WORLD WORLDWIDE ITALY ROME News Journal Update - (en) Italy, FDCA, Il Cantiere #19: 8 SEPTEMBER 1943-8 SEPTEMBER 2023: 80 YEARS OF RESISTANCE - Anarchists in the Resistance in Rome (1943-1944) - Paolo Papini (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 THIS IS HOW OUR COMPANIONS FELL ---- weapons in hand against the fascist

hordes, in front of the firing squads, under the Nazi nerve in the
concentration camps. ---- IN ROME ---- GIOVANNI GALLINELLA, already
confined, returned to Rome after the fall of fascism, was part of a
libertarian partisan band; he arrested, was deported to Mathausen where
he died. ---- ALBERTO DI GIACOMO, already confined, arrested in February
1944 for his partisan activity; deported to Germany, he died in
Mathausen. ---- LELLO LOTTI, politically persecuted, was part of a
libertarian partisan gang; arrested, deported to Germany, died in Mathausen.

GIULIO RONCACCI, militant of the Roman resistance, operating with the
teams of the Action Party, killed in the Fosse Ardeatine.

ALDO ELOISI, partisan, captured during a firefight, tortured at the
Jaccarino Pension, then shot at the Fosse Ardeatine.

UMBERTO SCATTONI, partisan, captured by Italian policemen in the service
of the Germans, taken to Via Tasso, then shot at the Fosse Ardeatine.

RIZIERO FANTINI, already an exile in North and South America, a
collaborator of our periodicals, worked in partisan formations of the
Communist Party. Arrested, tortured in his own home, then imprisoned
with his children. He was shot at Forte Bravetta on 31 December 1943.

«The Impulse», a. VII, n. 4, 15 April 1955.

Thus, on the tenth anniversary of the Liberation, the newspaper of the
Anarchist Proletarian Action Groups (GAAP) «L'Impulso» remembered the
anarchist partisans who fell in the Resistance in Rome. «This list», it
was specified, «is absolutely incomplete. It does not include the names
of several companions for whom we have not been able to collect precise
biographical data. It also does not include the names of many comrades,
who disappeared in the fray, sometimes without leaving a trace. For
these omissions we apologize to comrades, friends and family members of
our fallen. We also apologize for any inaccuracies contained in this
list. And we commit ourselves and the entire movement to reconstruct
with greater care this page of faith and devotion to our idea." A
promise that we gather on the eightieth anniversary of the Resistance,

As Marcello Cardone, then a very young anarchist partisan and then GAAP
militant, testifies, «in Rome occupied by the Nazi-fascists the weight
of the anarchist movement is measured exclusively in the action of small
neighborhood groups disconnected from each other. Forced, therefore, to
operate in conditions of extreme dispersion and fragmentation, these
forceful groups move in conjunction with larger realities that are
politically different from them." Therefore «the Roman anarchists were
part of the armed formations of other parties: Red Flag, the Justice and
Freedom teams, the Gap Matteotti of the socialists» and the Garibaldi
Brigades of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) (1).

«Their fighting formations», states the historian Gino Cerrito regarding
the role of anarchists in the Resistance, «remain linked to the
Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Action Party.[...]Even if they
are second to none in the armed struggle against Nazi-fascism, they are
unable to overcome the level of psychological inferiority in which their
organizational deficiency and the lack of a uniform political program
places them" (2). «With respect to internal factors», the scholar
Claudio Silingardi has in fact observed, «the lack of a party that
gathered comrades on class positions and that managed to give itself a
minimum of adequate strategy at the moment had a significant impact»
(3). One consequence, this,

The Garibaldi Brigades represented the preponderant force in the
partisan struggle in Rome, together with the Red Flag formations of the
Italian Communist Movement (MCd'I), a revolutionary Marxist organization
dissident from the PCI and independent from the National Liberation
Committee (CLN). These were followed by the Justice and Freedom
formations of the Action Party and the Matteotti Brigades of the Italian
Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity. The Red Army, a mixed formation
composed of militants from the MCd'I and the PCI, independent from the
CLN, constituted the fifth partisan force in which the Roman anarchists
were included. A few other militants were included in smaller groups,
such as those of Democracy of Labor, a moderate reformist party adhering
to the CLN, and those of the Communist Catholic Movement, organization
of Christian-social inspiration dissident from the Christian Democracy
and independent from the CLN (5). The first anarchist nuclei were
reconstituted in the capital close to the fall of fascism, which
occurred on 25 July 1943 (6). After the armistice of 8 September their
military organization had to progress rapidly, with the establishment of
autonomous bands aggregated to the formations of the anti-fascist parties.

The «Michele Schirru» Band, incorporated into the Red Flag formations,
commanded by Renato and Gino Gentilezza (commander and commissioner
respectively), operated in the San Lorenzo district with over eighty
fighters divided into five teams. Among these: Domenico Antonelli, Carlo
Camponeschi, Francesco Catenacci, Alpinolo Dell'Orso, Umberto Pallotta,
Angelo Pietrosanti, Spartaco Pulcini (7).

The «Libertaria» Band, connected to the Justice and Freedom formations,
commanded by Didio Cesarini and Anselmo Preziosi (commander and
commissioner respectively), operated in the city with around thirty
fighters divided into three teams. Among these: Luigi Abbruzzetti,
Alpinolo Bucciarelli, Italo Del Proposto, Angelo and Giovanni Diotallevi
(team commanders), Giovanni Gallinella (team commander), Lucia Minon,
Giovanni Santella, Alfredo Simmi (team commander), Giulio Stramucci
(team commander nucleus), Antonio Vari (8).

Furthermore, two mixed gangs commanded by anarchist militants were
formed: the «Eluisi» Band, incorporated into the Justice and Freedom
formations, commanded by Aldo Eluisi (brigade commander), operating in
the center of the city with around a hundred fighters; the «Spinaci»
Group, connected to the Labor Democracy formations, commanded by Furio
Spinaci (detachment commander), operating in the Trionfale district with
around twenty fighters (9).

About fifty comrades were included in the formations of the anti-fascist
parties in the eight operational areas into which the CLN had divided
the city. Among these: Adolfo Bianchini (brigade inspector), Silvestro
Burini, Carlo Camisotti (deputy team commander), Domenico Centi, Olindo
Ciabattini, Riziero Fantini (battalion commander), Raffaele Lotti,
Amilcare Panzavolta, Salvatore Petronari (brigade commissioner), Libero
Pianelli, Natale Piergentili (team commander), Orlando Quattrucci,
Gaetano Scarpone (battalion commissioner), Federico Uberti - Garibaldi
Brigades; Francesco Galeotti (organizational inspector), Mario Gonzaga,
Siro Paradisi (brigade inspector), Guido Pratesi, Egidio Renzi
(detachment commissioner), Nelio Rita (battalion commissioner), Renzo
Sbriccoli, Lotario Valentini - Justice and Freedom; Menotti Banci,
Angelo Corbella (team commander), Alfredo Paccara (team commander),
Gabriele Pappalardo (intendant), Giovanni Ranzani, Pilade Riparbelli -
Bandiera Rossa; Giulio Roncacci (brigade commander) - Red Army; Tiziano
Rossi - Matteotti Brigades; Bruno Berti (division deputy commissioner) -
Labor Democracy and Communist Catholic Movement; Marcello Cardone -
Matteotti and Justice and Freedom Brigades; Filippo De Cupis - Red Flag
and Garibaldi Brigades; Alberto Di Giacomo (detachment commissioner) -
Garibaldi and Justice and Freedom Brigades; Marcello Ferrari (deputy
brigade commander) - Garibaldi Brigades and Communist Catholic Movement;
Umberto Scattoni (service chief) - Red Flag and Garibaldi Brigades (10).
Alfredo Paccara (unit commander), Gabriele Pappalardo (intendant),
Giovanni Ranzani, Pilade Riparbelli - Red Flag; Giulio Roncacci (brigade
commander) - Red Army; Tiziano Rossi - Matteotti Brigades; Bruno Berti
(division deputy commissioner) - Labor Democracy and Communist Catholic
Movement; Marcello Cardone - Matteotti and Justice and Freedom Brigades;
Filippo De Cupis - Red Flag and Garibaldi Brigades; Alberto Di Giacomo
(detachment commissioner) - Garibaldi and Justice and Freedom Brigades;
Marcello Ferrari (deputy brigade commander) - Garibaldi Brigades and
Communist Catholic Movement; Umberto Scattoni (service chief) - Red Flag
and Garibaldi Brigades (10). Alfredo Paccara (unit commander), Gabriele
Pappalardo (intendant), Giovanni Ranzani, Pilade Riparbelli - Red Flag;
Giulio Roncacci (brigade commander) - Red Army; Tiziano Rossi -
Matteotti Brigades; Bruno Berti (division deputy commissioner) - Labor
Democracy and Communist Catholic Movement; Marcello Cardone - Matteotti
and Justice and Freedom Brigades; Filippo De Cupis - Red Flag and
Garibaldi Brigades; Alberto Di Giacomo (detachment commissioner) -
Garibaldi and Justice and Freedom Brigades; Marcello Ferrari (deputy
brigade commander) - Garibaldi Brigades and Communist Catholic Movement;
Umberto Scattoni (service chief) - Red Flag and Garibaldi Brigades (10).
Pilade Riparbelli - Red Flag; Giulio Roncacci (brigade commander) - Red
Army; Tiziano Rossi - Matteotti Brigades; Bruno Berti (division deputy
commissioner) - Labor Democracy and Communist Catholic Movement;
Marcello Cardone - Matteotti and Justice and Freedom Brigades; Filippo
De Cupis - Red Flag and Garibaldi Brigades; Alberto Di Giacomo
(detachment commissioner) - Garibaldi and Justice and Freedom Brigades;
Marcello Ferrari (deputy brigade commander) - Garibaldi Brigades and
Communist Catholic Movement; Umberto Scattoni (service chief) - Red Flag
and Garibaldi Brigades (10). Pilade Riparbelli - Red Flag; Giulio
Roncacci (brigade commander) - Red Army; Tiziano Rossi - Matteotti
Brigades; Bruno Berti (division deputy commissioner) - Labor Democracy
and Communist Catholic Movement; Marcello Cardone - Matteotti and
Justice and Freedom Brigades; Filippo De Cupis - Red Flag and Garibaldi
Brigades; Alberto Di Giacomo (detachment commissioner) - Garibaldi and
Justice and Freedom Brigades; Marcello Ferrari (deputy brigade
commander) - Garibaldi Brigades and Communist Catholic Movement; Umberto
Scattoni (service chief) - Red Flag and Garibaldi Brigades (10).

Many of them held command roles as officers and non-commissioned
officers. Six comrades were officially recognized as fighting partisans,
one of whom held non-commissioned officer ranks: Zeffirina Baldazzi
(unit commander), Olga Conti, Vera Govoni, Lucia Minon, Livia Pagliari,
Assunta Serpilli (11).

On average forty year olds, the youngest was Marcello Cardone, sixteen
years old, the oldest Menotti Banci, sixty. They were mainly
construction workers, a category that constituted the vanguard of the
proletariat's struggles in Rome. They lived in the popular neighborhoods
of the city centre, in the peripheral neighborhoods and in the suburbs
where the fascist regime had relegated workers and the underclass. The
homes of Aldo Eluisi in the Trionfale district and of Renzo Sbriccoli in
Montesacro, the workshop of the Scattoni brothers in Testaccio and the
cellar of Tancredo Maroncelli in the Parioli Mountains had been used as
weapons depots.

Several of them had been part of the Arditi del Popolo in 1921-22,
others had fought in Spain in 1936-39 in the Italian Section of the
«Francisco Ascaso» Column of the CNT-FAI (12). During the twenty years
of fascism many had been in prison, in confinement and exile or
subjected to warnings and supervision. Some, having remained isolated
from the anarchist movement, had joined the PCI, a party with an
efficient clandestine organization (13).

Present on 10 September 1943 in the battle of Porta San Paolo for the
defense of Rome from the Nazi invader, the anarchist partisans were
protagonists in the nine months of German occupation of numerous «coup
de mains, sabotage actions, small attacks» with «large peaks of
individual heroism", as Cardone testifies (14).

There were numerous Roman anarchists who gave their lives in the
partisan struggle, in which they took part with the firm will that the
proletarian revolution would arise from it.

Let us not forget our fallen comrades:

Riziero Fantini and Salvatore Petronari, shot at Forte Bravetta on 30
December 1943 and 20 January 1944 (15); Carlo Camisotti, Aldo Eluisi
(Gold Medal for Military Valor in Memory), Egidio Renzi, Giulio Roncacci
and Umberto Scattoni, murdered at the Fosse Ardeatine on 24 March 1944
(16); Adolfo Bianchini, Guido Cimaroli, Giulio De Giuli, Alberto Di
Giacomo, Angelo Diotallevi, Francesco Galeotti, Giovanni Gallinella,
Raffaele Lotti, Giovanni Santella, Arturo Scandolo, Renato Tombelli and
Federico Uberti, deported to Nazi concentration camps, exterminated
between February 1944 and May 1945 or died subsequently due to the
consequences of internment (17);

Alpinolo Bucciarelli, who died in Rome in 1946 following an illness
contracted during the Spanish war which worsened during internment and
in the partisan struggle (18).

Others perhaps had to be counted. Too often and for too long forgotten,
their political affiliation has most of the time been silent in official
documents and historical studies (19).

One year after the liberation of Rome, which took place on 4 June 1944,
thirteen anarchist groups were formed, united in the Lazio Libertarian
Communist Federation with at least two thousand members (20).

Dario Bessi, Marcello Cardone, Domenico Di Maio, Tancredo Maroncelli,
Renzo Sbriccoli and Ugo Scattoni, libertarian communist partisans, were
among the militants of the «Roma Centro» Anarchist Group and the GAAP in
the post-war period (21).

Note:

(1) Testimony of Marcello Cardone in Valerio Gentili (ed.), The
Memorandum of the Roman Red Army and the anarchists in the Roman
Resistance, Quaderni dell'Archivio Internazionale Azione Antifascista,
n. 1, 2012, p. 26.

(2) Gino Cerrito, Gli anarchici nella Resistenza apuana, Pacini Fazzi,
Lucca, 1984, p. 44. On the participation of anarchists in the Resistance
in Italy see Alfonso Failla, The contribution of anarchists to the
partisan struggle in Italy, «Umanità Nova», a. XXVI, n. 37, 15 September
1946; ID., In the fight against Nazi-fascism, «Umanità Nova», a. XLIV,
n. 16, 26 April 1964; ID., The facts of the anarchist resistance in
Italy, «Umanità Nova», a. XLVI, n. 16, 23 April 1966; Gaetano
Manfredonia et al., The unknown resistance. Anarchists and the fight
against fascism, Zero in Condotta, Milan, 2005; Giorgio Sacchetti,
Resistance and social war. The anarchist movement and the liberation
struggle. 1943-1945, «Historical Journal of Anarchism», a. II, n. 1,
January-June 1995.

(3) Claudio Silingardi, Gli anarchici nella Resistenza, «Crescita
Politica», a. I, n. 1, April 1978.

(4) See Adriana Dadà, The Italian anarchists between class warfare and
reaction, in Giovanni Cherubini et al. (dir.), History of Italian
society, vol. XXI, The disintegration of the liberal state, Teti, Milan,
1982, pp. 393-395.

(5) See Gramsci Foundation, Archives of the Italian Communist Party,
Garibaldi Brigades (1943-1945), South Centre, Cart. 1, 1 Lazio: Rome,
«List of partisan formations in Rome and its province». On the Red Flag
and Red Army formations see Silverio Corvisieri, Red Flag in the Roman
Resistance, Odradek, Rome, 2005.

(6) See testimony by Marcello Cardone in Gentili, op. cit., pp. 26-28.

(7) See Central State Archive, Ministry of Defence, General Directorate
for military personnel, Office for the qualification recognition service
and rewards for partisans, Lazio Commission for the recognition of the
qualification of partisan and patriot (hereinafter onwards ACS,
RICOMPART, Comm. laz.), b. 199, f. 82, «List of members of the "Michele
Schirru" Band»; ACS, RICOMPART, Comm. laz., File, to appointment;
Central State Archive, Ministry of the Interior, General Directorate of
Public Security, General and Reserved Affairs Division, Central
Political Records Register (hereinafter ACS, CPC), upon appointment.

(8) See ACS, RICOMPART, Comm. laz., b. 251, f. 426, «List 438.
"Libertarian" formation»; ACS, RICOMPART, Comm. laz., File, to
appointment; ACS, CPC, to appointment; Maurizio Antonioli et al. (dir.),
Biographical dictionary of Italian anarchists, 2 vols., BFS, Pisa,
2003-2004 (hereinafter DBAI), by appointment. Remembers Alfonso Failla,
also a partisan, leader of the Italian Anarchist Federation after the
war: «In Rome, together with Vincenzo Baldazzi then in the action party,
linked to our movement by fraternal bonds for the common action carried
out in the arditi del popolo in 1921 and during the fascist
dictatorship, a libertarian formation was made up of courageous
militants, almost all of whom were former guests of prisons and
confinement" (Alfonso Failla, Gli anarchici nella lotto partigiana,
"Umanità Nova", a. XXXV, n. 17,

(9) See ACS, RICOMPART, Comm. laz., b. 249, f. 417, «Band "Eluisi Aldo"»
and b. 293, f. 1417, «"Spinaci Furio" Group»; ACS, RICOMPART, Comm.
laz., File, to appointment; ACS, CPC, b. 4913, f. «Spinach Furio».

(10) See ACS, RICOMPART, Comm. laz., File, ad nomination; ACS, CPC, to
appointment; DBAI, to appoint. Some fighters took part in multiple
formations, a circumstance probably determined by military needs rather
than political reasons. Other Roman anarchists, such as Amilcare Baldoni
(brigade commander, fallen), Luciano Maffucci (unit commander, fallen,
Silver Medal for Military Valor in Memory), Ugo Piermattei (formerly
Ardito del Popolo), Veraldo Rossi and Attilio Travaglini, they fought
outside the city in local autonomous formations. See ACS, RICOMPART,
Comm. laz., File, ad nomination; ACS, CPC, to appointment; DBAI, to appoint.

(11) See ACS, RICOMPART, Comm. laz., File, ad nomination.

(12) Menotti Banci, Didio Cesarini, Olindo Ciabattini, Filippo De Cupis,
Italo Del Proposto, Alberto Di Giacomo, Aldo Eluisi, Giovanni
Gallinella, Renato Gentilezza, Raffaele Lotti, Salvatore Petronari,
Nelio Rita were part of the Roman Legion of the Arditi del Popolo. ,
Alfredo Simmi. See Lorenzo Di Mitri, Aldo Eluisi. From the Arditi del
Popolo to the Fosse Ardeatine, Castelvecchi, Rome, 2021, pp. 54-79; Eros
Francescangeli, Arditi del Popolo. Argo Secondari and the first
anti-fascist organization (1917-1922), Odradek, Rome, 2000, pp. 301-303.
In the Italian Section of the «Ascaso» Column fought Italo Del Proposto,
Alpinolo Bucciarelli, Angelo and Giovanni Diotallevi, Lucia Minon, Siro
Paradisi. See Italian Association of Anti-Fascist Volunteer Fighters of
Spain (ed.), Spain in our heart. 1936-1939.

(13) Among these Riziero Fantini, Salvatore Petronari and Umberto
Scattoni. See respectively Antonio D'Ettorre et al., The hour of
choices. The Nazi occupation in the neighborhoods of Montesacro,
Valmelaina and Tufello in Rome between 1943 and 1944, Marlin, Cava de'
Tirreni, 2019, pp. 30 and 104-105; Carlo Picozza, Gianni Rivolta, The
forgotten resistance, Media & Books, Rome, 2022, pp. 101-110; Alessandro
Portelli, The order has already been executed. Rome, the Fosse
Ardeatine, memory, Feltrinelli, Milan, 2012, pp. 77-80.

(14) Testimony of Marcello Cardone in Gentili, op. cit., p. 30.

(15) See Augusto Pompeo, Forte Bravetta. A factory of death from fascism
to the post-war period, Odradek, Rome, 2012, p. 272.

(16) See Archive of the National Association of Italian Martyred
Families, personal files, by appointment.

(17) See Arolsen Archives, Zentralarchiv der Mansfeld AG Eisleben,
Namenlisten der Mansfeldscher Kupferschieferbergbau AG Eisleben, «Betr:
Freiwillige Verpflichtung von Italienische Arbeiter im Lager
Paulschacht»; Franco Bertolucci (ed.), The Italian anarchists deported
to Germany during the Second World War, «A. Rivista Anarchica», a.
XLVII, n. 415, April 2017; List of Italian deportees who died in
Mauthausen, in Vincenzo Pappalettera, You will pass through the chimney.
Life and death in Mauthausen, Mursia, Milan, 1965, by appointment;
Eugenio Iafrate, Undesirable elements. History and memory of a
"transport". Roma-Mauthausen 1944, Chillemi, Rome, 2015, ad index.

(18) See National Institute for the History of the Liberation Movement
in Italy, AICVAS Archive Fund, b. 3, f. 15, ad nomen.

(19) The anarchist movement immediately claimed and celebrated the Roman
comrades who fell in the Resistance. See Our dead, «Il Libertario», ns,
n. 1, September 1944; Ennio Mattias, Register of Martyrs. Fantini
Riziero, «Umanità Nova», a. XXV, n. 2, 14 January 1945; Giulio Roncacci,
«Umanità Nova», a. XXV, n. 11, 18 March 1945; Attilio Paolinelli, A
fallen man. Aldo Eluisi, «Umanità Nova», a. XXV, n. 12, 25 March 1945;
Search for missing persons, «Umanità Nova», a. XXV, n. 22, 3 June 1945;
Our martyrs. Francesco Galeotti, «Umanità Nova», a. XXV, n. 31, 4 August
1945; Levino Ciavatta, On the anniversary of the martyrdom of Fantini
Riziero, «Umanità Nova», a. XXVI, n. 2, 10 January 1946; Comrades who
don't return, «Umanità Nova», a. XXVI, n. 4, 24 January 1946; Tommaso
Gismondi, For the return home of the bodies of those murdered by the
Nazi-fascists, «New Humanity», a. XXVI, n. 15, 11 April 1946; Rizieri
Fantini, «Umanità Nova», a. XXVII, n. 2, 12 January 1947.

(20) See Regional Conference of the Lazio Libertarian Communist
Federation, «Umanità Nova», a. XXV, n. 33, 18 August 1945; Pasquale
Grella, Notes for the history of the Roman anarchist movement from its
origins to 1946, De Vittoria, Rome, 2012, p. 137. The following groups
have been established: «Spartaco Stagnetti» Appio, «Il Pensiero»
Esquilino, «Carlo Cafiero» Garbatella, Monteverde, «Gino Lucetti»
Nomentano, Ponte-Regola, «Aristide Ceccarelli» Primavalle, San Lorenzo,
Testaccio, «Primo May» Tor Pignattara, Trastevere, «Errico Malatesta»
Trionfale, «Pietro Gori» Tuscolano. The Anarchist Postelegraph Group,
the Anarchist Trammen Group, the Libertarian Metallurgical Group and the
Anarchist Hospital Nucleus were also established. The headquarters of
the FCLL in Piazza Fiammetta 11 and that of the Libertarian Communist
Group of San Lorenzo in Via dei Sabelli 119,

(21) See Franco Bertolucci (ed.), Anarchist Groups of Proletarian
Action. The ideas, the militants, the organization, vol. III, The
militants: the biographies, BFS, Pisa/Pantarei, Milan, 2019, by
appointment. Spartaco Leoni (detachment commander) and Ferruccio
Trombetti, also GAAP militants, fought outside the city in local
autonomous formations. See ACS, RICOMPART, Lazio Comm., File, for
nomination; ACS, CPC, b. 2770, f. «Lions Spartacus»; Bertolucci,
Anarchist Proletarian Action Groups, vol. III, cit., ad nomination. On
GAAP see also Guido Barroero, The Children of the Workshop. The
Anarchist Proletarian Action Groups (1949-1957), Franco Salomone
Documentation Center, Fano, 2013.

The author thanks his companion Mario Di Maio (Rome, 1928), fighting
partisan of the Red Flag formations of the San Lorenzo district, for his
testimonies.

Photographic documents: 1. Carlo Camisotti; 2. Aldo Eluisi; 3. Umberto
Scattoni (Arch. ANFIM, Rome).

Alternativa Libertaria/FdCA Il Cantiere #19 settembre 2023
ilcantiere@autistici.org http://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
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