Early life and education Amendola was born in
Naples on 15 April 1882. He moved to
Rome, where he obtained the middle school diploma. At fifteen he joined the socialist youth. The following year he was an apprentice to the newspaper of the Italian Radical Party "La Capitale." He graduated with a degree in
philosophy, he collaborated with such publications as
Leonardo of
Giovanni Papini and
La Voce of
Giuseppe Prezzolini. Amendola formulated the notion of
totalitarianism as total political power which is exercised by the state in 1923, describing
Italian Fascism as a system which was fundamentally different from conventional
dictatorships. The term was later assigned a positive meaning in the writings of
Giovanni Gentile, Italy's most prominent philosopher and leading theorist of
fascism. He used the term
totalitario to refer to the structure and goals of the new state which was to provide the "total representation of the nation and total guidance of national goals."
Death Amendola died on 7 April 1926 at
Cannes,
France, in agony from violence inflicted when he was beaten by 15 Blackshirts with clubs. == Personal life ==