Fascio

Fascio (plural: "fasci") is an Italian word that effectively means "league" in English, and which was used in the late 19th century to refer to political groups of many different (and sometimes opposing) orientations. A number of nationalist "fasci" later evolved into the 20th century movement known as "fascism".

During the 19th century, the bundle of rods, in Latin called "fasces" and in Italian "fascio", came to symbolize strength through unity, the point being that whilst each independent rod was fragile, as a bundle they were strong. By extension, the word "fascio" came in modern Italian political usage to mean group, union, band or league. It was first used in this sense in the 1870s by groups of revolutionary democrats and socialists in Sicily, to describe themselves. The most famous of these groups was the "Fasci Siciliani" during 1895–96. ["A History of Fascism 1914-1945", Stanley G. Payne, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. p. 81] Thereafter, the word retained revolutionary connotations. It was these connotations which made it attractive, for example, to young nationalists of leftist background who demanded Italian intervention in World War I. The "fasci" they formed were scattered over Italy, and it was to one of these spontaneously created groups, devoid of party affiliations, that Benito Mussolini belonged. [By permission of author, "Fascism", Noël O'Sullivan, J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1983. pg 207.] On August 18 1914, Alceste de Ambris speaking from the rostrum of the Milanese Syndical Union (USM) began a ferocious attack against neutrality and urged intervention against German reaction and the necessity of aiding France and the United Kingdom in WWI. He equated the war with the French Revolution.

This caused a deep split within the Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI). The majority opted for neutrality. The Parma Labor Chamber, the USM, and other radical syndicalists left the USI and on October 1, 1914, founded the "Fasci d'Azione rivoluzionaria internazionalista". On October 5, Angelo Oliviero Olivetti published their manifesto in the first issue of a new series of "Pagine libere". Mussolini shortly thereafter joined this group and took leadership. ["The Birth of Fascist Ideology, From Cultural Rebellion to Political Revolution", Zeev Sternhell with Mario Sznajder and Maia Asheri, trans. by David Maisel, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. l994. pp 140, 214.]

On December 11, 1914, Mussolini started a political group, "Fasci d'azione rivoluzionaria", which was a fusion of two other movements: the above group, "Fasci d'azione rivoluzionaria internazionalista" and a previous group he started called the "Fasci autonomi d'azione rivoluzionaria". ["The Birth of Fascist Ideology", Zeev Sternhell, pg 303.]

This new group was also referred to as the Milan "fascio", of which Mussolini was the leader. January 24, 1915 was the turning point in the history of the "fasci" as their leaders met in Milan and formed a national organization. [By permission of author, "Fascism", Noël O'Sullivan, J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1983. pg 207.]

In 1919, after the war had ended, Mussolini reconstituted the Milan "fascio", using the new name Fasci italiani di combattimento ("Italian League of Combat"). Other "fasci" of the same name were created, with the common goal of opposing all thosendash including the king and statendash whose pacific leanings were deemed to be depriving Italy of the fruits of victory in the war. According to H. W. Schneider, the new Milan "fascio" was formed of roughly the same people who had been members of the older "fascio" in 1915, but with a new name and a new objective. [H. W. Schneider, "Making the Fascist State", NY, 1928, pg 56, cited in "Fascism", Noël O'Sullivan, J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1983. pg 207.]

In November 7 1921, the Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF), National Fascist Party, came into existence.

In Italy the term "fascio" is used as pejorative for "fascista".

Other Italian Fasci
*Fasci of the Veneto led by Dino Grandi and Pietro Marsich.

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