The History of Everyday Life: Reconstructing Historical Experiences and Ways of Life

Mass Observation and Everyday Life

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And Other Essays, trans. Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms, xii. Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism, 40— Belinda J. Jacques Revel, ed. Rudolf Dekker Hilversum: Verloren, , 7. An important example of recent work on Fascist Italy grounded in ego-documents is Duggan, Fascist Voices, which draws heavily on the collections of the Archivio Diaristico Nazionale in Pieve Santo Stefano.

Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms, xiii—xxvi. Brian DeGrazia On 6 March , brothers Galileo and Silvio Lodovico Grinzato, among the most important agrarians in Correzzola—a small town in the province of Padua, in the northeastern part of the Po Valley—were killed under uncertain circumstances while traveling down a country road.

The local Fasci di combattimento Fascist associations mobilized immediately and carried out attacks against Socialist groups and day laborer associations in the region. Whether the Grinzato brothers were actually registered as Fascists is unconfirmed, even if they were undoubtedly among the prin- ciple organizers of anti-Socialist action in the region. Based on eyewitness testimony, the carabinieri arrested brothers Cesare, Giuseppe, Adolfo, and Angelo Perin for the double homicide. In July , a year after the events, the Perin brothers were released because of lack of evidence.

Slowly and carefully, the squadristi surrounded the Perin family home. At about three in the morning, they started shoot- ing at the house, yelling to the people inside to open the door. Terrified, the members of the Perin family refused. To drive them out, then, the Fascists lit a wooden pigsty next to the home on fire and tried to break down the door. Once outside, they were lined up against a wall, threatened by ten or so Fascists armed with rifles. The squadristi then lined up like a firing squad and prepared to shoot.

In the hours that followed, the carabinieri found at least 30 cartridges for combat rifles and revolv- ers. Coming back from the funeral of one of their fallen companions, the squadristi might have thought of avenging the killing—a full year earlier—of Galileo and Lodovico Grinzato, pouncing on the Perin brothers shortly after they had been released by the court.

In fact, other factors soon became evident that indicated extensive planning: the Fascists had been preparing their weapons for some time, and—even more incriminating—the truck used for the mission had been procured in advance with the help of a few directors of the Fascio of Padua, first among them the ex-general Francesco Bertolini. For precisely this reason, however, it is indicative of some of the typical features of squad- rista violence. Brutal episodes of this kind did not necessarily involve hardened crimi- nals.

In the vast majority of cases, acts like these were carried out by young men who sincerely believed that violence was just a means to reinstate order and patriotic values, but who also never missed a chance to sing and carouse with their squadra companions. In this chapter, I will ana- lyze the causes and effects of squadrista violence, especially at the level of individuals and of primary groups, like families, friends, and local com- munities.

But neither is it possible to reduce Fascism to a phenomenon of hooligans and degenerates. If, from this moment onward, Fascism succeeded in embodying one of the largest and most aggressive political forces within a broader patriotic and anti-Socialist revival, the motivations that drove many young people to join the action squads were varied. Despite its political values and aims, Fascism, and especially squadrismo, also proved attractive because it was able to provide an organizational framework within which to experiment with violence and to express deep-seated sentiments and expectations prevalent among large segments of the society.

These traits proved par- ticularly strong for the young men who constituted the better part of the action squads.

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Varying by region, the average age for squadristi ranged from 20 to 25 years old. Among those who comprised the squadre, however, only about 50 percent had actually fought in the Great War, and among the veterans, many were members of elite corps like the Arditi assault troops or specialized branches like the Alpine Corps or the light infantry units bersaglieri. As Umberto Fabbri, secretary of the National Fascist Party in Rome, acknowledged, only these elite corps allowed for individual valor and courage to be put to the test.

Many could not wait to emulate the deeds of the Arditi, who became outright role models. The use of pistols and other firearms, for example, was transformed into a kind of game, especially for the younger ones who had never had a similar experience in the trenches of World War I.

The history of everyday life : reconstructing historical experiences and ways of life

Within the squadra, a gun was an instrument of self-aggrandizement and prestige. In a letter to the secretary of the Fasci di combatti- mento Umberto Pasella, Panicali forbade the officer from sending propa- ganda materials to his son. While they could not initially agree on a course of action, Mario Piazzesi and his father found themselves side by side during the March on Rome.

After the March on Rome, the leadership assigned Mariotti to the role of agent provocateur. This type of squadrista was also an impor- tant pawn in the imposition of Fascist order by means of intimidation and violence.

In the politi- cal climate of postwar Italy, individuals who in a traditional context would have been marginalized came to the fore, both within the microcosm of the squadre and in the macrocosm of politics: they became role models in no uncertain terms. Participating in acts of collective criminality and violence helped cement bonds of camaraderie within the squadre, creating masculine subcultures of militant radicalism that were tested every day in clashes with so-called subversives.

On another occasion, Piazzesi recalled, a girl reacted coolly upon learning of his participation in the squadre and especially the fact that he carried and used a pistol. This also made squadrismo lively and joyful, in sharp contrast to delegitimized parliamentary institutions and the traditional political class. At the end of the day, no language possessed a greater persuasive force than the language of violence. It is serious, finishes things quickly … [and is] terribly efficient because it prevents the discussion from ever being reopened.

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And those who are stronger are always right. You will go to sleep and in the meantime I, fool that I am, will win the game. Simple, no? Clear and straightforward. Respect for public officials, laws, and traditional political rules, along with privileging discussion and mediation over con- flict, had all become wasteful and ultimately old-fashioned principles, to be overcome by the overwhelming use of political violence. Squadrista violence also assumed a clear performative significance. The forcefulness of the violent act, its visibility and its concreteness, and its long-lasting effects all resulted in a political message sent not only to the people directly involved but to a much broader audience.

This performa- tive quality rendered violence an everyday experience, constantly present even when it was not concretely put into action. Whoever fell victim to murder or to injury, or heard them recounted, understood immediately whom they were dealing with: utterly determined young men, lacking any scruples, and ready to go beyond any legal or moral limit just to assert themselves. Bound and naked, they would be brought out to an open field, beaten, whipped with rid- ing crops, clubbed, and water-boarded. Sometimes the victims would be killed, but more commonly they were left tied to a tree unconscious.

Attacking not just its own adversaries but ordinary people as well, Fascism aimed at hegemonic control in the political arena and sought to establish violence as a legitimate instrument of political action. The paroxysmal postwar atmosphere also provided an excuse to exploit political conflicts for distinctly private ends.

Between and , taking advantage of wartime conditions, he resorted to using non-unionized day laborers on his land. Starting in , however, the Socialist associations mandated that only unionized day laborers be hired, and with a 20 percent increase in pay. This declaration by the Socialist leagues became the pretext for the founding of the local Fascio di combat- timento and its squadre. Reaching a position of power— because it also meant support for the party—was deemed virtuous and not the result of mere ambition: greed, for example, in this way became a fair pretense and took on positive political value.

Legitimizing and justifying private ambitions as patriotic initiatives, squadrista violence thus contrib- uted to the reconfiguration of the boundaries between the public and the private. In this environment, even the most meaningless rationales were used to justify a recourse to violence. A group of squadristi in the province of Bologna killed the son of a tenant farmer simply because, a few days before, he had accused the Fascists of scaring his chickens as they passed through his courtyard in a truck.

The Fascists managed to get away but returned promptly that afternoon; as soon as the farmer came to the door, they shot and killed him. Even when it seemed gratuitous at first glance, violence never failed to have a political impact since it was aimed not only at neutralizing the enemy but also at instilling fear, resignation, and despondency.

One of the best ways to maximize this effect was to strike at random.

ISBN 10: 0691056935

This vio- lence was therefore rampant—almost endemic—and ingrained in everyday life: no one could feel safe from it because everyone was subjected to it, regardless of fault. It was an arbitrary form of violence, but, precisely for that reason, also a very effective one.

As soon as you left everyone would say the rosary. Silence, aphasia, and widespread terror were the products of squadrista violence and led to a growing acquiescence on behalf of adversaries. With its spectacular qualities, its ubiquity and randomness, and the impunity enjoyed by its proponents, it served as a powerful instrument of terror. Although the issue is surely broad and complex, such long-lasting continuity should be taken into account to fully understand the rise of the repressive apparatus of the regime after Punitive missions had an undeniable social, recreational, and even playful component, which played a funda- mental role in forging camaraderie and fostering a lifestyle.

Early on, missions would happen on Sundays: not only were students or workers who fought in the Fascio free from other commitments, but it was also the day when local populations would meet. In this way, the brutality reserved for these so-called subversives was not a contradiction of the joie de vivre displayed by the Fascists but rather a consequence of it: there was no mercy to be shown to those who refused to, or who were considered not worthy of, taking part in the joyous national community. It is within this context of cockiness and self-assuredness that the adoption of the prank as a vio- lent practice, aimed first and foremost at ridiculing and humiliating the adversary but also at fostering a complicity and a devious sense of pleasure in the spectator, must be situated.

It can be understood in part within a series of customary activities, which also included cruel jokes carried out in taverns or in barracks.

ISBN 13: 9780691008929

This is also the framework within which the use of the manganello truncheon or billy club can be understood. When a beating victim died, moreover, it was never the fault of the Fascists but—via an inversion as paradoxical as it is macabre—the fault of the victim himself. This was the case for the union leader Attilio Boldori, who died after having been beaten by the squadristi of Cremona. You just clipped your first slide! Clipping is a handy way to collect important slides you want to go back to later. Now customize the name of a clipboard to store your clips.

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