Republican Fascist Party

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Republican Fascist Party
Partito Fascista Repubblicano
AbbreviationPFR
Duce Benito Mussolini
Secretary Alessandro Pavolini
Founded13 September 1943
Dissolved2 May 1945 [a]
Preceded by National Fascist Party
Headquarters Palazzo Castani, Milan
NewspaperIl Lavoro Fascista
Paramilitary wing Black Brigades [b]
Membership900,000 (1943 est.)
Ideology
Political position Far-right [9]
Colours  Black (official) [10]
Anthem"Giovinezza" [11]
lit. {{#parsoidfragment:4}}Youth{{#parsoidfragment:5}} ⓘ
  1. ↑ Banned on December 22, 1947
  2. ↑ 30 June 1944 – 25 April 1945
  3. ↑ Significantly influenced by Nazism [6]

The Republican Fascist Party (Italian : Partito Fascista Repubblicano, PFR) was a political party in Italy led by Benito Mussolini and the sole representative party of the Italian Social Republic during the German occupation of Italy. The PFR was the successor to the National Fascist Party but was more influenced by pre-1922 early radical fascism and anti-monarchism, as its members considered King Victor Emmanuel III to be a traitor after his agreement of the signing of the surrender to the Allies.

Contents

History

Alessandro Pavolini (right), Secretary of the PFR and commander in chief of the Black Brigades, and Vincenzo Costa (centre), commander of "Aldo Resega" Black Brigade, during a ceremony in Milan, late 1944 Pavolini and Costa, Milan, 1944.jpg
Alessandro Pavolini (right), Secretary of the PFR and commander in chief of the Black Brigades, and Vincenzo Costa (centre), commander of "Aldo Resega" Black Brigade, during a ceremony in Milan, late 1944

After the Nazi-engineered Gran Sasso raid liberated Mussolini, the National Fascist Party (PNF) was revived on 13 September 1943 as the Republican Fascist Party (PFR) and as the single party of the Northern and Nazi-protected Italian Social Republic, informally known as the Salò Republic. Its secretary was Alessandro Pavolini.

Due to the strong control of the Germans, the party's power in the context of the Republic of Salò was always very limited. To obviate this inherent weakness, the party tried to obtain the support of the few population strata who still sympathised with fascism. [12] In the provinces under the control of the Germans it was organised into three entities called Administrative, Assistance, and Political. [13] The Assistance, also called the National Fascist Assistance Body, was formed in early October 1943. In the minds of the party leaders, the Assistance was to be a continuation of the powerful cadres of militants and volunteers of the former National Fascist Party. [13]

The PFR did not outlast Mussolini's execution and the disappearance of the Salò state in April 1945. However, it inspired the creation of the Italian Social Movement (MSI) [14] and the MSI has been seen as the successor to the PFR and the PNF. [15] The MSI was formed by former Fascist leaders and veterans of the National Republican Army of the Salò Republic. [16] The party tried to modernise and revise fascist doctrine into a more moderate and sophisticated direction. [17]

Giuseppe Pizzirani  [ it ] led the PFR organisation in Rome until April 1944, when he was named Deputy Secretary of the national party organisation. [18]

Ideology

The PFR sought to reconnect the new party with pre-1922 radical fascism. This move attracted parts of the fascist 'Old Guard', who had been sidelined after Mussolini had come to power in 1922. The new party was, however, internally divided, with different internal tendencies vying for Mussolini's support, and whilst the PFR revived some of the early revolutionary fascist discourse, it did not return to the anti-clerical positions of the early fascist movement. [19]

In addition, the party promoted a revolutionary [20] [21] form of Italian nationalism, [22] [23] [24] [25] antisemitism, [26] [27] anti-liberalism, [28] [29] anti-communism, [30] anti-capitalism, [31] anti-monarchism, and republicanism. The RSI program, set out in the "Verona Manifesto" and approved by the congress of the Republican Fascist Party (Verona 15-16 November 1943), revived the revolutionary formulas of early fascism and included, among other things, the abandonment of corporatism and the creation of a National Confederation of Labour, a broad program of social welfare and worker participation in company profits. [32] The program, opposed by the Germans and by Italian industrialists, was not implemented while, starting with the strikes of March 1944, a growing workers' opposition to the RSI developed.

Socialization

The economic policy of the Republican Fascist Party (PFR) represented an attempt to reassert the social and revolutionary character of early Fascism within the context of the Italian Social Republic (Italian : Repubblica Sociale Italiana, RSI). Central to this vision was the concept of the "socialization of the economy" (Italian : socializzazione dell’economia), which sought to reconcile capital and labor through corporative participation and the collective ownership of the means of production. The economic platform was codified in the Manifesto of Verona (November 1943) and later legislatively defined in the "Decree on the Socialization of Enterprises" of February 1944. These measures aimed to establish a "third way" between capitalism and Bolshevism, combining state intervention with worker participation, though they were only partially implemented and remained largely theoretical due to the constraints of war and German occupation.

Background

Within Fascist ideology, the phrase "socialization of the economy" referred to a theory of social transformation in which ownership of the means of production would no longer be the exclusive privilege of capitalists, but would be shared with workers employed in enterprises. The concept evolved from the corporatist economic system developed during the interwar years. It reflected the regime’s aspiration to transcend both liberal capitalism and Marxist socialism through a system of "organic democracy" (Italian : democrazia organica). [33]

The ideological foundations of Fascist socialization can be traced to earlier documents such as the Carta del Carnaro of 1920, the Carta del Lavoro of 1927, and Ugo Spirito’s theory of the Italian : corporazione proprietaria (lit. ' proprietary corporation ') developed in 1932, in which the corporation itself would become the owner of the enterprise, harmonizing the interests of capital and labor. [34] In a speech delivered in 1928, Benito Mussolini predicted:

As the past century witnessed the capitalist economy, the present century shall witness the corporative economy... We must place capital and labor on the same level, granting both equal rights and equal duties.

This principle was meant to establish a "third way" between the dominant economic systems of the twentieth century—capitalism and Bolshevism—both in their economic organization and their social implications.

Among the leading proponents of this policy was Nicola Bombacci, a former communist and early associate of Mussolini, who sought to fuse elements of socialism, anarchism, and distributism with Fascist corporatism. Bombacci’s influence drew from a variety of ideological sources, including the Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno, Fabian socialism, and Silvio Gesell’s theories of "free economy". [35]

The Verona Manifesto and the Socialization of the Economy

The doctrine of socialization was formally articulated during the Congress of Verona held on 14–15 November 1943, which presented the political and economic program of the newly constituted Republican Fascist Party (PFR). The Manifesto of Verona called upon the technical and laboring classes to cooperate in the management of enterprises and in the equitable distribution of profits (Article 12). This represented an evolution of the corporative system already proposed by Mussolini in his address to the National Assembly of Corporations on 23 March 1936:

This constitutional transformation of an important sector of our economy will be carried out calmly but decisively, in a Fascist manner... In this economy, workers shall become—with equal rights and equal duties—collaborators in the enterprise, alongside the providers of capital and technical directors. [36]

The "socialization of the economy" was one of the three main pillars of Fascist economic doctrine, alongside corporatism and Italian : fiscalità monetaria (lit. 'monetary fiscality'), and was intended to provide the structural basis for the regime’s concept of "organic democracy".

Implementation and legislative framework

Following the Verona Congress, Mussolini established the Ministry of Corporative Economy (Italian : Ministero dell’Economia Corporativa) on 23 September 1943, appointing first Silvio Gai and subsequently Angelo Tarchi as ministers. Tarchi accelerated the drafting of the decree on socialization, which culminated in the Decree on the Socialization of Enterprises (Italian : Decreto sulla socializzazione delle imprese), promulgated on 12 February 1944 (No. 375). [37]

The decree, signed by Mussolini, Domenico Pellegrini Giampietro, and Piero Pisenti, defined the structure of socialized enterprises, establishing organs such as the "assembly", the "management council" (Italian : Consiglio di Gestione), the "board of auditors", and the "board of revisers". The decree applied to private enterprises that, as of 1 January 1944, had at least 1 million lire in capital or employed more than 100 workers. It provided for worker participation in the election of management councils, state oversight of key industries, and the redistribution of profits between employees and the newly created Institute of Management and Financing (Italian : Istituto di Gestione e Finanziamento).

The decree was divided into three titles comprising forty-six articles:

SectionTitleArticles
Title IOf the Socialization of Enterprises1–30
Section IAdministration of Socialized Enterprises1–21
Section IILiability of the Head of Enterprise and Administrators22–30
Title IIOn the Transfer of State-Owned Enterprises31–43
Title IIIDetermination and Distribution of Profits44–46

Despite its ideological ambition, the decree was implemented only sporadically. German authorities and Italian industrial elites viewed the policy with suspicion, fearing it would disrupt wartime production. Consequently, few enterprises adopted the system in practice. A report dated 20 June 1944 by Anselmo Vaccari, head of the Fascist Federation of Commercial Employees, admitted that workers regarded the decree “as a decoy for larks” and that “the masses hold aloof from us and from the mirror.” [38]

Following Mussolini’s "Speech of the Resurgence" (Italian : discorso della riscossa) in December 1944, the Raggruppamento Nazionale Repubblicano Socialista (transl. National Republican Socialist Group) was formed under Edmondo Cione, making the socialization of enterprises the core of its political program. Full implementation of the policy was scheduled for 25 April 1945, but the fall of the RSI and the advance of the Allied and partisan forces prevented its realization. [39] The first administrative act of the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale (CLN) after the liberation of northern Italy was the abrogation of the decree, denouncing it as an attempt “to yoke the Italian working masses to collaboration with the invader.” [40]

Reception and legacy

The economic socialization project represented the culmination of Fascism’s long-standing effort to present itself as a revolutionary, socially integrative movement. Although it was largely unimplemented, its ideological and symbolic value persisted among the post-war neo-fascist movements, particularly within the Italian Social Movement (MSI), which regarded it as evidence of the PFR’s commitment to a "social" variant of Fascism.

Historians have variously interpreted the initiative as a propaganda instrument, a sincere attempt to reform economic relations, or a desperate bid to regain popular legitimacy during the RSI’s terminal phase. Scholars such as Giorgio Bocca, Paolo Buchignani, and Arrigo Petacco emphasize that, despite its utopian rhetoric, the policy failed to reconcile its corporatist structure with the realities of a wartime command economy. [41] [42] The "socialization of the economy" remains one of the most distinctive yet controversial features of Fascist economic thought, illustrating the regime’s attempt to construct an alternative to both capitalist and socialist paradigms.

Secretary of the PFR

National Congress

References

    1. ↑ Arrigo Petacco, Il comunista in camicia nera: Nicola Bombacci tra Lenin e Mussolini, Milano, Mondadori, 1997.
    2. ↑ Roberto D'Angeli, Storia del Partito Fascista Repubblicano, Roma, Castelvecchi, 2016.
    3. ↑ Guerrazzi, Amedeo Osti. "9 From Fascism to the Italian Civil War: The Republican Fascist’s Identity from 1943 to 1945." Italy and the Second World War. Brill, 2018. 203-223.
    4. ↑ Roggi, Alessandra. "The role of ideology in the Italian Social Republic (1943-1945)." The role of ideology in the Italian Social Republic (1943-1945) (2015): 676-687.
    5. ↑ Berardi, Silvio. "L’impossibile dialogo tra repubblicani fascisti e repubblicani storici (ottobre 1943-aprile 1944)." MONDO CONTEMPORANEO 2015/1 (2015).
    6. ↑ [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
    7. ↑ Mack Smith, Denis (1983). Mussolini. New York, NY: Vintage Books. pp. 43, 44. ISBN   0394716582.
    8. ↑ Raniolo, Francesco (2013). I partiti politici. Roma: Editori Laterza. pp. 116–117.
    9. ↑ [7] [8]
    10. ↑ Adams, Sean; Morioka, Noreen; Stone, Terry Lee (2006). Color Design Workbook: A Real World Guide to Using Color in Graphic Design. Gloucester, Mass.: Rockport Publishers. pp.  86. ISBN   159253192X. OCLC   60393965.
    11. ↑ Olick, Jeffrey K. 2003. States of Memory-CL: continuities, conflicts, and transformations in national retrospection. Duke University Press. ISBN   0-8223-3063-6. p. 69.
    12. ↑ Roberto., D'Angeli (2019). Storia del partito fascista repubblicano. Castelvecchi. ISBN   978-88-3282-582-4. OCLC   1091262426.
    13. 1 2 Dianella Gagliani, Il Partito nel Fascismo Repubblicano Delle Origini: Una Prima Messa a Punto, in Rivista di Storia Contemporanea, vol. 23, n. 1/2, 1º gennaio 1994, pp. 130-169.
    14. ↑ Davies, Peter; Lynch, Derek (2002). The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right . Routledge. p.  328. ISBN   978-0-203-99472-6.
    15. ↑ Levy, 1996, p. 188.
    16. ↑ Ignazi, 1998, p. 157.
    17. ↑ Stanley Payne (1992). "Fascism". In Mary E. Hawkesworth; Maurice Kogan (eds.). Encyclopedia of Government and Politics. Psychology Press. p. 177. ISBN   978-0-415-07224-3.
    18. ↑ Claudia Baldoli; Brendan Fleming (25 September 2014). A British Fascist in the Second World War: The Italian War Diary of James Strachey Barnes, 1943-45. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 211. ISBN   978-1-4725-0789-1.
    19. ↑ John Pollard (22 July 2005). The Fascist Experience in Italy. Routledge. p. 116. ISBN   978-1-134-81904-1.
    20. ↑ Griffin, 2000, pp. 31–35
    21. ↑ Kallis, 2008, p. 515
    22. ↑ Grčić, Joseph. Ethics and Political Theory (Lanham, Maryland: University of America, Inc, 2000) p. 120.
      • Griffin, Roger and Matthew Feldman, eds., Fascism: Fascism and Culture (London and New York: Routledge, 2004) p. 185.
      • Jackson J. Spielvogel. Western Civilization. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2012. p. 935.
    23. ↑ Stanley G. Payne. A History of Fascism, 1914–1945. p. 106.
    24. ↑ Roger Griffin, "Nationalism" in Cyprian Blamires, ed., World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia, vol. 2 (Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2006), pp. 451–53.
    25. ↑ Riley, Dylan (2010). The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe: Italy, Spain, and Romania, 1870–1945. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 42. ISBN   978-0-8018-9427-5.
    26. ↑ L' antisemitismo nella Repubblica Sociale Italiana. Repertorio delle fonti conservate all'Archivio centrale dello Stato, Libreria Universitaria
    27. ↑ La Repubblica sociale italiana e la persecuzione degli ebrei
    28. ↑ Jim Powell, "The Economic Leadership Secrets of Benito Mussolini", Forbes, 22 February 2012
    29. ↑ Eugen Weber. The Western Tradition: From the Renaissance to the present. Heath, 1972. Pp. 791.
    30. ↑ Stanislao G. Pugliese. Fascism, anti-fascism, and the resistance in Italy: 1919 to the present. Oxford, England, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2004. pp. 43–44.
    31. ↑ Rimbotti, 2018
    32. ↑ "Repubblica Sociale Italiana". Enciclopedia on line. Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana . Retrieved 16 January 2025.
    33. ↑ Arrigo Petacco, Il comunista in camicia nera: Nicola Bombacci tra Lenin e Mussolini (The Communist in a Blackshirt), Milano, Mondadori, 1997.
    34. ↑ Discorso al Congresso Nazionale dei Sindacati Fascisti in Roma, 7 maggio 1928.
    35. ↑ Arrigo Petacco, Il comunista in camicia nera, Mondadori, 1997.
    36. ↑ Discorso in Campidoglio all'Assemblea Nazionale delle Corporazioni, 23 marzo 1936.
    37. ↑ Verbali del Consiglio dei Ministri della Repubblica Sociale Italiana – settembre 1943 – aprile 1945 (Ministry of Cultural Heritage, edited by Francesca Romana Scardaccione, 2002).
    38. ↑ Santo Peli, Storia della Resistenza in Italia, Einaudi, Torino, 2006, p. 69; Edoardo e Duilio Susmel, Opera Omnia di Benito Mussolini, La Fenice, Firenze; F. Deakin, Storia della Repubblica di Salò, Einaudi, 1963; Gianni Oliva, La Repubblica di Salò, Giunti, 1997.
    39. ↑ Antonio Fede, Appunti critici di storia recente, Ed. Coop. Quilt, Messina 1988, p. 41.
    40. ↑ C.L.N., Bollettino ufficiale degli atti del C.L.N. – Giunta regionale di governo per il Piemonte, 25 aprile 1945, in G. Perticone, La Repubblica di Salò, Roma, Leonardo, 1947.
    41. ↑ Giorgio Bocca, Mussolini socialfascista, Milano, Garzanti, 1983.
    42. ↑ Paolo Buchignani, Fascisti rossi, Milano, Mondadori, 1998.

    Bibliography

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