Simultaneously, Vittorini founded the magazine Il Politecnico (1945-1947). It was an explosive, avant-garde publication that argued culture could not be separated from politics. While the Italian Communist Party (PCI) wanted artists to "serve the party line," Vittorini insisted that culture must be free to criticize the party itself. He wrote a famous open letter to party leader Palmiro Togliatti, declaring: "Culture cannot be an instrument of power; it is the expression of doubt." This led to his expulsion from the PCI, but he never wavered. He preferred intellectual honesty to organizational loyalty.