| Parma Barricades | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Fascist and anti-Fascist violence in Italy (1919–1926) | |||
| Date | 1–6 August 1922 | ||
| Location | |||
| Resulted in | Arditi del Popolo victory and eventual Army interference | ||
| Parties | |||
| Lead figures | |||
| Number | |||
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| Casualties and losses | |||
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The Parma Barricades (Barricate di Parma), also known as the siege of Parma, were a series of battles between anti-fascist forces of the Arditi del Popolo and the Proletarian Defense Formations against the fascist Squadristi in August 1922.
On July 31, 1922, the Alleanza del Lavoro, a union of those who were left-wing trade unions before the advent of the regime, called a legal strike "against fascist violence" and "the indifference of the state towards them". The news leaked ahead of time and Mussolini was able to organize an early resistance by sending a very secret circular to all the federations of the National Fascist Party (PNF): [1]
If the government fails to crush it within forty-eight hours from the proclamation of the strike, the fascists will provide for the need directly. The fascists must, after the aforementioned period of forty-eight hours, and provided that the strike persists, aim at the capitals of their respective provinces and occupy them."
Meanwhile, in Parma the workers joined the strike in force. The Arditi del Popolo and the local Proletarian Legion Filippo Corridoni created a front including the left-wing interventionists from Parma. The Parmesan revolutionary syndicalists approached the left, highlighting the difficulties of fascism in finding consensus in Parma, as shown in the diaries of Italo Balbo. [2] For just over a year, the proletarian defense formations of Guido Picelli, an internationalist socialist, had also been present, who had a recruiting tank in the Parma proletariat. inclined to radical socialism and anarchism. [3]
Here an armed resistance "of excellent military caliber" was organized, according to Italo Balbo, sent by Michele Bianchi, at the request of the fascist deputy Terzaghi, the local quadrunvirate, close to Roberto Farinacci's positions. [2]
In the first days of August, therefore, about 10,000 men were mobilized by the PNF for the occupation of Parma, coming from the towns of the Parma area and the neighboring provinces. After a brief command entrusted to the quadrunvirate formed by Alcide Aimi, Giovanni Botti, Gino Caramatti and Giuseppe Stefanini, the command was passed to Italo Balbo. The number of squads was increased considerably with reinforcements that occurred, precisely because of the resistance opposed by the Proletarian Defense Formations, which increased their ability to repel attacks. [4]
The whole population actively participated in the clashes, including the women who gave a fundamental contribution both as fighters and for the organization of the rear, and for this reason were praised by Balbo himself. [2]
The squadristi tried to overcome the barricades, devastating, in the central areas of the city, less defensible and defended, the railway workers' club, offices of numerous democratic professionals, the offices of the newspaper Il Piccolo , the Union of Labor and the People's Party.
On 6 August, also on the advice of the military officer in command of the local Military Application School, Lodomez, the PNF realized the impossibility of conquering the city without unleashing a total war, which would have caused carnage, the fascists passed control of public order to the army, pledging to withdraw. During the midnight on 5 August, the state of military siege had entered into force.
The population of the Oltretorrente and of the Naviglio and Saffi districts prepared for the aggression, building barricades and digging trenches under the command of the anarchist Antonio Cieri, wanting to defend to the bitter end the headquarters of the proletarian and centrist organizations knowing the devastation that the fascists had done in other places, as in the Ravenna, led by Italo Balbo. While at the national level the strike ended in complete failure, in Parma the idea of resisting takes root more and more. [5] In the popular districts the institutional powers were passed to the Arditi del Popolo directorate commanded by Guido Picelli. [3]
The Naviglio district was occupied by the army (Novara Cavalleria) on August 4 following an agreement between the prefect Fusco and Balbo. The state of military siege was instituted by the government starting from midnight on 5 August in all the cities where unrest still persisted following the general strike proclaimed starting from 1 August and officially ending on 3 August. The cities declared in a state of siege, in addition to Parma, were: Ancona, Livorno, Genoa and Rome. On 6 August Lodomez, military commander of the square, assumed full powers and put an end to the battles. [4]
The March on Rome was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fascist Party leaders planned an insurrection to take place by marching on the capital. On 28 October, the fascist demonstrators and Blackshirt paramilitaries approached Rome; Prime Minister Luigi Facta wished to declare a state of siege, but this was overruled by King Victor Emmanuel III, who, fearing bloodshed, persuaded Facta to resign by threatening to abdicate. On 30 October 1922, the King appointed Mussolini as Prime Minister, thereby transferring political power to the fascists without armed conflict. On 31 October the fascist Blackshirts paraded in Rome, while Mussolini formed his coalition government.
Arditi was the name adopted by a Royal Italian Army elite special force of World War I. They and the opposing German Stormtroopers were the first modern shock troops, and they have been called "the most feared corps by opposing armies".
Avanti! is an Italian daily newspaper, born as the official voice of the Italian Socialist Party, published since 25 December 1896. It took its name from its German counterpart Vorwärts, the party-newspaper of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Luigi Capello was an Italian general, distinguished in both the Italo-Turkish War (1911–12) and World War I.
The Arditi del Popolo was an Italian militant anti-fascist group founded at the end of June 1921 to resist the rise of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party and the violence of the Blackshirts (squadristi) paramilitaries. It grouped revolutionary trade-unionists, socialists, communists, anarchists, republicans, anti-capitalists, as well as some former military officers, and was co-founded by Giuseppe Mingrino, Argo Secondari and Gino Lucetti – who tried to assassinate Mussolini on 11 September 1926 – the deputy Guido Picelli and others. The Arditi del Popolo were an offshoot of the Arditi elite troops, who had previously occupied Fiume in 1919 behind the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio, who proclaimed the Italian Regency of Carnaro. Those who split to form the Arditi del Popolo were close to the anarchist Argo Secondari and were supported by Mario Carli. The formazioni di difesa proletaria later merged with them. The Arditi del Popolo gathered approximately 20,000 members in summer 1921.
Events from the year 1922 in Italy. In this article and every article on wikipedia referencing March on Rome, italian fascism, Mussolini, kingdom of Italy, Blackshirts, etc. the date is given as 1922 rather than 1932. Britannica.com also uses 1922.
Alberto Acquacalda was an Italian anarchist and communist. He was a member of the anti-fascist militant group Arditi del Popolo. He was assassinated by fascist blackshirts at the age of 23.
Sansepolcrismo is a term used to refer to the movement led by Benito Mussolini that preceded Fascism. The Sansepolcrismo takes its name from the rally organized by Mussolini at Piazza San Sepolcro in Milan on March 23, 1919, where he proclaimed the principles of Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, and then published them in Il Popolo d'Italia, on June 6, 1919, the newspaper he co-founded in November 1914 after leaving Avanti!
Events from the year 1921 in Italy.
La Disperata was the name given to the group of bodyguards who protected Gabriele D'Annunzio. It was taken up in turn by a number of later squadre and fascist military units in Italy between 1921 and 1945.
The Brigate Garibaldi or Garibaldi Brigades were partisan units aligned with the Italian Communist Party active in the armed resistance against both German and Italian fascist forces during World War II.
Asclepia Gandolfo was an Italian military officer, who served as a general in the Royal Italian Army.
Igino Ghisellini was an Italian Fascist politician and soldier.
Niccolò Giani was an Italian Fascist philosopher and journalist who was the founder of Fascist mysticism.
Silvio Parodi was an Italian Fascist politician and soldier.
Guido Picelli was an Italian Communist politician and anti-fascist militant. He was a founding member of the Arditi del Popolo and a participant in the Spanish Civil War where he died in battle.
Argo Secondari was an Italian anarchist and militant anti-fascist and one of the founders of the anti-fascist group Arditi del Popolo.
The anarchist brigades of the Italian Resistance were active during the Second World War, especially in central and northern Italy.
The Lucetti Battalion was an anarchist partisan brigade that operated in the surroundings of Carrara.
Antonio Cieri was an Italian anarchist and anti-fascist militant. A founding member of the Arditi del Popolo, he fought and died during the Spanish Civil War.
