(H)istory: 1943-45.

“History is not like a bus line on which the vehicle changes all its passengers and crew whenever it reaches the point marking its terminus.” Eric Hobsbawm in The Age of Empire

It’s hard to know where to begin with the historical background of Indiani Metropolitani/Movement of 77 and the general social and economic crisis of the 1970’s.

The general problems and cultural inheritances that Autonomia and the wider extra-parliamentary left dealt with can be traced far back in Italian history.
The “long view” of the development of Italian state and society would begin in the Risorgimento, the unification of the Italian peninsula that was completed by the late 1870’s. Another starting point could be the period after the First World War, the Red years of 1919 and 1920 and the “March on Rome” and the fascist seizure of power in 1922. In the end, I decided to start from the collapse of fascism in 1943 and the growth of the Resistance movement from 1943-45. This period provides a good platform for introducing the themes and the actors who would play a central role in the crisis of the 1970’s and the institutional, economic and social aspects of that crisis.

The Fall of Fascism

Central to fascisms programme was the idea of creating a new Italian Empire, to turn the Mediterranean into an Italian lake. Mussolinis attempts to bring this empire to reality were disastrous. He ordered the invasion of Greece in a fury after learning of German involvement in Romania, the Balkans was seen by Mussolini as being in the Italian sphere of influence and he intended to exert his influence there. The invasion was a failure from its inception. The Italians invaded Greece through Albania but were soon pushed back and their positions in Albania were under serious threat. Only a German invasion of Greece in April 1941 prevented a complete disaster.

Military failures helped compound the serious situation within Italy itself. There were serious shortages in food and other essentials which provoked major strikes during 1943. Once the Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943, many “moderate” fascists were convinced that the time for a break with Germany had arrived but that Mussolini was a serious obstacle to this. The Fascist Grand Council, meeting for the first time since the outbreak of war, passed a no confidence motion in Mussolini. This in itself was not enough to unseat him but the one person who could had decided to act. King Emanuel II dismissed him days later and had him arrested, appointing monarchist General Badoglio to the premiership. Soon after Italy surrendered to the Allies and immediately declared war on Germany. The German reaction was to invade and occupy North and Central Italy while the Allies occupied the southern half of the peninsula. This period of dual occupation set the stage for the growth of Resistance, an experience that would significantly influence the post-war period.


Resistance and the PCI

Thousands flocked to the various resistance bands that formed behind the German lines known as the Gothic line. The PCI formed the “Garibaldi” brigades; Socialists formed the “Matteoti” brigades and members of the republican Action Party “Giustizia e Libertà” brigades. Committees of National Liberation (CLN) were set up all over the country, their headquarters under occupation being in Milan. Nazi terror and the formation of the puppet Salo Republic encouraged the growth and proliferation of the CLNs. These regional and provincial CLN’s were being joined by new local committees, co-operatives, factory committees and new district, neighborhood and even street CLNs.

In terms of partisans under arms, Saloist intelligence reported that there were 25,000 in Piedmont, 17,000 in Emilia, 14,000 in Liguria and 5,000 in Lombardy. These partisans managed to liberate small areas of North Italy such as Carnia in the north east and Montefiorino in the Central Appenines. Numerically, the biggest single group in the Resistance was the Italian Communist Party (PCI.) This period was to see the PCI grow from a persecuted underground movement to a mass party with a membership of millions. Their strategy at the time was based on the unity of all anti-fascist forces against the Germans and against the Salo Republic. The strategy was based on the political line developed at the 7th Congress of the Comintern in 1935. Formulated by the PCI leader Palmiro Togliatti and Dimitrov, it advocated that communists work with bourgeois political forces and institutions in the struggle against fascism. This effectively meant the temporary abandonment of all other political considerations (the destruction of capitalism and the seizing of state power) in favour of working for the immediate goal which was the destruction of fascism. In the Italian context, this meant the communists abandoning their opposition to the monarchy known as La svolta di Salerno (The Salerno turning point) after the Italian town where Togliatti announced this political u-turn. Beyond this the PCI dropped all socialist and republican slogans so as to preserve the anti-fascist front.

The PCI was especially strong amongst factory workers in the North. The deprivations, violence and networks of resistance that were set up created a new era collective action that would have resonance for years to come. March 1944 saw a wave of major strike action making explicit political demands for immediate peace and for an end to German war production. 300,000 workers walked out in the province of Milan and tram drivers walked out for days before returning after a campaign of violence was waged against them. Even sections of white collar workers would walk out with blue collar workers, a rarity amongst the usually highly stratified workplaces. More generally, the German occupiers needed to make concessions to workers involved in war production. Violence and threats to dismantle factories and take them to Germany would often provoke strikes and even sabotage of the machinery.

CLN and the Allies

In August, 1944, the Tuscan CLN played a major role in liberating Florence from the Nazis. They liberated the northern part of the city and immediately appointed their own choice for prefect, the socialist Gaetano Pieraccini. The Allies were forced to accept this appointment despite the fact they had their candidate in mind from amongst the Florentine aristocracy. The situation of an assertive and confident resistance movement represented a major problem for the Allies. While they understood the military value of the Resistance, they also understood that the Resistance had political objectives of their own both for the immediate period and for after the war. Many members of the CLN’s wanted to see the institutions and spirit of the CLNs be the basis of a post-war order, one that was based on goals of direct democracy and egalitarianism.

For the Allies it was clear that the central task was to wrestle power from these independent CLNs and to invest it in a central authority in Rome. This was to be done in two ways: the separation of political and military goals and the strengthening of the CLNAI so as to keep the local CLNs under control. As part of this strategy the Badoglio government and the Allies came to an agreement with the CLNAI known as the “Protocols of Rome.” The Allies would offer financial subsidy and assistance in exchange for CLNAI promises to obey the Allies Military Command, transfer all authority and powers of local government to the Allied Military Government and immediately disband the Partisan groups after liberation. This agreement was a massive blow to the CLNs and the ambitions of many movement members. From this point onwards, post-war politics would be conducted in Rome and through the representative organs of political parties, the centralized State and Cabinet rather than through the direct democratic organs of the CLNs.

Liberation

The last winter before liberation was especially difficult for Italians. Massive food shortages and unemployment caused by sabotage and German requisitioning was compounded by bitterly cold weather. However, with the Red Army approaching from the east and the Anglo-American Allies from the west, liberation was close at hand and the details of liberation were prominent in the Allies thinking. They wanted the Germans to surrender to them alone and for the Resistance to devote their energies to protecting factories an infrastructure from German “scorched earth” policy. The partisans themselves had a different vision of how liberation would be carried out. They wanted to launch insurrections in the major cities to demonstrate the strength of the movement to ensure a place at the table of any post-liberation political arrangement (specifically the communists) and to help repair a broken nations morale through an act of self-liberation.

On April 1st, Allied troops began their last offensive against German lines. However, German resistance was fierce and the Allies arrival into the Centre and North was delayed. The CLNs and the PCI however had already begun preparations for insurrection, with or without Allied help. On the morning of the 24th of April, insurrection was launched in Genoa. The urban guerillas of the SAP and ordinary citizens stormed public buildings and cut power to the German barracks and engaging in fierce battle for days until partisans came from the countryside and forced the German garrison to surrender.

In Turin, a massive strike preceded insurrection and the local CLN fixed the 26th of April as the date for the insurrection. The Allies delay had confused matters and a planned attack from partisans in the surrounding hills failed to materialize. This left many CLN members, mainly factory workers to face the full brunt of the fighting. The Germans and fascist volunteers were pushed back to the centre of the city and during the night of the 26th pushed though the partisan lines and headed east toward the Austrian border. The remaining troops in the city surrendered to the Allies troops on the 3rd of May.

On the 27th of April, Mussolini was fleeing Milan towards the Swiss border under SS guard. Disguised as a German soldier, he was part of a motorized column heading north but was stopped by members of the Garibaldi brigade. Mussolini was recognized and taken prisoner. The Allied commanders gave orders for Mussolini not to be shot but this was ignored by CLN leaders. Mussolini along with his mistress was shot and strung up in Piazza Loreto (see photo.)

High and Low

As a listener, I seem to be heading in trajectories that are completely contradictory. The older I get the more immature my interests seem to be but also I’m being led into worlds of high seriousness and pretension.

My current rotation would be a good place to demonstrate this. I have gotten myself involved with hardcore band Deep Wound, most famous for being Lou Barlow and J Mascis’ first band. There is something wonderfully juvenile about them. They sound like wild teenage ID running riot in a supermarket, grabbing products off the shelves and trying to eat them before removing the packaging. They perfectly embody punks most immediate urges and desires for unmediated experience and fulfillment. Few songs lasts more than a minute and nor could it: Deep Wound expunge every thought/feeling/spasm right there in front of you and that’s rarely ever coherent or sustainable.

My fascination with this may not last long but this certainly pushes certain buttons right now.

At the opposite end of my brain right now lies Pierre Schaeffer. He was one of the pioneers of Music Concrete, the construction of sound art from recorded sound sources rather than musical instruments/notes. Despite his quite academic intent, his music does have an attractive element to the listener thats unaware of Schaeffers project. His use of disembodied voice and old classical music lend his work an almost spectral intangibility constructing it from traces of recordings long forgotten but living on in new contexts.

His intent and approach would seem to be the opposite of anything resembling Deep Wound but they both seem to be satisfying completely uncomplimentary musical needs.