The National Anarchist Conference ---- "For an Oriented and Faithful Movement",
better known as the Pontedecimo Conference, held in this locality of Genoa on 24and 25 February 1951, represents a milestone in the history of libertariancommunists in Italy and not only. From that assembly, convened by the InitiativeGroup expelled shortly before by the Italian Anarchist Federation (FAI), theexperience of the Anarchist Groups of Proletarian Action (GAAP) and the attemptto re-engage anarchism in the wake of the workers' movement from which he wasborn. This is how Arrigo Cervetto, one of the founders of the organization,recalls in his memoirs:"In Pontedecimo we were just over twenty and we were just over twenty years old".And continue further:"In the small room of Pontedecimo there was certainly the disappointment of thepast years but above all there was the passion of the future" (1).Initially, the Conference should have taken place in Rome or Bologna, cities moreeasily accessible from the ten regions from which the delegates would come. Thesubsequent decision to keep it in Pontedecimo was evidently dictated by the factthat among the adhering groups thoseas soon as they left the Ligurian Anarchist Federation (FAL) they were the mostconsistent and best organized. From the archives and literature we have a way of knowing where the successivenational GAAP conferences took place, between 1952 and 1957. Mostly in venuesgranted by left parties linked in various ways to the labor movement and itshistory: in Florence at the Casa del Popolo di Rifredi in Via Vittorio EmanueleII 303, in Livorno in the premises of the Provincial Federation of the RepublicanParty in Corso Mazzini 7, in Bologna at the section of the Socialist DemocraticParty in Via Andrea Costa 85, in Pisa in the socialist headquarters in CorsoItalia 16, in Milan in the republican one of Via Meravigli 2 and finally in Genoain Via San Luca 4/11 at the section of the Movimento della Sinistra Comunista, towhich the libertarian communists had in the meantime joined (2).Perhaps no one has ever wondered instead where exactly the meeting in which theGAAP was formed took place in Pontedecimo, which was the meeting "room" cited byCervetto in which this political adventure began; on the other hand, the bestknown of the founders, from Cervetto himself to Gian Carlo Masini to LorenzoParodi, seem to mention it in their testimonies.In the circular convening the Conference, the place indicated is Piazza Anfossi,which never existed in Pontedecimo (3). On the other hand, as it already existedin 1951, there is Via Paolo Anfossi, which in its last stretch leads to thecentral Piazza Pontedecimo, hence perhaps the confusion of the writers of thecircular. The road crosses the small inhabited center coinciding with the Statale35 dei Giovi which connects Genoa with Milan, at that time the strategic roadaxis of the "Industrial Triangle". Val Polcevera itself, at the center of whichPontedecimo is located, was an important steel district with a strong workers'settlement, already among the cornerstones of the Ligurian anarchist movement andlater an outpost of the partisan struggle (4). Still from the same document welearn that the appointment for the the start of the work was set for the morningof Saturday 24 February "in the room of the local anarchist group". Here we arehelped by a press release that appeared some time earlier in the FAI weekly"Umanità Nova" in which a regional conference of the FAL convened in the samevenue was announced, which certifies that this was located in "Via Paolo Anfossiabove the Cinematografo" ( 5). The cinema was called "Bellini", as someone inPontedecimo still remembers, and was located at number 72A, inside the courtyard. From here a short flight of stairs led to the anarchists' room, located on theupper floor. The "Aladino Benetti" Anarchist Group had made its premisesavailable, the usual place for congresses and conferences for Liguriananarchists, while deciding to remain in the FAI, which confirms that within thelatter, in Genoa and beyond, there was an area very close to GAAP. (6) The oldPontedecimo cinema, which was closed for many years, is now a supermarket. Alsofor this reason it is good to remember this story.Note:1) Arrigo Cervetto, Quaderni 198182, in Arrigo Cervetto, Works, vol. 29,Chronology of life and works. Notebooks and Notebooks. Indices, Lotta Comunista,Sesto San Giovanni, 2020, pp. 408-409.2) See Franco Bertolucci (edited by), Anarchist Groups of Proletarian Action. Theideas, the militants, the organization, 3 vols., BFS, Pisa / Pantarei, Milan,2017-2019, ad indicem.3) Cf. The political-cultural working committee to the adherents of the"initiative group for an oriented and federated movement", Circular N ° 8,Livorno 10 February 1951, in Franco Bertolucci (edited by), Anarchist Groups ofProletarian Action. The ideas, the militants, the organization, vol. 1, BFS, Pisa/ Pantarei, Milan, 2017, pp. 287-288. The fact that a Piazza Anfossi neverexisted in Pontedecimo was ascertained at the request of the author by theToponymy Office of the Municipality of Genoa on the basis of the historicaldocumentation preserved by it.4) See Guido Barroero, Anarchism and Resistance in Liguria, Altrastoria, Genoa,2004, pp. 28-31; E. Anna Marsilii, The anarchist movement in Genoa (1943-1950),Annexia, Genoa, 2004, pp. 29-46.5) In Genoa-Pontedecimo Ligurian regional conference, "Umanità Nova",n. 8, February 20, 1949.(6) In its congress of March 1950, also held in Pontedecimo, the FAL had adheredto the positions of the Initiative Group. Subsequently, some groups had notratified the resolutions of that congress, meeting in November in a newconference to reaffirm their adherence to the FAI. Finding itself in a seriousinternal crisis, the FAL had therefore not participated in the fourth NationalCongress of the FAI, held in Ancona in December, in which the Initiative Groupwas expelled. On the fourth FAI National Congress, cf. Ugo Fedeli (edited by),Italian Anarchist Federation. Congresses and conferences (1944-1962), FAILibrary, Genoa, 1963, now in Giorgio Sacchetti (edited by), Congresses andconferences of the Italian Anarchist Federation. Acts and documents (1944-1995),Centro Studi Libertari Camillo Di Sciullo, Chieti, 2003, pp. 79-86.Marcello Bianconi, a mechanical worker at SIAC, former volunteer in Spain,partisan and representative of the Ligurian Communist Libertarian Federation inthe National Liberation Committee of Pontedecimo, in the postwar post-wardirector of the CGIL and of the Committees of Union Defense, anarchist current ofthis union.Despite not having joined it, Bianconi will maintain good relations with the GAAPbased on dialogue and collaboration, on a par with other leading FAI militantssuch as Umberto Marzocchi and Mario Mantovani. On the Anarchist Group «AladinoBenetti» of Pontedecimo cf. Guido Barroero, Notes on the history of the anarchistmovement in Genoa after the war, Biblioteca Libertaria Fran cisco Ferrer, Genoa,2005, digital edition,http://issuu.com/rossonero.info/docs/movimento_anarchico_a_genova, pp. 1-4; Id.,The Sons of the Workshop. The Anarchist Groups of Proletarian Action (1949-1957),Franco Salomone Documentation Center, Fano, 2013, pp. 26-29; Marsilii, op. cit.,pp. 68-74. On Marcello Bianconi cf. Maurizio Antonioli, Giampietro Berti, SantiFedele, Pasquale Iuso (dir.), Biographical Dictionary of Italian Anarchists, vol.I, BFS, Pisa, 2003, ad nomen; Franco Bertolucci (edited by), Proletarian ActionAnarchist Groups. The ideas, the militants, the organization, vol. 1, cit., Pp.207-208; Letter fromA. Vinazza in S. Angelini, 9 February 1954, cit. in Franco Bertolucci (editedby), Anarchist Groups of Proletarian Action. The ideas, the militants, theorganization, vol. 3, BFS, Pisa / Pantarei, Milan, 2019, p. 187.Photographic documents:A. Pontedecimo, 1950s (Ed. Calì, Genoa. Coll. Millecartoline, Rome, pgc).B. Pontedecimo, Via Paolo Anfossi 72A. On the mezzanine floor the headquarters ofthe Anarchist Group «Aladino Benetti» where the first National GAAP Conferencewas held (Arch. Ed. GV, Mignanego, pgc).The author thanks:Municipality of Genoa, Toponymy Office;GV Editions, Mignanego; Millecartoline, Rome;Mutual Aid Workers' Society«The Brotherhood», Pontedecimo---Taken from Il Cantiere n. September 10, 2022Libertarian Alternative / Federation of Anarchist CommunistsTo request a copy of the magazine, send an article or a comment you can write toilcantiere@autistici.orgIl Cantiere n. 10 Settembre 2022Alternativa Libertaria/Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchiciilcantiere@autistici.org_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.caSPREAD THE INFORMATION
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