A Civil War (112 page)

78
See, for example
Terra e lavoro. Organo del comitato provinciale dei contadini
(Romagna), 1 November 1944 (quoted in Casali,
Il movimento di liberazione a Ravenna
, p. 62). According to
La Lotta
, organ of the Bologna PCI federation, in its 11 March 1945 editorial ‘Seminare', the landowners hoped that the Allies would arrive soon, and even that a new squadrism would arise to defend them against the ‘accursed' revived Federterra agricultural labourers' union.

79
See, on this, G. Crainz, ‘I braccianti padani', in G. Chianese, G. Crainz, M. Da Vela and G. Gribaudi,
Italia 1945–1950
.
Conflitti e trasformazioni sociali
, Milan: Franco Angeli, 1985, pp. 173–326;
Il ‘48
.
Le lotte dei lavoratori cremonesi della terra negli anni 1946–1953
, Cremona: Lega di cultura di Piadena, 1976.

1
‘Il responsabile del triumvirato insurrezionale del Piemonte, Alfredo, alla Direzione del PCI per l'Italia occupata' (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 69).

2
Testimonies of Nelia Benissone Costa and Teresa Cirio (Bruzzone and Farina, eds,
La Resistenza taciuta
, pp. 55, 89). For a factual verification of this, see Vaccarino, Gobetti and Gobbi,
L'insurrezione di Torino
, pp. 248, 261. Teresa Cirio lamented that ‘in the [version of events told in] schools the solely military aspect has come through too strongly' (p. 86).

3
‘Direttive per la lotta armata', February 1944, by the Military Command for Upper Italy (
Atti CVL
, p. 560). Parri's hand in composing these directives is clear from the text.

4
Il Combattente
(Tuscany), February–March 1944.

5
Letter from Milo, Commander of the Nanetti Division, to the Zone Command Commissar De Luca (Giuseppe Landi), 20 March 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 513). On this episode, see Bernardo,
Il momento buono
, pp. 154–5.

6
‘Relazione del Comando della 3a divisione Piemonte alla Delegazione per il Piemonte', send to the Piedmont Delegation and the Military Commands, 15 September 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 340).

7
L. Lanzardo, ‘Fonti orali e storia della classe operaia: indagini sulla coscienza di classe alla Fiat',
Rivista di storia contemporanea
, X, 1981, pp. 255–81.

8
In a conversation between Secchia and the present author.

9
See the 23 March 1944 cited in Ragionieri,
Il partito comunista
, p. 355.

10
‘Up to February [prior to the support given to the March 1944 strikes] the war that we were waging was almost a parallel one', Giulio Nicoletta recently recalled. He was Commander of the autonomous S. Devitis Division (see ANED,
Gli scioperi del marzo 1944
, p. 56).

11
According to Inverni (V. Foa)
I partiti
, p. 22. For critical remarks on the disjuncture between strikes and military activity, also see the report by Sandrelli – the official responsible for military work in Piedmont – to the PCI leadership, 26 December 1943 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, pp. 183–8) and the article ‘Dallo sciopero generale all'insurrezione nazionale' in
Il Combattente
(Tuscany) 17 April 1944. See also
Operai
.

12
Portelli,
Biografia di una città
, pp. 261–2. According to Portelli, Bartolini ‘gave life to a metaphor'.

13
Proclamation of the Czech National Council, 4–5 May 1945, cited in Etnasi,
La Resistenza in Europa
, vol. I, p. 139.

14
Report by Secondo Saracco on the Valle Sessera, 19 March 1945 (quoted in Dellavalle,
Operai
, p. 232).

15
Northern edition, 25 November 1943: article ‘Tutto per il fronte' in the section ‘Vita di Partito'. A similar concern appeared in the same section of the Rome edition, 20 December 1943, under the title ‘Azione partigiana'.

16
Undated, unsigned report (late 1943?) (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

17
See ‘Rapporto trimestrale agosto-ottobre' (August-October 1943) (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

18
See, for example, ‘Nota informativa sull'agitazione degli operai torinesi', signed Alfio, 27 November 1943, which explains: ‘The ranks of the leadership have been impoverished, with the best comrades sent away from Turin and the rest given military tasks' (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

19
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, p. 110

20
On the implementation of this directive, see Lazagna,
Ponte rotto
, p. 22. See the letter from Alfredo to Sandrelli, the official responsible for military work in Piedmont, 10 November 1943. The following day, Sandrelli wrote to the political commissars that the bands ‘had to be continuously reinforced with those among our ranks with adequate preparation' (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, pp. 125–9).

21
See the circular ‘A tutti gli attivisti del Partito', which reached Turin on 4 November 1943 (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

22
See Ganapini,
Lotte operaie: Milano
, p. 170, and the documents cited therein.

23
Ganapini,
Lotte operaie: Milano
, pp. 183–5.

24
See Dellavalle,
Lotte operaie: Torino
, p. 250.

25
See Ganapini,
Lotte operaie: Milano
, pp. 187–8; Dellavalle,
Lotte operaie: Torino
, p. 250; De Luna,
Lotte operaie e Resistenza
, p. 528.

26
See the letter from ‘Cri.', official responsible for the insurrectionary triumvirate for Emilia-Romagna, to the General Command, 14 July 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 125). For Milan, see the unsigned May 1944 report simply entitled ‘Relazione' (IG,
BG
, 011011).

27
Gibelli,
Genova operaia
, pp. 211–12, 229–37. See
Resistenza e ricostruzione in Liguria
, pp. 112–37 (from 3 October to 3 November 1944).

28
This being the title covering the whole front page of
L'Unità
, Northern edition, 9 April 1945.

29
‘Informazioni da Milano', 15 December 1944 (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

30
‘Informazioni da Milano', 14 April 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 620).

31
‘Informazioni da Milano', 22 April 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 668).

32
‘Informazioni da Milano', 22 April 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 669).

33
‘Informazioni da Milano', 22 April 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 674). See also Informazioni da Milano', 14 April 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 620).

34
See Vaccarino, Gobetti and Gobbi,
L'insurrezione di Torino
, p. 192.

35
According to a biography of GAP cadre in Emilia-Romagna, dated 28 December 1944, we find that Pietro was a mechanic who had joined the PCI in 1928 and spent three years in prison; Luigi was a bricklayer who emigrated to Paris in 1927, joined the PCI in 1929, was wounded at Guadalajara, went to the USSR, was arrested in France and Belgium and then held at Ventotene; Jacopo was a former medical officer who had joined the PNF in 1932 (though not assuming any rank) and then the PCI in 1941 (IG,
BG
,
Emilia-Romagna
, G.IV.2.10).

36
‘Relazione' (IG,
BG
, 011011).

37
See, for example, an anonymous report on Valsesia-Valdossola, 4 March 1944 (IG,
BG
, 08631).

38
See ‘Circolare n. 19', 19 July 1944, from the Command of the 28
^th
Garibaldi Brigade GAP Mario Gordini (Romagna) (IG,
BG
, 02209–12).

39
See the record of the meeting of the Piazza di Torino Command, between late March and early April 1945, and the SAP document giving a quite different explanation of the episode (Vaccarino, Gobetti and Gobbi,
L'insurrezione di Torino
, pp. 143–5).

40
‘Rapporto sul lavoro militare', by the Turin SAP Command, 1 September 1944 (IG,
BG
, 06048).

41
As explained on 16 December 1944 by the ‘comrades responsible' to Vice-Commander Pietro and the ‘comrades responsible for the 2
^nd
Piedmont Division', who had shown themselves not to be ‘clear' on this. On 15 January 1945 the Command of the Turin SAP Division reproached the Command of the 4
^th
Zone Brigade for having made the SAP, ‘a true and proper Party organisation' (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 98–102, 234–7).

42
Casali,
Il movimento di liberazione a Ravenna
, vol. I, pp. 104–5.

43
See the letter from the Command of the Piedmont SAP Division to the Command of the Gardoncini Battista Brigade (undated – January 1945?) (IG,
BG
, 06045).

44
See the order of the day of the 2
^nd
Sector SAP Military Command, 30 March 1945 (in Vaccarino, Gobetti and Gobbi,
L'insurrezione di Torino
, p. 164).

45
These figures appear in Casali,
Il movimento di liberazione a Ravenna
, vol. II, p. 253. ‘Christian Socialists' here is probably meant to mean Christian Democrats.

46
‘Informazioni dall'Emilia', November 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 668).

47
‘Rapporto del membro del triumvirato insurrezionale del Veneto, Oreste, sulla federazione di Venezia', 7 March 1945, spoke of 350 SAP members who were ‘largely paper members, in that they lack weaponry', while the other parties gave ‘inflated figures' (stir them up in order to control them!). In the same report, the Venetian GAP were termed ‘almost nonexistent' (
Le Brigate
Garibaldi, vol. III, pp. 449–53).

48
Rapporto sul lavoro militare', by the Turin SAP Command, 1 September 1944 (IG,
BG
, 06048).

49
See ‘Rapporto sul lavoro di Partito in Bergamo', 29 December 1943 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, p. 193); ‘Relazione sulla situazione politica della nostra provincia', Perugia, 27 January 1944 (IG,
Archivio PCI
); ‘L' organizzazione di Terni e il lavoro militare', 8 February 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, pp. 255–6); the report by the Yugoslav Urban, 23 March 1944 (cited in Ragionieri,
Il partito comunista
, p. 355); ‘Informazione da Udine', December 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 166–9); ‘Rapporto sulla federazione di Venezia', 7 March 1945, by Oreste, a member of the Veneto insurrectionary triumvirate (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 449–53).

50
Pesce,
Senza tregua
, p. 23.

51
Such was the gist of the critique Pietro (Antonio Roasio) levelled against G. (Giuseppe Gaddi) in an undated note (but possible to attribute to December 1943) on the Belluno federation (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, p. 202).

52
An adaptation, made by the Natisone Division, of the Soviet song
Les Partisans
(see Padoan [Vanni],
Abbiamo lottato insieme
, p. 178)

53
See the Party report of 20 June 1944 (cited in
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 30, note 2); the news report from the Command of the Lower Po Division to the Lombardy Delegation, 5 October 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 401–3); and ‘Rapporto informativo n. 2' to the Lombardy Delegation from the Lower Po SAP Brigade Group Command, 27 October 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 496–502). In this last document, the wait-and-see attitude is attributed to the role of the fear of reprisals in alienating peasants.

54
Handwritten document from December 1943 (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

55
Report by Luciano, 11 July 1944, ‘Il lavoro sportivo provinciale' (IG,
BG
, 011211).

56
See the circular by the PCI federation of ‘P.' (Padua?), undated but after the Salerno Turn (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

57
See, for example, Dellavalle,
Operai
, p. 263 (concerning February 1945).

58
See the report ‘Il lavoro militare in Piemonte, Liguria e Lombardia', 7 May 1944, and ‘Rapporto di attività del mese di maggio', sent from the Lombardy Delegation to the General Command, 10 June 1944 (IG,
Archivio PCI
; and
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 23–7).

59
See the report from the Commander of the Milan SAP Brigade Group, Franco, ‘Il lavoro militare al 30 novembre 1944'. The sharp critique concerns events in the Valle dell'Olona (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 675).

60
‘Informazioni da Milano', 22 April 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 668).

61
See ‘Attesismo: un'insidia da sventare' in the 31 October 1943 Northern edition.

62
Inverni (V. Foa),
I partiti
, p. 24.

63
‘Azione',
Bandiera Rossa
, 5 January 1944.

64
‘Relazione del comandante della brigata d'assalto ligure', 20 April 1944, on the Benedicta massacre (IG,
BG
, 09981).

65
‘Rapporto sul sopraluogo alla 6
^a
zona bis del 14–15 febbraio 1945' (IG,
BG
, 04508).