In memory of the Italian anti-Fascist that moved all Europe in solidarity
On June 10, 1924, exactly 100 years ago, Italian Socialist MP Giacomo Matteotti was kidnapped and killed by a fascist squad. Ten days earlier, on May 30, 1924, he had delivered a very harsh speech against the intimidating and violent repression during the elections a few weeks prior, on April 6, 1924, which were marked by repeated violence from the action squads of the National Fascist Party. He demanded the annulment of at least part of the results due to the intimidation received by the voters. He knew exactly what he was doing and what the risks of his protest were, as he famously declared at the end of his speech, looking at his party comrades, "I have made my speech. Now you prepare the funeral oration for me."
Portrait of Giacomo Matteotti in 1924. Available here
Initially, the head of the fascist government Benito Mussolini tried to deny any involvement in Matteotti's assassination and condemned the incident. In this communiqué from a Hungarian news agency, the Hungarian Telegraphic Office, it is stated that
"Rome,14. June. The kidnapping of Congressman Matteotti has the entire political world in a state of utmost suspense. The Congress devoted its last session almost exclusively to this issue. Mussolini expressed the strongest condemnation of the assassins and strongly protested against the exploitation of this crime for political ends. According to Mussolini, the conscience of the government was absolutely clear, and it had done its duty in every direction. A total of seven people has been arrested so far. Their names are being kept secret by the police. The general opinion is that Matteotti is hardly alive. In the evening, the unverified rumour spread that Matteotti's body had been found near Lake Braciano, 30 kilometres from Rome".
In reality, his body was only found in the countryside of Riano, 40’ by car from the Lake, on the 16th August 1924. Also, while the arrested people confessed to the murder, no one suffered any prosecution, and everyone was released from jail. Emilio Del Bono, the Chief of Police in Rome, was himself a commander of the Fascist Militiae, and in 1925 was appointed governor of Tripolitania, in Libya, where he became infamous for organising contentration camps and gas chambers against anti-colonial protesters, practices that tantamounted to genocide.
Magyar Nemzati Leveltar, Hungarian Telegraphic Office, III. edition 14 June 1924. 12.45 pm, HU_MNL_OL_K_428_a_085_1924_06_14
Following Matteotti’s assassination, the opposition MPs left the Parliament in protest, demanding that the King deposed Mussolini and called for new elections. None of this happened, and Mussolini used the protest to gain even more control over the Parliament, passing new anti-democratic laws which allowed him, in 1926, to declare decayed from their role as MPs those who participated in the protest.
The events related to Matteotti’s death, however, had an enormous echo all across Europe. Immediately, the International Federation of Trade Unions set up an international “Matteotti Fund” that gathered all anti-Fascist movements across Europe, raising money to support anti-Fascist struggles, and later refugees, across Europe. At the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis there are many documental collections about the Matteotti Fund in Belgium, France, Austria, the UK, and more.
Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Matteotti Fund, 1940, available here
Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Belgian Matteotti Fund, 1928, available here
Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Matteotti Fund, 1926-1939, available here
At the same time, there is a lot of evidence of how the Fund was monitored and feared by Fascist forces. For example, here you can find all the documentation from the Bundesarchiv about "Activity in Denmark: Documentation of political refugees living in Denmark, some of whom moved to Sweden or the Soviet Union after 1934 (records). Activities of the Red Aid and the Matteotti Committee. Emigrants and former party members providing espionage services for the Secret State Police. - Correspondence of the Red Aid in Denmark."One sign of just how brutal the Fascist regime was against internal opposition, was the treatment reserved to Matteotti’s widow, Velia. In this letter to the editors of “The Daily Telegraph”, Sylvia Pankhurst writes that “The actual persecution of Matteotti is of so extraordinary inhuman character that one would hesitate to believe it were it not that the evidence of the truth is overwhelming. Her dwelling is under the observation of 50 police agents controlled by an officer of the Fascist militia. These agents are on duty outside her door and demand the name and address, occupation, of all who call on the unfortunate widow […] As may be expected, few people dare to visit […] The Fascist police have given her a warning […] not to visit her husband’s grave if she cares for the safety of her children. The very name of Matteotti is not permitted in Italy. The children of the murdered deputy are not allowed to bear it. They have been denied admission to school because their mother refused to send them under another name”.
Here is the full letter; APE also links to the full article preserved at the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
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Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Letter of Sylvia Pankhurs to “The Daily Telegraph”
On the centenary of his death, the best way to celebrate Matteotti is to recall (and re-read) his political ideas during his life. In the year before his death, he edited an important volume titled "A Year of Fascist Rule," in which he demolished the economic, social, and legal justifications that, in the eyes of many, supported the establishment of the fascist government against the communist threat. The book collected data and statistics showing how Fascism had replaced the rule of law with total arbitrariness, weakened Italy economically, and worsened the living conditions of the vast majority of the population, serving a narrow elite of industrialists and landowners who had been able to exponentially increase their speculation and exploitation.
A full copy of the book, in Italian, is available digitally here.
Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, "Un anno di dominazione fascista", 1924
And here is the correspondence of Matteotti with various editors to get it translated to English and other languages
The assassination of the Italian politician Giacomo Matteotti on 10 June 1924 caused a major stir not only in Italy. The news also caused consternation in many other European countries. Matteotti’s name became a kind of symbol of anti-fascism, first in Italy and later at an international level. The wave of outrage over his murder also spread to Luxembourg. You can read here the full story about the many protests against the assassination of Matteotti in the days, months, and years following the murder, as narrated by the documentation in the National Archives of Luxembourg.
More documents about Giacomo Matteotti and his anti-Fascist legacy can be found here.
Written by APE; research by APE, Anna Batzeli, Ildikó Szerényi
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