Following the life of Guido Baracchi, the playboy and dilettante whose love affair with Marxism and the Communist Party took him from his father’s astronomical observatory to Stalin’s Russia and across the world this story explores the life of an idealist dedicated to Communism. Entwined with political intrigue, this studyæincludes a series of tempestuous romances with poets, artists, and playwrights as theæ dealist searches the world for answers to his beliefs.
Guido Carlo Luigi Baracchi (1887-1975), Marxist scholar and political activist, was born on 11 December 1887 at South Yarra, Melbourne, son of Pietro Baracchi, an astronomer from Italy, and his Victorian-born wife Kate, née Petty. Educated at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School, in 1904-05 Guido studied classics at the University of Melbourne, but did not graduate. In 1913 he visited Europe where he became a guild socialist. Having returned home on the outbreak of World War I, he took a leading part in the anti-war movement. His written and spoken opinions produced a hostile reaction from the university authorities, and from some fellow students who dunked him in the university lake. In 1917 Baracchi helped to found the Victorian Labor College. Encouraged by Lesbia Harford, he joined the International Industrial Workers, successor to the banned Industrial Workers of the World, and edited its journal, Industrial Solidarity. pp. 330, Illustrated #110116