Il Piccolo
- The Exceptional Character of the Celebration of the Fourth Anniversary of the March on Rome
- French Measures against the Italian Exiles
- Calls to Party Discipline
Il Piccolo of 24 October 1926 prepared readers for the fourth anniversary of the March on Rome. It quoted a confederation's notice that, under a Grand Council resolution of 7 October, 28 October would be a holiday for all activity and that factories must close, with further word possibly to follow on whether the lost work could be made up. From France it reported that Interior Minister Sarraut, invoking a 5 October circular on foreigners' obligations, had banned La Riscossa, an Italian-language communist paper published in Paris, for a campaign of agitation and provocation. A party-discipline item backed a deputy's dismissal of 1926 squadrismo as ridiculous and announced that expulsions would become final only when published by name in the Foglio d'Ordini, beginning with a first list that opened with names from Catanzaro.
Translation
The Exceptional Character of the Celebration of the Fourth Anniversary of the March on Rome
"As is known, the Fascist Grand Council, at its meeting of 7 October, resolved that 28 October, devoted to the solemn celebration of the March on Rome, shall be a holiday for all forms of activity. Industrial establishments must therefore treat 28 October as a holiday. This Confederation reserves the right to send, if necessary, further communications regarding the possibility of making up
French Measures against the Italian Exiles
"In execution of the provisions of the circular of 5 October concerning the strict obligations of foreigners who enjoy French hospitality, the Minister of the Interior Sarraut has decided to ban the circulation in France of the newspaper La Riscossa, published in Paris in Italian by the communist organizations. This measure was taken to suppress the systematic campaign of agitation, violence and provocation carried on continually by that newspaper in defiance of the formal provisions of the aforementioned circular, which had in particular warned the directors of the newspapers published
Calls to Party Discipline
The firm and clear word of the Hon. Pala will be welcomed by all good Genoese Fascists with a sense of satisfaction: the squadrismo of 1926 is an absurd and ridiculous thing, like the heroes of the sixth day." Every issue of the Foglio d'Ordini will carry the list, by name, of the Fascists who, after the regular procedure, are definitively expelled. No expulsion will be definitive unless it is published in the Foglio d'Ordini. Here is the first list: Catanzaro: Badolato Francesco. Mancaruso Antonio;
Context
What the 28 October anniversary commemorated
The holiday announced in this edition marked the events of late October 1922. On 28 October of that year Fascist demonstrators and Blackshirt squads approached Rome, and on 30 October King Victor Emmanuel III appointed Mussolini prime minister, transferring power without armed conflict. Historians describe the march not as the conquest of power that the regime later celebrated but as the pressure behind a transfer of power inside the constitutional framework. By the fourth anniversary the setting had changed: after the murder of Giacomo Matteotti in June 1924 Mussolini had moved to a dictatorship. The paper's talk of a "solemn celebration" of "exceptional character" therefore reflects the official commemorative version of 1922 that the regime was building, not a neutral account of how Mussolini came to office.
How the anniversary holiday was handled in law
The Piccolo item passes on a party decision, a Grand Council resolution of 7 October, through a confederation's notice to industrial establishments, and leaves open whether the lost working day could be recovered. Later legislation shows that the holiday soon acquired a formal legal footing. A law of 19 February 1928 converted a royal decree-law of 23 October 1927 that suspended, for the year 1927, the provisions declaring 28 October, the anniversary of the March on Rome, a holiday "for all civil effects", together with the 4 November Victory holiday. By 1927, then, the anniversary was fixed in state law, and the government could still suspend it for a given year, as it did for 1927.
Albert Sarraut and France's policing of foreigners
The minister named in the report, Albert Sarraut, was a leading Radical politician of the Third Republic who later served twice as prime minister. Historians have linked his policies to a long-running concern with communism, studied for the years 1919–1930 in the context of French colonial development. The paper presents the ban on La Riscossa in the ministry's own terms, as a response to communist "agitation, violence and provocation" by foreigners abusing French hospitality. Sarraut's later record shows the same strict line toward foreigners: in April 1938, again as interior minister, he called for prompt action to rid France of "too numerous undesirable elements". For an Italian paper under Fascism, a French ban on an exile newspaper was welcome news, which helps explain why it appeared on the page.
Why squadrismo had become an embarrassment by 1926
The squadrismo that the Hon. Pala called "absurd and ridiculous" had been the movement's main weapon on its road to power. From 1919 Fascist militias, the squadristi or Blackshirts, repeatedly attacked socialist politicians and activists, and local bosses built their power on them; the Cremona squads of Roberto Farinacci were among the most brutal in Italy and terrorized the population into submission. Once the party controlled the state, that freelance violence stopped serving the leadership. The comparison with the "heroes of the sixth day", an Italian idiom for those who turn up after the fighting is over, mocks members who kept up squad violence when the battle, in the party's view, had already been won.
Public expulsion lists and the party under Turati
The announcement that every expulsion would be published by name in the Foglio d'Ordini belongs to a wider effort to bring the party under central control. Roberto Farinacci, appointed party secretary in 1925, was used by Mussolini to centralize the party and then to purge thousands of its radical members before he himself was removed. His successor Augusto Turati held the secretaryship from 1926 to 1930 and helped consolidate Mussolini's rule. Making expulsions final only on publication gave the national leadership, rather than local bosses, control over who belonged to the party, and naming the expelled in print made discipline a public warning. The first list printed here opens with Catanzaro, far from the Genoese case that began the item, which suggests the procedure was meant to apply across the country.
Original
Il carattere eccezionale della celebrazione del IV anniversario della Marcia su Roma
«Com'è noto, il Gran Consiglio fascista nella sua riunione del 7 ottobre, ha deliberato che il giorno 28 ottobre, dedicato alla solenne celebrazione della Marcia su Roma, sia festivo per tutte le forme di attività. Gli stabilimenti industriali dovranno pertanto considerare il 28 ottobre festivo. Questa Confederazione si riserva di inviare eventualmente ulteriori comunicazioni circa la possibilità di recupero
Provvedimenti francesi contro i fuorusciti italiani
: «In esecuzione delle prescrizioni della cirlare del 5 ottobre relativa agli stretti obighi degli stranieri che godono l'ospitalità ancese, il ministro degli Interni Sarraut deciso di vietare la circolazione in Frandel giornale La Riscossa pubblicato a rigi in lingua italiana dalle organizzazioni muniste. Questa misura è stata presa per primere la campagna sistematica di agitaoni, di violenze e di provocazioni effettuata ntinuamente da quel giornale a dispetto lle prescrizioni formali della circolare soaccitata, che aveva in particolar modo monito i direttori dei giornali pubblicati
Richiami alla disciplina di Partito
La parola ferma e chiara dell'on. Pala sarà accolta da tutti i buoni fascisti genovesi con un senso di soddisfazione: lo squadrismo del 1926 è una cosa assurda e ridicola, come gli eroi della sesta giornata». Ogni numero del Foglio d'Ordini porterà l'elenco nominativo dei fascisti che dopo la procedura regolamentare, saranno definitivamente espulsi. Nessuna espulsione sarà definitiva se non pubblicata sul Foglio d'Ordini. Ecco il primo elenco: Catanzaro: Badolato Francesco. Mancaruso Antonio;
Source: Source: Internet Archive