most of Italy , he was set free by partisans , and subsequently joined the Resistance in fighting against Mussolini ' s Italian Social Republic in Northern Italy . Later years . When war ended in 1945 , he was elected secretary of the CGIL - which he had helped bring back into politics through a pact signed the previous year with Achille Grandi and Oreste Lizzardi in Rome . The pact recreated CGIL as a representative of all currents of trade unionism in Italy communist , socialist , Christian - democrats , and anarcho - syndicalists . In 1948 , the organisation split after a general strike protesting the assassination attempt on PCI - leader Palmiro Togliatti . The Christian Democrats left to form the Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori . On March 5 , 1950 , the social - democrats ( who would become supporters of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party ) left to form the Unione Italiana del Lavoro . Giuseppe Di Vittorio led the CGIL , as a group favoured by the PCI and the Italian Socialist Party , until his death at Lecco in 1957 . He was also a long - time leader of the World Federation of Trade Unions . His strong charisma made him the most popular myth of the Italian workers . His funeral was attended by more than three million people coming to Rome from all over Italy . He was followed in his position at the CGIL by Agostino Novella .