#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #FRANCE #ANARCHISM #LIBRARY #News #Journal #Update - (en) #France, UCL AL #332 - History, 1922: Parma faced with fascism; paving stones, barricades and social struggles (ca, de, it, fr, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 In August 1922, two months before the March on Rome, the city of Parma resisted

and twice prevented the squadrons from entering the city. This ultimate organized
resistance to fascism, the Events of Parma (Fatti di Parma), is the work of
anarchist, communist and trade union activists who knew how to impose social
struggle and class solidarity against fascist violence. ---- On October 28, 1922,
the March on Rome (Marcia su Roma), a demonstration of force by the Italian
factions of the Partito Nazionale Fascista (National Fascist Party, PNF) with a
view to putting pressure on the power in place, will succeed the appointment of
Mussolini - who had prudently remained in Milan - as head of government. This
great warrior moment in fascist mythology was in fact a military fiasco, the
thousands of squadrists (we are talking about 26,000 men) who participate in the
March are poorly organized, poorly equipped and are quickly attacked and blocked
by anti-fascist forces locals in the popular district of San Lorenzo, then
stopped by a few hundred carabinieri.

The armed forces installed in the capital were for their part at least as large
in number, and much better armed and organized than the fascists. However, the
army does not wish to intervene, many officers are even openly favorable to the
fascists, and it has already shown benevolence - or even more - towards the
squadrists, who have already taken power in several localities. The political
authorities procrastinate then quickly give in to fascist blackmail and finally
entrust power to Mussolini. Italy was entering a long period of fascist terror
and violence, which would end more than twenty years later with the execution of
Mussolini on the shores of Lake Como by a group of partisans in April 1945.

A particularly active agrarian fascism
The March on Rome is in fact the epilogue of several months of extreme violence
by fascist troops who seize socialist localities and physically intimidate
several ministers. Thus the towns of Civitavecchia, Ancona, Terni, Bolzano then
Trento were taken and then occupied by fascist troops during the months of
September and October 1922. There was then an acceleration and generalization of
the violence of the squadristi[1]which since 1920 mainly targeted places and
organizations of the social movement.

Although claiming to be social, fascism primarily targets revolutionary activists
and organizations. It was the People's Houses and trade union headquarters that
were first targeted, particularly in the industrial north where a particularly
active agrarian fascism is developing. Only the big cities such as Milan, Turin
or Genoa are resisting this violence which will cause hundreds of deaths and tens
of thousands of injuries. This was particularly the case in Bologna in November
1920 where the fascists, allied with the local right and the industrialists of
the city, attacked the Palace of Accursio in order to prevent the red flag from
being raised during the investiture of the new mayor. , a socialist railway
worker. Violent clashes ensued, leaving eleven dead and around sixty injured. In
the south, many socialist leaders are assassinated by squadrists.

In the summer of 1922, the surge of fascist violence intensified. This is due
both to the impunity shown by the authorities vis-à-vis this violence, which was
certainly publicly criticized but partly accepted when it affected the supporters
of a socialist revolution, and to the internal games within the Fascist Party
between supporters of the political path and the hardline tendency, the
squadrists, favorable to a seizure of power by arms - Mussolini relying
alternately on the two tendencies.

Parma, the fascists retreat
It was in this context that on July 31, 1922, the Alleanza del Lavoro, which
brought together left-wing trade unions, called for a strike "against fascist
violence" and "the indifference of the state towards it". But the strike was
finally announced earlier than it should have been, nullifying the effect of
surprise and giving Mussolini time to organize his troops. The latter then
secretly sent very explicit instructions to all the federations of the PNF: "If,
forty-eight hours after the proclamation of the strike, the government has not
succeeded in crushing it, the fascists will provide for it directly. The Fascists
must, once the forty-eight hour period has elapsed, and if the strike continues,
target the capitals of the respective provinces and occupy them".

The order is given to crush the strikers, if the State does not take care of it,
by occupying the localities concerned. The community of interests between the
fascists and large sections of the Italian industrial and agrarian bourgeoisie
had already led in many localities to entrust the blackshirts with the role of
guarantors of order.

Among the cities particularly watched by the fascists are several port cities,
Bari in the first place, but also Ancona and Genoa, without forgetting Livorno
and then in the heart of Emilia-Romagna, Parma, Parma the red. It is even
according to Michele Bianchi, national secretary of the PNF, their main problem.
Parma and Guido Picelli, charismatic socialist then communist leader, trade
unionist, and tireless anti-fascist militant at the head of the Arditi del Popolo
(Soldiers of the People) of Parma.

Parmesan mural in homage to the Arditi del Popolo. The memory of the anti-fascist
resistance is still deeply rooted in the minds of the Parmesan people.
And while the strike seemed set to last in the city, some 10,000 squadrists, led
by local executives, were then mobilized for the occupation of the city (the PNF
had 700,000 members at that time). Very quickly, it appears that the city will
not surrender without a fight and Mussolini entrusts the direction of the
maneuver to Roberto Farinacci, one of the hardliners of the PNF, brutal leader of
the rural squadrons of the Po plain whose excesses Mussolini has often disavowed.
The objective is to bend the parmesan cheeses, but against the blackshirts the
resistance is organized and solid.

There is in fact in Parma a large battalion of the Arditi del Popolo, an
anti-fascist organization created in 1921 on the initiative of the anarchist Argo
Secondari, a former lieutenant of a special corps of the Italian army during the
First World War, the Departed from Assalto whose members were called Arditi. The
objective of the Arditi del Popolo is to physically oppose fascist violence. If
several of its most important members were anarchists (Argo Secondari or Antonio
Cieri), the Arditi del Popolo also had many communists in their ranks. But the
PCI (Partito Comunista Italiano) did not support their creation and the Arditi
received little support from the communist leaders, apart from the frank and
direct support of Antonio Gramsci and several leaders of the minority faction.

On August 2, at dawn, the 10 to 20,000 squadrists, according to the sources, from
all over Italy, Emilians, Tuscans, Venetians, Marches, Lombards, each behind the
pennants and insignia of their respective Fasci di combattimento , certain to
settle the case in a few hours, proudly advance, ready to swoop down on the city.
In Parma, the Arditi del Popolo and their allies Formazioni di difesa proletaria
(Proletarian Defense Formations) are strongly supported by the local population
and the first assaults by the squadrists come up against unexpected popular
resistance.

The inhabitants of Oltretorrente, Borgo Naviglio and Borgo Saffi face up,
barricades are erected in the popular neighborhoods under the coordination of the
Arditi del Popolo who, with their experience of the First World War, make them
into mini fortifications, with ditches and sharp objects, much more effective
than simple stacks. These barricades quickly prove to be of rare efficiency and
the fascists ultimately fail to enter the city.

Mussolini then disavows Farinacci and entrusts Italo Balbo[2], decorated for his
feats of arms during the First World War and one of the most influential figures
of the fascist party, with the direction of the troops. The latter, and despite
the arrival of Blackshirt reinforcements, still fails to make a breakthrough in
the part of the city defended by its inhabitants. On August 6, after four days of
failures, disappointed in the face of the Parmesan resistance, the fascists
deemed it preferable to beat a retreat and devastated the buildings located
outside the undefended zones, in particular the offices of the newspaper Il
Piccolo, of the Union of Labor and the People's Party.

Confinement, prison, exile abroad and death
The Fatti di Parma constitute the last episode of the organized resistance
against fascism. Once in power, his opponents experienced confinement, prison,
exile abroad and death. It was not until May 1942, in the towns of Carbonia and
Sesto San Giovanni, that workers found the courage to rebel against the regime
again. Strikes were organised. The resistance in the solidarity of the city of
Parma showed that it was possible to physically oppose the violence of the
squadristi. These were not invincible.

Barricade erected on Nino Bixio street. The barricades rose in the city
preventing the squadristi from entering the popular districts. The Arditi del
Popolo could count on the unfailing support of the Parmesan population strongly
anchored on the left.
The fact that Italy fell into dictatorship a few months later was not inevitable.
Left-wing organizations, such as the PCI, did not take the measure of what was
going on at the time. Faced with the squadristi it was necessary to organize a
proletarian resistance which would oppose the fascists head-on. The bourgeoisie
knew how to preserve its class interests, to sacrifice its institutions, certain
that its main interests would be preserved. Yesterday's lessons apply today.

David (UCL Chambery)

To validate

[1]The squadristi (squadristes) are at the origin of groups of armed militiamen,
former soldiers, who have been fighting since 1920 against the forces of
left-wing politicians and trade unions. In the two years alone, 1920 and 1921, it
is estimated that they were responsible for the direct deaths of more than two
hundred leftists and more than a thousand injured. In 1922 Mussolini merged the
squadristi and the militants of the PNF, stating that they were in fact its armed
wing.

[2]Italo Balbo became famous in the early 1930s thanks to his aeronautical
exploits and in particular his flight across the Atlantic Ocean with 25 seaplanes
from Italy to Chicago, where the Universal Exhibition was held. At that time, a
saying was born in Parma, which says ironically : "Balbo t'è pasè l'Atlantic ma
miga la Pèrma" (Balbo, you crossed the ocean but not the torrent of Parma)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?1922-Parme-face-au-fascisme-paves-barricades-et-luttes-sociales
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