A Civil War (18 page)

119
Saggio bibliografico
, no. 2698. Cf. the testimony of the partisan Luigi Gandolfo: ‘So, if there is no army, if no government exists, who are we?' (Borioli e Botta,
I giorni della montagna
, p. 73).

120
C. Mortati,
Istituzioni di diritto pubblico
I, Padua: Cedam, 1975, p. 88.

121
H. Rousso, ‘Vichy, il grande fossato', with an Introduction by C. Pavone in
Rivista di storia contemporanea
XIV (1985), p. 593 (original edition, ‘Vichy, le grand fossé', in
Vingtième siècle
[January–March 1985], 5).

122
On this point see C. Pavone, ‘La continuità dello Stato', in R. Paci, ed.,
Scritti storici in onore di Enzo Piscitelli
, Padua: Antenore, 1982, pp. 537–68, and C. Pavone, ‘Tre governi e due occupazioni', in
L'Italia nella seconda guerra mondiale e nella Resistenza
, pp. 423–52.

123
This is what Mauro Scoccimarro wrote from Rome to the Milan headquarters, 5 October 1943 (in L. Longo,
I Centri dirigenti del PCI nella Resistenza
, Rome: Riuniti, 1974, p. 58). See also ‘Per l'unità del popolo italiano nella lotta contro il nazismo e il fascismo', in
L'Unità
, Roman edition, 29 September 1943. This article speaks of the ‘profound marks' left ‘in the mind of the Italians' by the period 25 July–10 September and by the collapse of the ruling class.

124
On 27 September the Milan edition of
L'Avanti!
published an article entitled ‘Coraggio', which read: ‘A whole civilisation is being wiped out, a whole capitalistic order with its economically costly and morally absurd contradictions is falling and will not raise itself again.' The influence of the ex-members of the Movimento di Unità Proletaria [Movement of Proletarian Unity] (Lelio Basso) on this kind of judgment is stressed by F. Taddei,
Il socialismo italiano del dopoguerra. Correnti ideologiche e scelte politiche (1943–1947)
, Milan: Franco Angeli, 1984, p. 49.

125
Article entitled ‘Ribelli', in
Il Ribelle
, 24 March 1944.

126
G. Pintor, ‘Il colpo di Stato del 25 luglio', written in Naples in October 1943 and published in New York's
Quaderni Italiani
, IV, 1944; now in G. Pintor,
Il sangue d'Europa (1939-1943)
, collected writings, ed. V. Gerratana, Turin: Einaudi, 1950, pp. 225–41 (the extract quoted is on p. 241).

127
Articles in
L'Italia Libera
, Roman edition, ‘I volontari della libertà' (27 January 1944), and ‘Responsibilità (11 November 1943 – then reprinted in Turin as well).

128
Artom,
Diari
, p. 75 (Turin, 9 September).

129
Testimony by Settimio Piemonti, in Portelli,
Biografia di una citt
à, p. 18.

130
Minutes of the ‘meeting of the party representatives' of some Padua factories, 18 March 1945. The episode in the text is recalled by a worker of Breda (IG,
Archivio PCI
; the document is partly published, though excluding the part cited above, in C. Pavone,
Le Brigate Garibaldi
III, pp. 490–4).

131
Testimony by Teresa Cirio, Bruzzone and Farina, eds,
La Resistenza taciuta
, pp. 79–80.

132
See N. Paruta (F. Venturi), ‘La crisi italiana (25 luglio–8 settembre)',
Quaderni dell'Italia Libera
(September 4, 1943).

133
‘Rapporto sulla situazione nelle fabbriche', by Giovanni (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

1
R. Schnur,
Rivoluzione e guerra civile
, Milan: Giuffrè, 1986, p. 143 (original edition:
Revolution und Weltbürger Krieg
, Berlin: Dunker & Humblot, 1983).

2
I take this concept from a seminar held at the Department of Modern and Contemporary History of the University of Pisa by Pietro Costa, author of
Lo Stato immaginario
, Milan: Giuffrè, 1986.

3
T. Hobbes,
Leviathan
, XXI, ed. C. B. MacPherson, London: Penguin, 1985, p. 272.

4
R. Craveri,
La campagna d'Italia e i servizi segreti. La storia dell'ORI
, Milan: La Pietra, 1980, pp. 38–9.

5
Testimony by Achille Alberani (
CU
).

6
Testimony by A. S., in A. Portelli, ‘Assolutamente niente. L'esperienza degli sfollati a Terni', in Gallerano, ed.,
L'altro dopoguerra
, p. 137. Regarding this, Portelli speaks of ‘the restoration of elementary solidaristic communities', and makes a comparison with some pages from 1930s American literature on the effects of the Great Depression. A comparison could also be made with the description of the effect of feeling liberated from the mutual distrust that several anarchic communities had during the Spanish Civil War. See for example the testimonies collected by A. M. Merlo, ‘Gli anarchici e l'esperienza collettivistica durante la guerra civile spagnola', in
Rivista di storia contemporanea
X (1981), pp. 505–47.

7
Battaglia,
Un uomo
, p. 26.

8
A. Ardigò, ‘L'insorgenza partigiana come forma di partecipazione sociale nella società civile', in Ardigò, ed.,
Società civile e insorgenza partigiana: indagine sociologica sulla diffusione dell'insorgenza partigiana nella provincia di Bologna
, Bologna: Cappelli, 1979, p. 19.

9
J.-P. Sartre, ‘La République du silence',
Les Lettres Françaises
, 9 April 1944, p. 1.

10
Bibliothèque nationale,
Catalogue des pèriodiques clandestins (1939–1945)
, Paris, 1954, pp. xiii–xiv. ‘One could almost argue that the difficult conditions equalized opportunities and promoted the most resolute, never was the press freer than when it was banned'.

11
Quoted by M. Rigoni Stern in the introductory note to P. Iuso, ed.,
Soldati italiani dopo il settembre 1943
, Rome: FIAP, 1988, p. vi.

12
Franco Venturi held a seminar around this principle in 1988 at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa (see also p. 658, n. 7).

13
On this point see P. Levi's reflections in
I sommersi e i salvati
, Turin: Einaudi, 1986, pp. 15, 44.

14
See Sartre, ‘La République du silence'. An analogous observation can be found in G. Falaschi,
La Resistenza armata nella narrativa italiana
, Turin: Einaudi, 1976, p. 41. For Sartre, see also the character Mathieu in
La mort dans l'âme
, Paris: Gallimard, 1949.

15
See G. Baget- Bozzo,
Il partito cristiano al potere
, Florence: Vallechi, 1974, p. 52. The author writes that ‘Christian anti-Fascism was a widespread position among Catholics, but was not a position of the Church'. Compare what has been observed about the scant number of Catholics from the Catholic youth formations who joined the Resistance (M. Reineri, ‘Per uno studio comparato del movimento cattolico durante la Resistenza: l'esperienza piemontese', in
Società rurale e Resistenza nelle Venezie
, Milan: Feltrinelli, 1978, p. 269).

16
And he went on: ‘What will all those who go into hiding do in the approaching season? Will they become bands of thieves and brigands?' (quoted in G. Bianchi, ‘I cattolici', in Valiani, Bianchi and Ragionieri,
Azionisti, cattolici e comunisti nella Resistenza
, p. 178).

17
‘In this common atmosphere there couldn't help being the inevitable fear that everybody in one way or another must be either accomplices or persecuted' (Battaglia,
Un uomo
, pp. 48–9).

18
Cited in H. Michel,
The Shadow War
, London: Deutsch, 1972, p. 102.

19
Bruno Kreisky in an interview given to Vanna Vannuccini, ‘Kreisky accusa Waldheim', in
La Repubblica
, 1 March 1988.

20
Gobetti,
Diario partigiano
, p. 363.

21
Letter of the nineteen-year-old lathe-operator, Vito Salmi, a Garibaldino, shot at Bardi on 4 May 1944 (
LRI
, pp. 197–8).

22
Quoted in S. Flamigni and L. Marzocchi,
Resistenza in Romagna
, Milan: La Pietra, 1969, p. 113.

23
Letter written by Franz Mittendorfer, Communist, 10 November 1942 (
LRE
, p. 23).

24
Rousso,
Vichy
, p. 593.

25
V. Foa, ‘La crisi della Resistenza prima della liberazione', in
Il Ponte
III: (November–December 1947), 11-12; and
Per una storia del movimento operaio
, pp. 13–24.

26
Jemolo, in a similar spirit to Baget-Bozzzo's in the page quoted above, criticised the evasive behaviour of all the religions before the terrible problems posed by the war, while the Catholic Church continued, for its part, to concern itself with questions like ‘how many caresses are permissible between fiancés'. A. C. Jemolo, ‘La Tragedia inavvertita', in
Il Ponte
I (1945); then in
Nuova Antologia
CXX: 2153 (January–March 1985), pp. 7–12.

27
Battaglia,
Un uomo
, p. 20.

28
Preface to the 1946 edition of D. L. Bianco's book, cited several times (cited in G. Carocci,
La Resistenza italiana
, Milan: Garzanti, 1963, p. 149).

29
Gobetti,
Diario partigiano
, p. 122 (2 April 1944).

30
T. Ruoti,
La lotta per la libertà
, p. 4. It is an Actionist-inspired pamphlet, written in October 1943.

31
M. Mila, ‘Bilancio della guerra partigiana in Piemonte', in
Risorgimento. Rivista mensile
, I, 25 August 1945, 5, pp. 412–19.

32
These words occur in the article ‘Dovere di combattere', which appeared in
Risorgimento Liberale
(Roman edition), 23 November 1943, and is built around the theme of 8 September as the reconquest of liberty.

33
Schnur,
Rivoluzione e guerra civile
, pp. 48, 143. Consider, by contrast, this passage by Schmitt: ‘In war the adversaries most often confront each other openly: normally they are identifiable by a uniform, and the distinction between friend and enemy is therefore no longer a political problem which the fighting soldier has to solve.' C. Schmitt,
The Concept of the Political
, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996, p. 34.

34
A. O. Hirschman,
Shifting Involvements: Private Interest and Public Action
, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982, p. 101. The same author has written elsewhere: ‘Creativity always comes as a surprise' (
Exit, Voice and Loyalty
, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970, p. 80).

35
Battaglia,
Un uomo
, pp. 50, 104.

36
Testimony by Vittorio Foa to the author.

37
Gobetti,
Diario partigiano
, p. 258 (30 September 1944) and p. 57 (November 1943).

38
Testimony by Antonio Bellina, worker, who had earlier emigrated to France (Bravo and Jalla,
La vita offesa
, p. 84). For ‘il divertimento' (‘enjoyment') in another emergency situation, see the censored letter quoted by L. Briguglio, ‘Clero e contadini nella provincia di Padova dal Fascismo alla Resistenza', in
Società rurale
, p. 334.

39
‘Esperienza di un partigiano cattolico', in
Voce Operaia
, newspaper of the Communist Catholics of Rome, 16 December 1943.

40
Report by Del Gaudio on the events at the ‘Casone dei ferrovieri' (‘Railway workers' house') during the battle for the liberation of Florence (ISRT,
ANPI Firenze
, envelope 3,
XXII bis brigata Garibaldi Sinigaglia
).

41
The report, signed ‘Stella', is preserved in ISRT,
CVL, Comando militare toscano
, envelope 5, folder 7. Stella was Alessandro Pieri, a carpenter and long-standing Communist militant, condemned during the regime (see C. Francovich,
La Resistenza a Firenze
, Florence: La Nuova Italia, 1961, p. 369).

42
The English text has the words ‘near everything' (p. 39). R. Katz,
Morte a Roma
, Rome: Riuniti, 1973, p. 56 (original edition
Death in Rome
, New York: Macmillan, 1967). The American writer follows with this comment: ‘If there was a lack of unity in action and methods, there was nevertheless an intensely felt camaraderie and a naïve faith in the goodness of the coming post-war world. No one, given the circumstances, would fight for anything less' (English edition, p. 39).

43
See Bruzzone and Farina, eds,
La Resistenza taciuta
, pp. 44, 81–2, 85. The testimonies are those of Nelia Benissone Costa and Teresa Cirio.

44
E. P. Thompson, in Henry Abelove, ed.,
Visions of History
, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1983, p. 11.

45
Calamandrei,
La vita indivisibile
, pp. 114, 116, 118, 129 (12 September, October, Autumn 1943, beginning of 1944). On p. 114 Calamandrei quotes these verses from
The Spoon River Anthology
: ‘To put meaning to one's life may end in madness / But a life without meaning is the torture / Of restlessness and vague desire / It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid'.

46
La Nuova Realtà. Organo del Movimento femminile ‘Giustizia e Libertà'
, Piedmontese edition, n.d. (but 1945), I, 2, article entitled ‘Chi siamo'. Compare the dry, tragic tone of this letter by a member of the Greek resistance, tortured and shot by the Italians on 24 February 1943: ‘Since because of my age I didn't go to Albania, I too was obliged to risk my life for the
patria
': letter written by the thirty-eight-year-old lawyer Spiros Giavellas (
LRE
, p. 454).