Fasci Italiani di Combattimento

Fasci Italiani di Combattimento
LeaderBenito Mussolini
SecretaryMichele Bianchi
Attilio Longoni
Umberto Pasella
FounderBenito Mussolini
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti[1]
Giuseppe Ungaretti[2]
Founded23 March 1919; 105 years ago (23 March 1919)
Dissolved9 November 1921; 102 years ago (9 November 1921)
Merger ofFuturist Political Party
Preceded byFasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria
Succeeded byNational Fascist Party
Fasci nazionali [it] (dissident minority)
HeadquartersVia Paolo da Cannobbio, Milan[3]
NewspaperIl Fascio
Paramilitary wingAction squads[a]
Membership187,588 (May 1921)[4]
IdeologySansepolcrismo[5][6][7][8] (early)
Italian nationalism[9][10]
Revolutionary nationalism[11]
National syndicalism[12]
Aristocrazia delle Trincee[13]
Third Position[14][n 1] (ante litteram)
Italian irredentism
Futurism
Political positionSyncretic[b] (c. March 1919 – c. November 1919)[18][19]
Right-wing to far-right[c]
Electoral allianceArdito-Futurist-Fascist list[d] (1919)[20]
National Bloc (1921)[21]
Colours  Black

The Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (English: "Italian Fasces of Combat", also translatable as "Italian Fighting Bands" or "Italian Fighting Leagues"[22]) was an Italian fascist organisation created by Benito Mussolini in 1919.[23] It was the successor of the Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria, being notably further right than its predecessor. The Fasci Italiani di Combattimento was reorganised into the National Fascist Party in 1921.

The Fasci Italiani di Combattimento was founded by Mussolini and his supporters in the aftermath of World War I, at a meeting held in Milan in March 1919.[24] It was an ultranationalist organisation that intended to appeal to war veterans from across the political spectrum, at first without a clear political orientation.[25] It was closely associated with Mussolini's newspaper, Il Popolo d'Italia, and Mussolini served as the leader (Duce) of the movement throughout its existence.

After a very poor result in the Italian election of 1919, in which no members of the Fasci were elected to any office, the organisation moved further to the right and developed a reputation for using paramilitary violence against its political opponents, especially members of the Italian Socialist Party.[26] Through the support of its blackshirts militia and a political alliance with the government of Giovanni Giolitti and the Italian Nationalist Association, the Fasci was able to enter the Italian Parliament for the first time after the election of 1921.[27][28] In November of that year, the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento renamed and restructured itself as the National Fascist Party.

  1. ^ Daly, Selena (17 December 2018). Berghaus, Günter (ed.). Handbook of International Futurism. De Gruyter. p. 35. doi:10.1515/9783110273564. ISBN 9783110273564.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ^ Daly, Selena (17 December 2018). Berghaus, Günter (ed.). Handbook of International Futurism. De Gruyter. p. 35. doi:10.1515/9783110273564. ISBN 9783110273564.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ "La prima sede del "Popolo d'Italia", il "COVO" di via Paolo da Cannobio...è affidato in consegna dal segretario del Partito alla Scuola di Mistica Fascista "Italico Sandro Mussolini".".
  4. ^ Payne, Stanley G. (1995). A History of Fascism, 1914–1945. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 96. ISBN 0203501322. Excerpt: "As leader of a nationalist 'war against Bolshevism', the Fasci grew from 20,000 dues-paying members at the end of 1920 to nearly 100,000 by the end of April 1921, and then nearly doubled during the following month to 187,588."
  5. ^ "Fascismo". Enciclopedia Treccani. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Blog | Cent'anni fa nasceva il Partito nazionale fascista. Lo scopo: ottenere più rispettabilità". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 9 November 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Sansepolcrista". Enciclopedia Treccani. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  8. ^ "Il progetto politico del fascismo. Dal sansepolcrismo alla marcia su Roma". ANED (in Italian). Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  9. ^ Roger Griffin, How fascist was Mussolini?, New Perspective, vol. 6, no. 1, September 2000, pp. 31–35.
  10. ^ Roger Griffin, Matthew Feldman (a cura di), Fascism: Fascism and Culture, Londra e New York: Routledge, 2004.
  11. ^ Payne, Stanley (1995). A History of Fascism, 1914-1945. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 99.
  12. ^ Mack Smith, Denis (1983). Mussolini. New York: Vintage Books. p. 38.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Smith30 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Mack Smith, Denis (1979). Modern Italy: A Political History. University of Michigan Press. pp. 284, 297.
  15. ^ Rimbotti, Luca Leonello (2018). Fascismo rivoluzionario: il fascismo di sinistra dal sansepolcrismo alla Repubblica Sociale (in Italian). Passaggio al bosco. ISBN 978-88-85574-10-6. OCLC 1050942420.
  16. ^ Payne, Stanley G. (1995). A History of Fascism, 1914–1945. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 96. ISBN 0203501322. Excerpt: "As leader of a nationalist 'war against Bolshevism', the Fasci grew from 20,000 dues-paying members at the end of 1920 to nearly 100,000 by the end of April 1921, and then nearly doubled during the following month to 187,588."
  17. ^ Payne, Stanley G. (1995). A History of Fascism, 1914–1945. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 98. ISBN 0203501322. Excerpt: "The new mass Fascism [of 1920–1921]... was more middle-class, more economically moderate, and more categorically violent and anti-Socialist."
  18. ^ Raniolo, Francesco (2013). I partiti politici (in Italian). Rome: Editori Laterza. pp. 116–117.
  19. ^ Raniolo, 2013, pp. 116–117
  20. ^ Berghaus, Günter (1 August 2016) [2006]. "The Futurist Political Party". In Bru, Sascha; Martens, Gunther (eds.). The Invention of Politics in the European Avant-Garde (1906-1940). Avant-Garde Critical Studies. Vol. 19. Brill. pp. 172–174. ISBN 978-94-012-0252-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  21. ^ "mymilitaria.it". www.mymilitaria.it. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015.
  22. ^ "Fasci di combattimento | Italian political organization | Britannica". www.britannica.com.
  23. ^ "Fascismo: la nascita dei fasci". Storia del XX Secolo (in Italian). Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference ModernItaly284 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference Smith35 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference Smith39 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference Smith43 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference Halperin34 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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