Carlo Donat-Cattin Explained

Carlo Donat-Cattin
Order:Minister of Labour and Social Security
Primeminister:Mariano Rumor
Emilio Colombo
Giulio Andreotti
Term Start:5 August 1969
Term End:26 June 1972
Predecessor:Giacomo Brodolini
Successor:Dionigi Coppo
Primeminister2:Giulio Andreotti
Term Start2:22 July 1989
Term End2:17 March 1991
Predecessor2:Rino Formica
Successor2:Rosa Russo Iervolino
Order3:Minister of Industry, Trade and Crafts
Primeminister3:Aldo Moro
Giulio Andreotti
Term Start3:23 November 1974
Term End3:25 November 1978
Predecessor3:Ciriaco De Mita
Successor3:Romano Prodi
Order4:Minister of Health
Primeminister4:Bettino Craxi
Amintore Fanfani
Giovanni Goria
Ciriaco De Mita
Term Start4:1 August 1986
Term End4:22 July 1989
Predecessor4:Costante Degan
Successor4:Francesco De Lorenzo
Term Start5:19 June 1979
Term End5:17 March 1991
Term Start6:12 June 1958
Term End6:19 June 1979
Birth Date:1919 6, df=y
Birth Place:Finale Ligure, Italy
Death Place:Monte Carlo, Monaco
Party:Christian Democracy
Nationality:Italian
Occupation:Journalist, trade unionist, politician

Carlo Donat-Cattin (26 June 1919 – 17 March 1991) was an Italian politician and trade unionist. A member of Christian Democracy, he was several times minister of the Italian Republic. He was leader of the internal left current of the DC Forza Nuove (New Forces).[1]

Biography

Donat-Cattin was born at Finale Ligure. His father was from Turin, where Donat-Cattin moved at a young age. During World War II, he fought with the "White faction" (Christian-Democrat) of the Italian resistance movement.

In 1950, Donat-Cattin took part in the foundation of the Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions (Italian: Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori, abbreviated as CISL). In the meantime he entered Christian Democracy (Italian Democrazia Cristiana, shortly DC), for which he was communal counsellor in Turin and, from 1953, provincial counsellor at the province of Turin.

Donat-Cattin was elected for the first time to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1958, a position he held until 1979, when he was elected to the Italian Senate. He was minister several times, first as Minister of Welfare and Health (Rumor II, III, Colombo and Andreotti I Cabinets (1969–1972), then as Minister of Mezzogiorno (Rumor IV, 1973) and, from 1974 to 1978, Minister of Industry and Trade in four consecutive governments (Moro IV and V, Andreotti III and IV). Belonging to the left wing of the party, in 1978 he became vice-secretary of DC. Donat-Cattin was initially in favour of dialogue towards DC's historical rival, the Italian Communist Party (Italian: Partito Comunista Italiano, or PCI), but after 1979 he became a supporter of the preambolo theory, which aimed to exclude PCI from any state charge. In 1980, however, after his son Marco was discovered to be a member of the far-left terrorist formation Prima Linea,[2] he abandoned any public position and left politics for a while.

In 1986 he was chosen as Minister of Health in the second Bettino Craxi-led government. At the time, he became a firm advocate of collaboration between DC and Craxi's party, the Italian Socialist Party. In 1989 he was Minister of Welfare in the Andreotti VI government.

He died at Montecarlo in 1991.[3]

References

  1. https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2016/10/13/forze-nuove-la-sinistra-sociale-che-metteva-a-soqquadro-la-dcTorino08.html "Forze Nuove", la sinistra sociale che metteva a soqquadro la Dc
  2. https://www.ilmessaggero.it/rubriche/accadde_oggi/7_maggio_1980_marco_donat_cattin_omicidio_berardi-3713595.html 7 maggio 1980: "La procura di Roma accusa Marco Donat Cattin dell'omicidio Berardi"
  3. https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1991/03/19/muore-un-uomo-scomodo.html 'MUORE UN UOMO SCOMODO'