Pietro Muro
His Excellency The Right Honourable Pietro Muro | |
|---|---|
 Pietro Muro, 1984 | |
| 6th President of Imagua and the Assimas | |
| In office 22 March, 1981 – 23 April, 1984 | |
| Prime Minister | Marguerite Ernman |
| Preceded by | Anthony Brockett |
| Succeeded by | Marguerite Ernman |
| 11th Prime Minister of Imagua and the Assimas | |
| In office 23 April, 1976 – 22 March, 1981 | |
| President | Anthony Brockett |
| Deputy | Marguerite Ernman |
| Preceded by | Eric Fleming |
| Succeeded by | Marguerite Ernman |
| Member of Parliament for San Pietro-Mastriano | |
| In office 23 April, 1952 – 22 March, 1981 | |
| Preceded by | Gabino Montani |
| Succeeded by | Lara Levatino |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Pietro Muro 1 September 1906 San Pietro, Assimas, Etruria |
| Died | 14 July 2002 (aged 95) San Pietro, Imagua and the Assimas |
| Resting place | Mastriano Cemetery |
| Nationality | Etrurian (1906-1946) Imaguan (1946-2002) |
| Political party | Democratic Labour Party |
| Spouse(s) | Ivetta Muro (1929-1944) Winifred Muro (1955-1982) Tamara Muro (1984-2002) |
| Children | 9 |
Pietro Muro (1 September, 1906 - 14 July, 2002) was an Imaguan politician and union leader who served as the eleventh Prime Minister of Imagua and the Assimas from 1976 to 1981, as the sixth President following the death of Anthony Brockett until 1984, and as the local leader of the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union from 1932 to 1944, as the national leader of the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union from 1944 until its merger with the Union of Sharecroppers and Manufacturing Workers in 1947, and then as the regional head of the Union of Sharecroppers and Manufacturing Workers, until 1952, when he entered national politics.
Born in 1906 to working-class parents, Pietro Muro was forced to terminate his studies in 1918, as his parents could not afford for him to continue his studies at a secondary school. This introduction to factory life led Muro to be involved in the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union by 1922, which gave him first introduction to politics.
Serving as union representative, Muro was able to secure a pay raise at his factory, and was initially able to improve working conditions. However, as the 1920s progressed, union rights were eroded by the colonial government, leading to decreasing effectiveness of the union. Despite this, in 1935, Muro Pietro became the leader of the union branch in Mastriano. However, in 1940, with the merger of colonial unions into a single Etrurian union by the orders of the Greater Solarian Republic, Pietro Muro opposed the merger, and as such was arrested and was sentenced to serve for fifteen years.
After the invasion of the Assimas Islands by Imaguan and Estmerish forces in 1944, Muro was released and became the head of the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union. He would serve until it merged with the Union of Sharecroppers and Manufacturing Workers in 1947, upon which he became head of the Assiman branch. He would continue serving until he resigned in 1952 to run as a Democratic Labour candidate.
Upon his victory in 1952, Pietro Muro built up a reputation as being a leftist in the Democratic Labour Party, while his tireless advocacy of labour issues helped catapult him to the cabinet, becoming Labour Minister in 1960. As Labour Minister, he made labour laws more union-friendly, adjusted the minimum wage so it would increase with inflation, and cultivated close ties between the national government and the trade unions.
In 1976, he ran as the Democratic Labour candidate for the Imaguan premiership, winning a majority in the Chamber of Commons. During his first term, he oversaw the expansion of Imagua's welfare state, but also oversaw the secession of the right wing of the Democratic Labour Party to form the National Labour Party. In his second term as Prime Minister, he oversaw the beginning of the Imaguan recession, and instituted a budget which significantly cut government spending, privatized corporations, and ended the 1:1 peg between the Estmerish shilling and the Arucian shilling.
Following the death of Anthony Brocket in March 1981, Pietro Muro became President, while his deputy Prime Minister, Marguerite Ernman, became Prime Minister. Despite the recession going on, his presidential term was largely uneventful, and he retired from politics in 1984.
In his later years, revelations of his corruption came to light, due to the continued disparity between his apparent income level and the lifestyle that he lived, and he was arrested in 1993. After a trial, he was sentenced to ten years in prison in 1995, but due to his deteriorating medical condition, he was pardoned by outgoing President Isidoro Libero in 2000.
Early life
Pietro Muro was born on 1 September, 1906, in San Pietro to cabinetmaker Gianluigi Muro (1867-1932) and Annagrazia Muro (1879-1955), as the youngest of three children, and the second son. They lived in the neighbourhood of Mastriano, due to its location near the factory where his father worked.
In 1912, he began attending the Mastriano School. Although Muro was an excellent student, due to his parents' financial situation, after completing his elementary school studies in 1918, Muro was forced to drop out and start working at the same factory as his father, in order to help his family "stay under their roof." These circumstances helped make Muro realise that "the current economic order [was] fundamentally unjust," as combined, he, his brother, and his father, only earned "a few florins a week," which was barely enough to stay at their home.
Thus, in 1920, he became interested in affiliating the factory's workers with a trade union, learning about the concept from a close friend of his who worked as a sharecropper. Intrigued, he helped organise the factory's workers to form a union branch, which voted to join the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union in 1921.
Union involvement
By 1922, Pietro Muro became involved in the union branch of the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union, which operated at the factory that his family worked at. As Muro helped organise the factory's workers, he became the union representative at the factory by a vote of the workers.
Pietro Muro sought to negotiate with the executives regarding payment of workers, with Muro advocating an increase of the minimum wage from 5 florin per day to 25 florin per day. After several months of negotiations, Muro was able to persuade the owners to pay the workers a minimum wage of ₣12.50 per day, which was hailed as a success by the union, as well as the workers.
However, as the decade wore on, Pietro Muro found it "difficult" to convince companies and his own union to make "meaningful improvements" to the conditions of workers at the factory. This was exacerbated by the Great War, and the Gaullican occupation of the Assimas, alongside neighbouring Estmerish colony of Imagua, which saw labour rights restricted in the name of the "war effort."
Despite this situation, Pietro Muro continued gaining prominence in the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union, and in 1935, he became the leader of the union branch serving the factories in Mastriano. As one of the main union leaders in the area, Pietro Muro became noted for his heavy efforts to assert union authority, much to the chagrin of many leaders, who were supportive of cooperating with the colonial government.
In 1940, when the Etrurian government passed legislation requiring all colonial trade unions to be merged into the TBD Trade Union, Pietro Muro refused to allow the workers be "chained to a toothless trade union." As a consequence, Pietro Muro was arrested and charged on unfair labour practices, and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. He would be released after the invasion of the Assimas by Estmerish and Imaguan forces in 1944, and would become the Secretary-General of the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union.
As Secretary-General, he repudiated the merger with the TBD Union, and declared that the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union would fight for "fair representation" and for "justice, liberty, and prosperity" for the workers. He urged branch unions to "force the hand of collaborationists" and ensure that living standards of the Assiman workers would improve. This helped win him substantial support, with some at this time advocating for Muro to advocate for Assiman independence from Etruria. However, Pietro Muro sought to keep the union away from the discussions, saying that "our duty, first and foremost, is to repay the debt incurred by our passivity, our inaction: once we have addressed all that, can we discuss the fate of these islands."
After the end of the Solarian War in 1946, the Assimas were officially annexed. Recognizing the position of the Assimas as being a "mere county," and wishing to "build closer relations with the unions on the other side [of the Pilastri Straits]," Pietro Muro began negotiations to make the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union a regional branch of the Union of Sharecroppers and Manufacturing Workers. After several months of discussions, Pietro Muro held a vote among the union membership, with 51.4% of the members voting in favour of the agreement.
Thus, on 1 May, 1947, the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union of the Assimas became the Assiman Branch of the Union of Sharecroppers and Manufacturing Workers, with Pietro Muro remaining the head of the union. During this period, Pietro Muro built up ties with both the national union, and with the Democratic Labour Party, which the national Union of Sharecroppers and Manufacturing Workers was a part of.
In 1952, the Democratic Labour Party urged him to run against incumbent Sotirian Democratic MP Gabino Montani. Pietro Muro accepted the offer, and officially resigned his role in the union to enter national politics.
Entry into Parliament
In the 1952 general election, Pietro Muro had the backing of both the Democratic Labour Party, and the Union of Sharecroppers and Manufacturing Workers. This gave him a significant advantage in that election campaign, given that the incumbent MP, Gabino Montani of the Sotirian Democrats had been perceived to be anti-union, particularly as Montani was accused of cracking down on unions at his factories before the Solarian War.
Thus, from the start, Pietro Muro emerged as being the most likely person to win the constituency of San Pietro-Mastriano, with Montani facing an uphill battle against Muro. Despite Montani accusing Muro of being a criminal and a communist, Pietro Muro deflected these accusations, pointing to his role as the regional head of the Union of Sharecroppers and Manufacturing Workers, and as the Secretary-General of the Assiman Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union.
When the results came in, Muro won with 64% of the vote, enabling him to enter the Chamber of Commons. Thus, he was sworn in for his first term on 23 April, 1952, as a backbencher for the Democratic Labour Party. His purchase of a historic house in Cuanstad marked the beginning of a period where Muro's spending was well above his income as a Member of Parliament.
In 1953, he delivered his maiden speech, urging for the Imaguan government to take "decisive action" to protect union rights and create a "more just Imagua for all, not just for the bourgeoisie." This gave him a reputation of being a hardline democratic socialist, firmly placing Muro to the party's left. While this garnered him a lot of support from trade unionists, it opened him up to attack from the Sotirian Democrats, who accused him of being a Chistovodian-style communist.
After the invasion of Dunhelm Island by Maracao in 1955, he urged Marguerite Ernman's government to "militarily respond," saying that the invasion and occupation "was, first and foremost, an act of war." He was critical of the "poor" response that the government has shown, saying that her actions had "jeopardised the Democratic Labour Party's continued survival."
The following year, Muro ran against Sotirian Democratic candidate Coreno Furia, who ran on a platform of deregulation and on preserving traditional values. Pietro Muro accused Furia of having ties with the colonial government in the Assimas during the Greater Solarian Republic, leading to Pietro Muro increasing his support. When the results arrived, he had 72% of the vote, allowing him to serve for a second term in the constituency.
In his second term, Pietro Muro was far more outspoken, and was appointed to Efrem Lacovara's shadow cabinet, as a shadow Labour Minister. Muro proposed a comprehensive reform to labour laws to make the government "more union-friendly" and force Imaguan companies to "accept the union as being an [integral part] of our life." This measure, combined with the developing ties between Efrem Lacovara and Eric Fleming, helped secure Muro's position in the Democratic Labour hierarchy.
Thus, by the time of the 1960 general election, Pietro Muro's position in the party hierarchy was fairly safe, while he was able to exploit divisions among the opposition in his constituency to be re-elected with 65% of the vote. This allowed him to serve a third term in the Chamber of Commons.
Labour Ministry
On 23 April, 1960, Pietro Muro was appointed as Labour Minister by newly-elected Prime Minister Efrem Lacovara.
From the start, Pietro Muro instituted changes to the labour code, with these changes making it easier for unions to operate, and to make it more difficult for employers to crack down or restrict union activities. He also reinstated the card check system for unions that was abolished by Martin Ellingham's government in favour of a secret ballot for union registration. As well, he raised the minimum wage in 1961, setting it to 20d per hour (42ſ52 or €5.17 if adjusted for inflation as of 2020). Throughout his tenure as Labour Minister, he would adjust the minimum wage to inflation, with his last revision in 1975 setting it to 44d per hour.
In addition, as Labour Minister, he sought to cultivate and maintain close ties between the governing Democratic Labour Party and the trade unions, with Muro's background as a union leader helping enable him to develop closer relations between the trade unions and the national government.
These successes enabled him to be re-elected in 1964, 1968, and 1972 with overwhelming majorities. As the Democratic Labour Party formed government, Pietro Muro was able to maintain his position as Labour Minister under both Efrem Lacovara's government, and Eric Fleming's government, during which time he often visited workplaces to ensure that labour laws were being followed. However, he presided over the Sugar Crash, which all but decimated Imagua's manufacturing industry, and greatly damaged Imaguan sugar plantations, which in turn damaged many Imaguan banks.
Despite questions as to whether Pietro Muro's ministry led to the severe recession, the Democratic Labour Party argued that it was not because of Muro's policies, but rather, because of an increase in artificial sugar substitutes, which they argued "undermined the ability of sugar plantations in the Arucian" to compete with these substitutes. This helped ensure Muro survived the Sugar Crash, and by the early 1970s, the Imaguan economy had recovered.
Premiership
1976 leadership campaign
By 1975, as Efrem Lacovara reached his maximum term limit as President, both Lacovara and Fleming announced their intention to step aside. At that year's leadership convention, Pietro Muro threw his hat in the race, facing off against Travis Marshall, who advocated for the adoption of a "new approach" in response to the 1967-72 Sugar Crisis, and who advocated for reforms in the Democratic Labour Party that would weaken the influence of trade unions.
Pietro Muro in contrast advocated for the maintenance of the existing system, saying that "our economy has thoroughly recovered from [the Sugar Crash], we are no longer as reliant on sugar and the production thereof," advocated for "increasing the presence" of trade unions in Imaguan society, and for ensuring that "public goods are run by the national government for the people."
This made Muro incredibly popular among members of the Democratic Labour Party, especially among Assiman-based and Bahio-Imaguan trade unions, although he was criticised by many Eucleo-Imaguan trade unions, who accused Muro of expanding government power to the "detriment of the people."
Despite this heated situation, on the sixth ballot, Muro was nominated to be the DLP candidate for Prime Minister, while Anthony Brockett became the DLP candidate for the Imaguan presidency. This meant that Pietro Muro was campaigning against the Sotirian Democratic nominee for the premiership, Roland Arnold in the 1976 general election.
Over the course of the election campaign, Muro gained significant support from voters, particularly as Roland Arnold was seen as not being attuned with the values of the Bahio-Imaguan majority, due to his participation in previous Sotirian Democratic governments, which led to some Sotirian Democrats voting for the Democratic Party (Imagua). Thus, when the results came in, Muro not only won his seat (with 68% of the vote), but also increased the DLP's seat count by 5 to 49, enabling Muro to become Prime Minister.
First term
Thus, on 23 April, 1976, Pietro Muro was named as the eleventh Prime Minister by President Brockett, succeeding Eric Fleming. On that day, Muro unveiled his cabinet, which included Marguerite Ernman as his Deputy Prime Minister.
During his first term, Pietro Muro implemented his campaign promises of a "just Imaguan society." Therefore, Pietro Muro increased agricultural subsidies for farmers growing or intending to grow "other foodstuffs" to help reduce Imaguan agriculture's reliance on sugar exports. In addition, Pietro Muro expanded the welfare state established by Lacovara and Fleming, to the point that by 1977, "most Imaguans were benefitting in one way or another" by the national government.
However, within the Democratic Labour Party, tensions between Muro and Marshall grew, particularly as Marshall and many on the party's right accused Pietro Muro of being too radical, and being "too blinded by ideology to govern properly," with Marshall claiming that the expansion of the welfare state would be "too much for the Imaguan treasury to bear." By May 1978, the Democratic Labour Party split, with Travis Marshall and four other MPs crossing the floor to establish the National Labour Party.
The split of the Democratic Labour Party alarmed Pietro Muro, as he was concerned that if the National Labour Party did well enough at the expense of the Democratic Labour Party, it might allow a Sotirian Democratic government to return to power. As well, with stagflation beginning to occur in the country, combined with economic forecasts of a recession, it made Pietro Muro far more cautious and less ambitious with regard to his policies.
At the 1979 leadership convention, Muro and Brockett were both acclaimed for a second term as Prime Minister and President respectively. Thus, when the writ was dropped for the 1980 general election, Pietro Muro was competing against Travis Marshall of the National Labour Party, and Roland Arnold of the Sotirian Democratic Party.
Seeking to neutralize Marshall's campaign, Pietro Muro vowed to institute "common sense solutions" to combat the imminent financial crisis, saying that "Imagua needs to learn to live within its means," and to do "whatever it takes" to address Imagua's financial problems. While this was criticized by many trade unions, who feared that this would undermine their status, as well as the National Labour Party, who argued that Muro "cynically stole the policy just so he could be re-elected," it helped boost the Democratic Labour Party to the top of the polls, where until that point, the National Labour Party was leading the polls.
Thus, when the results came in, while the Democratic Labour Party lost three seats, they were still able to form a majority government. Likewise, as Muro won his seat with 63% of the vote, he was able to become Prime Minister.
Second term
Thus, on 23 April, 1980, Pietro Muro was sworn in for a second term as Prime Minister. On that day, he unveiled his new cabinet, which consisted of few alterations to his first cabinet, the most prominent being the appointment of a former banker to the portfolio of Finance.
In June 1980, Muro officially declared a recession, following two quarters of declining economic growth. Muro declared that "this old approach is no longer sustainable," and vowed to institute a "new economic approach" that would "ensure that the wealth grows, and trickles down to all Imaguans," which alienated many leftists within the party. Pietro Muro bailed out the banks, saying that "we have learned our lessons from Sugar Crash to not let the banks fail." In addition, to stimulate competition, he allowed foreign banks to operate freely in the country. These measures proved unpopular, particularly as Muro began instituting austerity measures to reduce government spending.
In January 1981, Muro presented the budget, which cut a lot of Imaguan government programmes and services, such as most of the routes served by the Imaguan Maritime Service, the entirety of Imaguan Government Railways, and privatized many national corporations, such as Air Imagua, the Bank of the Assimas, and most infamously of all, ending the currency board between the Estmerish shilling and the Arucian shilling, in order to devalue and float the Imaguan currency.
Many criticised his measures, but Muro defended them, saying that "our priority is to get out of the recession as fast as we can: in 1980, unemployment was at 11.3%, and if we do nothing, unemployment will be at 15%."
Presidency
On 22 March, 1981, Anthony Brockett died of a sudden heart attack, leading to Pietro Muro automatically becoming President. His Deputy Prime Minister, Marguerite Ernman, became Prime Minister, per the Imaguan constitution.
Overnight, much of the negative sentiment against the Democratic Labour government evaporated, with Pietro Muro's approval ratings rising from 34% in February 1981, to 62% in April 1981. His first task as President was to hold a snap election, at the request of Marguerite Ernman, in order for her to secure a mandate on her own terms. The 1981 parliamentary elections saw the Democratic Labour Party gain one seat, and allowed them to maintain a majority government.
During his tenure as President, Pietro Muro used his position to help increase the profile of his country on the international stage, such as by travelling to attend conferences and meetings on behalf of Imagua and the Assimas. While he attempted to use his position to promote his agenda, Marguerite Ernman's government was able to resist many of his suggestions, which although led to some tension between the two sides, was not serious enough to tear the party apart. As well, a scandal rocked the presidency when in 1982, the Gazzetta di San Pietro published allegations of Muro having a child with Tamara Waters, leading to the divorce of Pietro Muro and his then-wife, Winifred Muro after Pietro confirmed the allegations.
In 1983, he announced his retirement from politics, and endorsed Ernman to run for the presidency, and Edmondo Privitera to run for the premiership on behalf of the DLP. The following year, he handed the presidency over to Marguerite Ernman.
Retirement and imprisonment
Early retirement
Following Pietro Muro's departure from the Red House, Muro returned to his hometown of San Pietro with his mistress, Tamara Waters, selling his house in Cuanstad in favour of a mansion in Piccole Colline.
In 1985, he published his memoirs: A Union Man, which depicted his rise to power from his time as a "young man organizing men to join the Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union." His memoirs sold incredibly well, particularly as it gave a "tell-all look" as to his life.
However, his memoirs led to more questions about how Muro was able to sustain an extravagant lifestyle, despite by this point, officially living on a pension from the Imaguan government. Throughout his political career, Muro had refused to answer questions as to how he was able to afford living extravagantly despite apparently only earning a modest salary, which led to speculation about corruption.
Despite these speculations, Pietro Muro remained active in the Democratic Labour Party, endorsing Ernman and Privitera for their re-election bid in 1988, although by this time, most trade unions had disowned Muro as a result of his "betrayal" in the early 1980s. This "relationship" between Muro and the Democratic Labour Party was believed to have helped insulate Muro from prosecution during this period of time, although by 1992, Muro had been marginalized by the Democratic Labour Party.
Legal proceedings
In May 1992, Assimas Police Force began investigation of Pietro Muro's finances, due to "significant irregularities" from his election to the Chamber of Commons in 1952 onward. Over the course of a year and a half, a political scandal emerged, as Pietro Muro's ties to the banks and to Baigent Powell unraveled a significant "corruption ring" within the Democratic Labour Party.
In November 1993, Pietro Muro was officially charged with two counts of bribery, two counts of embezzlement, four counts of violating campaign financing laws, and one count of tax evasion, and was arrested at his home. At a preliminary hearing, Muro pleaded not guilty to all charges. There, the courts ruled that there was substantial evidence for the case to move forward.
His trial began in July 1994, with Muro being defended by Walter Maynard. Muro denied the allegations, arguing that he did not "illicit benefit" for himself, nor abuse his power for his own personal gain.
The prosecution responded by presenting evidence of Pietro Muro accepting bribes from Baigent Powell to buy the Bank of the Assimas and part of Air Imagua in 1981, of embezzling money from unions and the government during his tenure as Labour Minister and Prime Minister from 1960 to 1981 respectively, of his campaigns from 1964 to 1980 "frequently violating campaign financing laws" as a result of significant donations by both trade unions and the banks, and of not paying full taxes to the Imaguan Revenue Service.
The defence responded by claiming that Pietro Muro had "not taken money from the till [of government] for his own benefit, followed campaign financing laws to the letter, and paid full taxes to the government," and was unaware of the illegality of Baigent Powell's deal with Muro in 1981.
Over the next several months, counterarguments took place, but in December 1994, the court found him guilty of all charges. After deliberation, on 9 January, 1995, Pietro Muro was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and had to pay a fine of 2,250,000 shillings (adjusted for inflation, 8,046,319ſ08, or €977,446.42 as of 2020). He was transported to the Bronstad Penitentiary to start serving his sentence. His sentence was criticised as being too light, given the severity of Muro's corruption, while Muro's defence argued it was too harsh on a nearly 90-year old man.
During his time in prison, Pietro Muro's health began to deteriorate further: by 1997, it was reported that he was completely blind, and could no longer walk without assistance. Due to this, in 1999, Pietro's son, Marco Muro, requested a pardon be given to Pietro Muro, on account of his "declining health."
Later years and death
On 22 April, 2000, shortly before leaving office, outgoing President Isidoro Libero granted a pardon to Pietro Muro, which was controversial, as many believed that he should have served the full ten years of his prison sentence.
Following his release, he returned to San Pietro, where he moved into a nursing home due to his deteriorating condition. Pietro Muro at this point had completely withdrawn from public life, although he still maintained in interest in current affairs, by listening to the radio.
On 13 July, 2002, Pietro Muro suffered a heart attack, and was rushed to hospital, where he died the following day of heart failure.
After his death, both the Democratic Labour Party and the Sotirian Labour Party voted unanimously to deny him a state funeral, and instead, a private funeral service was held at Saint Joseph's Church in Mastriano, only attended by his family. Despite invitations to the Union of Sharecroppers and Manufacturing Workers and the Democratic Labour Party for them to send representatives to his funeral, they both declined. He was subsequently buried at the Mastriano Cemetery.
Personal life
Marriages and issue
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Pietro Muro first met 21-year old seamstress Ivetta Michelotti at a union convention in 1928. After "falling in love," Pietro Muro married Ivetta the following year, having three children: Olivia Marcella, who was born in 1930 and died in 2003, Diodoro Muro, who was born in 1934, and died in 2016, and Mara Spagnoli, who was born in 1936, and died in 2022. They remained married until her death in 1944 during the invasion of the Assimas, when a stray gunshot hit her head, killing her instantly.
Following Muro's release from prison, he met his second wife, 23 year-old secretary Winifred Aldworth in 1953 while "at the beach." After they both fell in love with each other, they married in 1955, and had two children: Marco Muro, born in 1956, and Audrey Cavallero, born in 1958. They remained married until 1982, when following allegations that Muro had a daughter with Tamara Waters, Winifred filed a divorce.
Pietro Muro would marry for a third time in 1984 to his mistress, Tamara Waters. Besides his daughter born in 1982, Brandi Rollins, Pietro Muro would have three more children with her during the marriage: twin sons Ricardo Muro and Larry Muro, both born in 1985, and a daughter, Mallory Horton, born in 1989.
At the time of his death in 2002, Pietro Muro was survived by his ex-wife and his wife, all nine of his children, as well as fourteen grandchildren, twenty-one great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson.
Languages
Pietro Muro spoke Western Imaguan Creole as a first language, but learned Vespasian in school. After entering Parliament, Muro learnt Estmerish, and although he was not "completely comfortable" in his later years, Muro was able to speak it fairly well.
He could also carry a basic conversation in Gaullican, as a result of the Gaullican occupation of the Assimas Islands during the Great War, as well as Geatish.
Political views
For most of his life, Pietro Muro was a democratic socialist, advocating for the expansion of national corporations, of the welfare state, and for Imagua to be a "union-friendly country." Muro was critical of capitalism, saying that "capitalism, although it has helped us ascend [from where we were], is now outddated," and instead favoured a "democratic transition" to socialism. During his first term as Prime Minister, Muro instituted policies which helped further his vision for a "just Imaguan society," although he maintained Imagua's economic system.
However, in the aftermath of both the split of the Democratic Labour Party with Travis Marshall's National Labour Party, and the 1980 recession, Pietro Muro became a neoliberal, with his government delivering the 1981 budget which saw significant government cuts, in addition to privatizations of many national corporations. This led to many trade unions disowning Pietro Muro's government, with some of them transferring their support to the National Labour Party.
He was a supporter of decriminalising same-sex relationships, and was sympathetic to the environmentalist movement.
Religion
Pietro Muro was born and raised as a Solarian Catholic, having been baptised at birth. Muro has said that the church had been a "key facet of his political development," and that "without the church, it may have been easy for me to have become a functionalist."
Legacy
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Pietro Muro has left a complicated legacy, given his historic support for trade unionism and democratic socialism before shifting to neoliberalism in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the later revelations of Muro's corruption.
Among trade unionists, although Pietro Muro is positively remembered for his expansion of labour protections that ensured that unions would be able to operate largely unimpeded, his abandonment of democratic socialism and his embrace of neoliberalism alienated many trade unions who had previously supported Muro, leading to some trade unions supporting the National Labour Party out of reaction to Muro's policies. Upon the revelations of Muro's corruption, virtually all trade unions who had not been alienated by Muro's turn to neoliberalism disowned Muro.
Among the ordinary citizenry, while Pietro Muro was best remembered for his expansion of the welfare state during his first term as Prime Minister from 1976 to 1980, he is remembered negatively for his policies in the second term that saw significant government cuts, mass privatisations, and ending the currency board between the Arucian shilling and Estmerish shilling. In addition, after it was revealed that Muro had been corrupt, public opinion of Pietro Muro dropped even further.
Political scientist from the University of Cuanstad Marge Murphy argues that the greatest legacy of Pietro Muro was the "establishment of the current party system," as Muro's actions led to the creation of the National Labour Party, which in 1997, merged with the Sotirian Democratic Party to create the Sotirian Labour Party, which managed to become the governing party of Imagua and the Assimas from 2000 until 2016, when the Democratic Labour Party retook power. Murphy also notes that Muro's legacy was complicated, as he "abandoned his ideals, his vision, just so he could maintain the premiership and his wealth."
Honours
Domestic
- File:ImaguaFlag.png Companion of the Order of Imagua, awarded 1985, revoked in 1994
Foreign
Gratitude of the People of Satavia, awarded 1982- File:Order of Estmere ribbon Grand Cross Special Class.svg Grand Cross with Special Class of the Order of Estmere (1984)
