A Civil War (108 page)

23
See Deakin,
Brutal Friendship
, pp. 675; Legnani,
Potere, società ed economia
, pp. 16–17. Among the people deported from Piedmont to Germany, some 36 percent of survivors were workers and engineers, 15 percent peasants, 10 percent artisans and apprentices, and 9 percent small shop owners and traders – see Bravo and Jalla, eds,
La vita offesa
, p. 55. See also p. 120, where one survivor says that the working-class presence was more like 90 percent.

24
‘Gli operai militanti in lotta per gli anticipi',
L'Unità
, Northern edition, 7 September 1944.

25
‘Le nostre rivendicazioni',
L'Edilizia
, Turin, 22 December 1944. Dellavalle (‘Lotte operaie. Torino', pp. 238–41) notes that the Germans often turned a blind eye to the presence in the protected industries of workers from the age-groups that had been called to arms, whom management claimed to be indispensable.

26
See, on this, Dellavalle's ‘Lotte operaie: Torino', p. 224; Ganapini, ‘Lotte operaie: Milano', p. 173; De Luna,
Lotte operaie e Resistenza
,
passim
. The ‘Adorno contract' decreed on 29 March 1945 provided for almost full wage-equality between men and women: clearly an attempt to make use of Resistance conditions to make a mark on the situation after Liberation (Dellavalle,
Operai
, pp. 268–71).

27
As we often read in
L'Unità
. Four hundred people were deported from Turin after the March 1944 strikes, according to Fascist sources; 132 of them came from Fiat alone, according to the research of Ernesto Bolognesi (himself a deported worker): see ANED,
Gli scioperi del marzo 1944
, pp. 38, 65–8. According to another estimate, after the March 1944 strikes, the proportion of workers, anti-Fascists and partisans in Piedmont who were arrested amounted to over 60 percent: see Bravo and Jalla,
La vita offesa
, p. 55.

28
Letter from the ‘Comitato della Federazione comunista di Trieste' to the Commander of the Trieste Battalion (which was, among other things, invited to adopt the name ‘Garibaldi Trieste'), late December 1943 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, p. 180).

29
See ‘Lo sciopero in regime di occupazione',
L'Unità
, Rome edition, 15 December 1943, and the letter from Rome to Milan of 13 December (in Longo,
I Centri dirigenti del PCI
, p. 258).

30
L'Unità
, Rome edition, 13 and 20 April 1944.

31
Record of the ‘Riunione dei rappresentanti di Partito' (‘Meeting of Party representatives), in a Padua workshop, 18 March 1945 (IG,
Archivio PCI
; reproduced in part in
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 490–4).

32
‘Informazioni da Milano', 14 and 18 April 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 621, 648–50)

33
See, on this,
Operai e contadini
.

34
The situation is summarised thusly by C. Dellavalle, in ANED,
Gli scioperi del marzo 1944
, p. 30.

35
‘Lotte parziali ed insurrezione nazionale',
L'Unità
, Northern edition, 20 March 1944.

36
‘Sciopero politico' (‘Political strike' was the headline of the 7 March 1944 Lombard edition of
L'Italia Libera
).

37
‘Rapporto sulla situazione operaia a Torino', written by the Action Party's trade-union committee, presumably dating from January 1944 (kept in the archive of Giorgio Agosti and cited in De Luna,
Lotte operaie e Resistenza
, p. 522).

38
Voci d'Officina
, No. 2, March 1944 (cited in De Luna,
Lotte operaie e Resistenza
, p. 526).

39
De Luna,
Lotte operaie e Resistenza
, p. 527. As regards the Bordigists, see the article ‘In margine agli scioperi. Un esperimento e il suo bilancio',
Prometeo
, 1 April 1944.

40
Testimony of Marco Gatti, in ANED,
Gli scioperi del marzo 1944
, p. 54.

41
‘Saluto agli operai dell'Italia occupata',
La Democrazia del Lavoro
, 20 March 1944.

42
‘Non è l'ultimo',
Italia Nuova
, 20 March 1944.

43
‘Scioperi e Resistenza',
Risorgimento Liberale
, Rome edition, 15 March 1944. The Northern edition of March 1944 published article ‘Il successo dello sciopero politico', which described the strike's ‘unexpected' success.

44
For an analysis of such an attitude among the medium and small industrialists in the Biellese, see Dellavalle,
Operai
, pp. 54–6, 68–72, 166.

45
‘Rapporto da Torino', signed ‘Giovanni', 6 October 1943 (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

46
See ANED,
Gli scioperi del marzo 1944
, p. 37.

47
See E. Falck, ‘Fabbriche in Lombardia', in
Anche l'Italia ha vinto
16 (December 1945), pp. 259–63.

48
Report from the head of the Party's political secretariat, June 1944 (cited in Deakin,
Brutal Friendship
, p. 702).

49
Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
, p. 187. Bocca gave his tenth chapter the title ‘Il partito dell'industria' (‘The party of industry').

50
Inverni (V. Foa),
I partiti
, p. 22.

51
The author in dialogue with Foa, September 1986. See Note 51 of Chapter 6.1.

52
‘Per le bande dei volontari della libertà',
Avanti!
, Rome edition, 30 December 1943.

53
Gobetti,
Diario partigiano
, p. 199 (entry for 20 September 1944).

54
Letter ‘Cari compagni', 19 September 1944 (IZDG, envelope 272b, folder V/1). In AS Genova, CLN, packet 2, folder 7, there are many documents on the aid given by various firms to the CLN. A list of Pirelli's contributions to the Resistance – the conspicuous financial support appears, here, alongside the fact that ‘a son of Doctor Alberto (Giovanni) was a partisan in Valtellina' – appears in a 2 May 1945 memorandum ‘For the attention of His Excellency Aldobrando Medici Tornaquinci (ISRT,
Archivio Medici Tornaquinci
, envelope 11, 1, n. 16).

55
Francesco to Amos, 16 April 1945 (Upper Lombardy) (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 636–7).

56
Bruzzone and Farina, eds,
La Resistenza taciuta
, pp. 147–8.

57
See ‘Paura',
L'Italiano
, 15 March 1944.

58
An explicit, provocative argument of this nature was made by the Liberal and Christian-Democrat representatives at a meeting of the Ligurian regional CLN of 6 December 1944, when the layoffs at San Giorgio were discussed (see
Resistenza e ricostruzione in Liguria
, pp. 162–6).

59
See, for example, the editorial ‘Sciopero generale' in
L'Unità
, Northern edition, 25 January 1944.

60
These being the titles of two articles published in the 25 November 1943 Northern edition of
L'Unità
.

61
‘La classe operaia non deve pagare le spese della guerra imperialista',
L'Unità
, Northern edition, 12 October 1943.

62
‘Rapporto sulla situazione nelle fabbriche', signed ‘Giovanni', December 1943 (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

63
‘Spezzare la coalizione dei negrieri e degli affamatori',
L'Unità
, Northern edition, 7 November 1943. The Todt Organisation was in charge of the work that needed to be carried out for the German armed forces. Kurt Sauckel was plenipotentiary for sourcing manpower. See, similar to the sense of the piece in the Milan edition, the 10 November Rome edition's article ‘La disoccupazione e i piani nazisti'.

64
See INSMLI,
CLNAI
, envelope 8, folder 2, sub folder 10 (12 February 1945).

65
See ‘Rapporto di un organizzatore comunista sulle agitazioni operaie di fine ottobre [1944] contro le deportazioni', cited in Gibelli,
Genova operaia
, p. 336.

66
See Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, chapter ‘Operazione ‘mano d'opera' per la Germania', p. 321.

67
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 72–4. The directives were published in
La nostra lotta
, 2, 11, 10 July 1944, pp. 7–9.

68
See, for example, the 21 June 1944 Northern edition of L'Unità, and similar appeals made in the 10, 15 and 25 July and 7 August issues.

69
On this, see Collotti,
L'amministrazione tedesca
, pp. 162–3, 190.

70
See the letter from Valle di Susa Group Divisional Command to the Command of the Lera Brigade of the GL 5
^th
Alpine Division, 30 December 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 159–60).

71
The appeal to Biella workers – drawn up by local Communists, who signed it in the name of the CLN (the same appeal calling on them to refuse participation in the elections for the Fascist internal commissions) – was criticised by the PCI leadership on account of its weak links with shop floor reality (see, on this episode, Dellavalle,
Operai
, pp. 90–2).

72
‘Operai in guardia! Gli industriali vi vendono ai tedeschi. Non un operaio né una macchina in Germania!',
L'Unità
, Northern edition, 25 January 1944.

73
See, for example, the leaflet distributed among the workers of Forlì on the occasion of the March 1944 strikes (cited in Flamigni and Marzocchi,
Resistenza in Romagna
, p. 289).

74
‘L'ultima piaga: il collaborazionismo',
L'Italia Libera
, Lombardy edition, 18 February 1944.

75
See Dellavalle,
Operai
, pp. 229–33.

76
ISRT,
CVL
, envelope 205, folder Officine Galileo, and
Carte Francesco Berti
, envelope 1, folder 1, Verbali del CTLN; Contini,
Memoria e storia
, p. 309.

77
Archivio della Camera dei Deputati, Atti Assemblea Costituente, 3a commissione per l'esame dei disegni di legge, 24–25 January 1947. The record of the meeting is republished in R. Romboli and C. Fiumanò,
Il contributo della Costituente alla legislazione ordinaria
, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1980, pp. 532–6.

78
See, for example, Sandrelli's 2 November 1943 report from Turin (‘Al Centro', IG,
Archivio PCI
).

79
See the ‘Lettera agli attivisti del Partito' and ‘Rapporto sulla situazione nelle fabbriche', both from Turin, December 1943 (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

80
‘Rapporto sul lavoro di Partito in Bergamo', not signed, 29 December 1943 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, p. 191).

81
G. Diena, ‘La rivoluzione minimalista',
Quaderni dell'Italia Libera
, April 1945, 16, p. 17.

82
See, on this, V. Foa, ‘Introduzione' in P. Grifone,
Il capitale finanziario in Italia
, Einaudi, Turin 1971.

83
See ‘Sunto di quanto avvenuto in questo ultimo periodo che va dal 19 novembre al 24 novembre alla Viberti', unsigned, and ‘Rapporto sulla situazione nelle fabbriche', signed ‘Rosa', 23 December 1943 (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

84
See Briguglio,
Clero e contadini
, p. 340.

85
Unpublished diary of G. Manni

86
Quoted in A. Scalpelli, ‘Quinta Sezione: Sciopero!', in
La Resistenza racconta
, Milan: Il calendario del popolo, n.d.

87
See the article on the Turin strike in
Voce Operaia
, 16 December 1943.

88
See Colombi's 13 December 1944 ‘Informazione da Torino' (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 70) and R. Gobbi, ‘Note sulla commissione d'epurazione del CLN regionale piemontese e sul caso Valletta', in
Il Movimento di liberazione in Italia
, October–December 1967, No. 89, pp. 57–73.

89
Testimonies of Dante Bartolini and Comunardo Tobia, in Portelli,
Biografia di una città
, pp. 209, 286.

90
Interview with the Engineer Brini, in Contini,
Memoria e storia
, p. 209.

91
‘Insegnamenti ed esame critico', a PCI document cited in Ganapini,
Lotte operaie: Milano
, p. 168.

92
See the testimonies of Corrado Polli, Berto Guarducci and Ugo Cellini, collected in Contini,
Memoria e storia
, pp. 95, 159, 294.

93
Testimony of Emilio Ferri (Portelli,
Biografia di una città
, p. 92).

94
Testimony of Raffaele Chiavacci, PCI member, laid off from the Officine Galileo in 1954 (Contini,
Memoria e storia
, p. 328; see also p. 342).

95
Testimony of Corrado Polli (Contini,
Memoria e storia
, pp. 101–3).

96
‘Sacrifice and organisation: … proletarian virtues' – so commented
L'Unità
, Rome edition, 15 March 1944, with reference to the strikes in Northern and Central Italy.

97
Faced with this request (made on 3 April 1945), on 8 September the CLN decided not to answer (AS Genova,
CLN
, packet 2, folder 7). See
Resistenza e ricostruzione in Liguria
, p. 234.

98
See De Luna,
Lotte operaie e Resistenza
, pp. 508, 511.

99
From the aforementioned testimony of Angelo Raffaelli (Contini,
Memoria e storia
, pp. 346, 351).