Il Piccolo
- The New Statute of the P.N.F.
- The Command of the Militia
- New Scenes by Communists
Trieste's Il Piccolo for Friday 15 October 1926 carried a Rome dispatch saying that some provincial Fascist directorates had misread the new P.N.F. statute and resigned, and that party secretary Augusto Turati had reaffirmed a circular ordering them to stay in office until the implementing rules came out; the statute itself would take effect at the end of the year. Alongside ran the close of Umberto Guglielminotti's appeal for a disciplined corps of modest, camera-shy propagandists to replace empty Fascist rhetoric, and a line announcing that the head of government had officially taken command of the Militia. From Berlin, the paper reported that turbulent incidents during the Prussian Landtag's debate on the agreement with the Hohenzollerns had put the building under gendarme guard, with the galleries strictly controlled for fear communists would bring in comrades.
Translation
The New Statute of the P.N.F.
[…] The new statute of the P.N.F. will come into force at the end of the year
ROME, 14 — A few provincial federal Directorates of the P.N.F., misinterpreting the published provisions of the Party's new statute, saw fit, out of a sense of discipline, to resign forthwith. The Party secretary, the Hon. Turati, has confirmed the content of the recently issued circular, which lays down categorically that the Fascist provincial Directorates must remain in office until the imple[menting] rules are issued […]
The Command of the Militia
[…] that foreigners and renegades defame every day — he writes — no further arguments need be added to demonstrate the gravity of the problem. To this must be added the duty to repress and punish the Fascist rhetoric that has lately spread unchecked for lack of a well-ordered and organized propaganda effort, attuned every day to the needs of the moment and working alongside the constructive work of the Government in every field of national activity. It is necessary to create a specialized and disinterested corps of propagandists who have a true and solid political grounding, and to go and look for them within the ranks, among the most hidden and modest blackshirts: among those who never appear in any photograph, who never show themselves off at any ceremony and who do not have honours organized for themselves. And then — concludes Umberto Guglielminotti — we must make the presses groan and send the word of our faith out to the whole world."
The command of the Militia officially assumed by the Head of Government […]
New Scenes by Communists
[…] New scenes by communists in the Prussian Chamber
BERLIN, 14 — Since the agreement with the Hohenzollerns came up for discussion there, the building of the Prussian Chamber has become the scene of turbulent incidents. The President of the Landtag has had to resolve to take severe police measures. The building is guarded by gendarmes and access to the public galleries is strictly controlled. It is feared that the communists will get their party comrades in, as […]
Context
Augusto Turati, the party secretary behind the circular
The Rome dispatch credits "on. Turati", the Party secretary, with reaffirming the circular that kept provincial Fascist directorates in office. Augusto Turati was secretary of the National Fascist Party from 1926 to 1930, years in which he helped consolidate Benito Mussolini's rule, and he sat in the Chamber of Deputies from 1924 to 1934, which is why the paper gives him the honorific "onorevole". The episode reported here falls in the first year of his secretaryship and shows the secretary enforcing discipline from the centre by circular: according to the paper, some provincial directorates read the newly published statute as requiring them to step down at once, and the circular ordered them to stay until the implementing rules appeared, with the statute due to take effect at the end of the year.
What it meant for Mussolini to take command of the Militia
The Militia whose command the paper says the head of government "officially assumed" grew out of the squadristi. It was originally the paramilitary wing of the National Fascist Party and, after 1923, an all-volunteer militia of the Kingdom of Italy, formally constituted as the Voluntary Militia for National Security (MVSN) on 1 February 1923; its members swore an oath of loyalty to Mussolini as Duce. A list of the Militia's commanders dates Mussolini's tenure as Commandant-General from 12 October 1926 to 25 July 1943, so this issue reported the change within three days. The title made the head of government the formal chief of a force born as a party army and now a militia of the state, while executive functions were carried out by the Chief of Staff, a post equivalent to an army general. The step thus tied the Militia's top command to Mussolini in person, alongside the oath its members already swore to him.
Why the Hohenzollern settlement was so contested
The "agreement with the Hohenzollerns" debated in Berlin was the Prussian chapter of a long dispute over the property of Germany's deposed princely houses. On 12 October 1925 the Prussian Ministry of Finance submitted a new draft agreement, which drew heavy public criticism because it provided for about three-quarters of the disputed real estate to be returned to the former royal house. The German Communist Party then initiated a petition for expropriation without compensation, joined with some reluctance by the Social Democrats; the referendum that followed failed, and expropriation was replaced by individual compensation agreements dividing the estates between the states and the former ruling families. The Prussian agreement was therefore exactly the kind of compensation settlement the communist campaign had sought to prevent, and the paper's Berlin dispatch places communist disturbances in the chamber during its debate.
15 October 1926: the day Prussia and the Hohenzollerns settled
The German Historical Museum dates the settlement between the state of Prussia and the House of Hohenzollern to 15 October 1926, the very date of this issue. The Berlin dispatch, filed on the 14th, thus caught the Landtag on the eve of the agreement, with gendarmes guarding the building and access to the public galleries strictly controlled. The museum also records that after the referendum failed on 20 June 1926, most state governments reached financial compromises with their princely houses relatively quickly, and Prussia's agreement was one of these compromises.
Original
Il nuovo statuto del P.N.F.
Posta OTECA CIVICA i 2 TRIESTE 9 oidoni N. 1. [CC Venerdì 15 Ottobr vra ra che l rapdacali cendo tratti hanno. Le stibIl nuovo statuto del P. N. F. andrà in vigore per la fine dell'anno ROMA, 14 Qualche Direttorio provinciale federale del P. N. F., interpretando erroneamente le disposizioni pubblicate del nuovo statuto del Partito, ha creduto, per un senso di disciplina, di rassegnare senz'altro le dimissioni. Il segretario del Partito, on. Turati, ha provveduto a confermare il contenuto della circolare recentemente emanata, che stabilisce tassativamente che i Direttorii provinciali fascisti debbono rimanere in carica fino a quando saranno emanate le norme di atNuove s alla C Il palazzo c vi si discute è diventato t Il presidente versi a pren L'edificio è s cesso alle tr lato. Si tem entrare i lor avvenuto ier nate. I com
Il comando della Milizia
o geanelli Roma, e del e ad ttosei staaccetDuce. ncipio e non risma delle elli si eraziohanno o stile tatuto Primo la setil motatuto i ordiinizia stranieri e rinnegati quotidianamente diffamano - egli scrive - non occorre aggiungere altri argomenti per dimostrare la gravità del problema. A questo si aggiunga il dovere di reprimere e castigare la rettorica fascista che in questi ultimi tempi ha dilagato a difetto di un'azione di propaganda ben ordinata e organizzata, aderente ogni giorno alle esigenze del momento e affiancata all'opera costruttrice del Governo in ogni campo dell'attività nazionale. Occorre creare un corpo specializzato e disinteressato di propagandisti, i quali abbiano una vera e solida preparazione politica e andarli a cercare entro le fila tra le più nascoste e modeste camicie nere: tra quelle che non figurano mai in nessuna fotografia, che non si mettono in mostra in nessuna cerimonia e che non si fanno organizzare onoranze. E poi - conclude Umberto Guglielminotti - bisogna far gemere i torchi e lanciare in tutto il mondo la parola della nostra fede». Il comando della Milizia assunto ufficialmente dal Capo del Governo mare i genda i disturbator Un altro i Camera prus piute avant deputato co dalla Camer netti. In su arrestò gli a figli del dep era stato p l'aula e gra dei più gent essi sono sta Si preved conclusiva n messo con g movimentata messo sarà Il secondo favorev La Feder
Nuove scenate di comunisti
CCOLO INSE strial Finan fi e V ecc. Non Rivol dì 15 Ottobre 1926 Telefoni: Direzione p Amministraz F. 4 del le del iscioni. ha ella bilivinNuove scenate di comunisti alla Camera prussiana BERLINO, 14 Il palazzo della Camera prussiana, dacchè vi si discute l'accordo con gli Hohenzollern, è diventato teatro di movimentati incidenti. Il presidente del Landtag ha dovuto risolversi a prendere severe misure di polizia. L'edificio è sorvegliato dai gendarmi e l'accesso alle tribune è severamente controllato. Si teme che i comunisti vi facciano entrare i loro compagni di partito come è Il piano di un abbozzato n Al comitato ne germanica re segretario relazione sul anglo-germanic presso Londra. è noto, per d può mettere fi correnza che d
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