Il Piccolo
- Constituent Assembly
- How the historic sitting unfolded
- An incident after the sitting
Il Piccolo of 10 November 1926 gave over its political coverage to the Rome sitting of the Chamber of Deputies. An editorial hailed the bill for the defence of the State, presented by Minister Rocco, as the people's own demand after the attempts on Mussolini's life, and openly welcomed the death penalty and revolutionary tribunals staffed by the Blackshirt Militia. A colour report described repeated standing ovations for Mussolini, who was shown as modestly trying to stop the cheering while he received flowers and laurel. A shorter item reported that the Fascist deputies Starace and Ceci accused Scotti, a Peasants' Party deputy who had returned from the Aventine secession, of breaking a promise to vote for the bill, and then forcibly put him out of the Chamber.
Translation
Constituent Assembly
Immediately afterwards, in the same Fascist style that repudiates verbal wrangling and rhetorical jousting, the Constituent approved a bill for the defence of the State. The report of Minister Rocco and the brief speech of the Hon. Manaresi [?] clearly set out the reasons that led the Government and the Chamber to defend the Revolution with exceptional measures. This law, too, does nothing but answer an appeal from the Italian people. The death penalty and the revolutionary Tribunals entrusted to the Blackshirts of the Militia spring directly from the wave of indignation that swept the whole of Italy in the days of the assassination attempts, and from the firm will of the Italian people to defend, together with the sacred life of the Duce, its work, its property, its fortunes.
How the historic sitting unfolded
The Hon. Mussolini, still on his feet, makes gestures of thanks and turns to the President of the Chamber, almost as if to beg him to cut the demonstration short. It is most imposing. After a brief pause it starts up again with great fervour: from several sides comes the cry "Long live Mussolini, long live the Duce!" Another burst of applause follows. Everyone is on their feet again, shouting and cheering. The Hon. Mussolini looks at the bunches of flowers and laurel that have been presented to him, and gives a smile of satisfaction, at once tempered by the thoughtful austerity that is characteristic of his face.
An incident after the sitting
After the sitting, the Hon. Starace and Ceci met in the corridors the deputy Scotti of the Peasants' Party, formerly a member of the Aventine secession, who, as is known, returned to the Chamber after making a declaration of loyalty. The two Fascist deputies reproached Scotti for his inconsistent conduct, namely for having promised, on entering the premises of Montecitorio today, to vote in favour of the bill presented by the Government, and for then having slyly broken the promise he had made. Scotti tried to say a few words, but the two deputies forcibly escorted him out of the Chamber premises.
Context
Who was to sit on the "revolutionary Tribunals" the editorial welcomed
The editorial presents tribunals "entrusted to the Blackshirts of the Militia" as a direct expression of popular will. The court that the law actually created, the Special Tribunal for the Defence of the State under Law no. 2008, matched that description in its structure. According to a legal-historical account, its president was chosen from officers of the navy, the air force and the Militia, and the remaining five judges came from the Militia alone. When the bill reached the Senate later in November, Rocco met objections by insisting that the Militia was not a party militia but one of the armed forces of the State. That defence shows that the partisan character the paper celebrated was exactly what critics feared. The paper's further claim that the law answered a spontaneous "appeal" of the Italian people is regime rhetoric, not an established fact.
Where the security law stood, legally and procedurally, on 10 November
The paper reports that the Chamber had approved the bill, but the legislative process was not yet complete: the Senate debate on Law no. 2008 took place on 20 November 1926, ten days after this issue. The special court also sat uneasily with the kingdom's constitution. A legal-historical account notes that creating such a special body was incompatible with the Albertine Statute, which was still formally in force. The editorial's language of "exceptional measures" to "defend the Revolution" fits the wider package later known as the leggi fascistissime. Il Post summarizes those laws as suppressing press freedom, banning political parties and introducing the special tribunal, and so turning the Italian government into an authoritarian regime. The editorial thus records a decisive step toward dictatorship, described by the regime's own press as routine, rhetoric-free efficiency.
Why the sitting was called "historic": the end of the Aventine secession
The ovation the paper describes took place during the sitting at which the Chamber finished off the parliamentary opposition. The Aventine secession began on 27 June 1924, after the murder of Giacomo Matteotti, when most opposition deputies refused to take part in the Chamber's work until constitutional legality and democratic freedoms were restored. On 9 November 1926, the day before this issue, the Chamber considered a motion by the Fascist deputy Augusto Turati declaring that 123 deputies who had joined the secession had forfeited their mandates. The secession's parliamentary history ended there, at the same moment as the security law was passed. The excerpt shows Mussolini as reluctant to accept the cheering, but this scene of modesty belongs to the paper's staging of the day. The independent record shows a Chamber that, in a single sitting, removed its opponents and approved exceptional criminal powers.
Scotti, the Peasants' Party and the deputies who tried to return
The incident report concerns a deputy of the Peasants' Party of Italy, a small agrarian party rooted in Piedmont. The party won 4 seats in the 1924 election and was later forcibly disbanded by the Fascist government. The paper gives only the surname Scotti. Accounts of the party name a Giacomo Scotti among its 1920 founders and an Alessandro Scotti who rebuilt the party after the war, so the material here does not settle which Scotti was manhandled in 1926. The wider background of attempts to return from the Aventine is clearer. Some Aventine groups, including the Popular and Democratic-Social deputies, decided to go back to the Chamber, but on 16 January 1926 Fascist deputies prevented their effective return. The paper's account of a broken promise and "sly" conduct is the Fascist side's justification. Even on its own terms, the item shows that by November 1926 a deputy who voted against the government could be forcibly removed from the building by his colleagues.
Original
Assemblea costituente
Subito dopo, con lo stesso stilo fascista che ripudia le logomachie e i tornei retorici, la Costituente ha approvato un disegno di legge per la difesa dello Stato. La relazione del ministro Rocco e il breve discorso dell'on. Manaresi [?] illustrano chiaramente le ragioni che hanno indotto il Governo e la Camera a difendere la Rivoluzione con misure eccezionali. Anche questa legge non fa che rispondere ad una invocazione del popolo italiano. La pena di morte, i Tribunali rivoluzionari affidati alle camicie nere della Milizia, derivano direttamente dall'ondata di sdegno onde fu pervasa l'Italia intera nelle giornate degli attentati e dalla ferma volontà del popolo italiano di difendere, con la vita sacra del Duce, il suo lavoro, i suoi beni; le sue fortune.
Lo svolgimento della storica seduta
L'on. Mussolini, restando ancora in piedi fa gesti di ringraziamento e si rivolge al Presidente della Camera, quasi per pregarlo di far troncare la manifestazione. Questa è imponentissima. Dopo una breve sosta si rinnova fervidissima: da più parti si grida: «viva Mussolini, viva il Duce!» Segue un altro scroscio di applausi. Tutti sono di nuovo in piedi gridando e acclamando. L'on. Mussolini guarda i fasci di fiori e di alloro che gli sono stati donati, ed ha un sorriso di compiacenza subito temprato dall'austerità pensosa che è caratteristica del suo volto.
Un incidente dopo la seduta
Dopo la seduta, gli on. Starace e Ceci hanno incontrato nei corridoi il deputato Scotti del partito dei contadini, già appartenente alla secessione aventiniana e che, come è noto, ritornò nell'aula dopo aver fatto una dichiarazione di lealismo. I due deputati fascisti hanno rimproverato allo Scotti il suo atteggiamento poco coerente, di aver promesso cioè, entrando oggi nei locali di Montecitorio, di votare a favore del disegno di legge presentato dal ' Governo e di essere poi venuto meno subdolamente alla promessa fatta. Lo Scotti ha cercato di pronunciare qualche parola, ma i due deputati lo hanno accompagnato a viva forza fuori dei locali della Camera.
Source: Source: Internet Archive