This text is a private letter written by Francesco Benigno to Mario Mirri as a comment of his essay (L’ultimo servizio del nostro vecchio liceo classico) printed as afterword in the volume L’impegno di una generazione. Il gruppo di Lucca dal Liceo Machiavelli alla Normale, ed. by M. Mirri, R. Sabbatini, L. Imbasciati, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2014. Benigno has accepted the request to publish the text here as it was written, without any change. The discussion focuses on Italian politics and society in the aftermath of the World War II. It deals particularly with the progressive function of the PCI and the role of the intellectuals at that time.
Keywords: Postwar, Italian Politics, Italian Communist Party, The role of Intellectuals.