Palmiro Togliatti was born in Italy in 1893. He joined the Italian Socialist Party in 1914 and joined with Antonio Gramsci to form the Italian Communist Party in 1921.

When Benito Mussolini came to power Togliatti was forced to flee Italy. He lived abroad and was a member of the Comintern that organized the communists fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

Togliatti returned to Italy after it surrendered to the Allies and joined the government formed by Invanoe Bonomi. He stayed in the coalition government until 1947. Palmiro Togliatti remained the head of the Italian Communist Party until his death in 1964.