Giacomo Matteotti
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Giacomo Matteotti | |
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Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
In office 1 December 1919 – 10 June 1924 | |
Constituency | Ferrara (1919–1921) Padua (1921–1924) Rovigo (1924) |
Personal details | |
Born | Fratta Polesine, near Rovigo, Italy | 22 May 1885
Died | 10 June 1924 Rome, Italy | (aged 39)
Manner of death | Assassination |
Political party | PSI (1907–1922) PSU (1922–1924) |
Spouse |
Velia Titta (m. 1916) |
Children | Giancarlo (1918–2006) Matteo (1921–2000) Isabella (1922–1994) |
Alma mater | University of Bologna |
Profession | Lawyer, journalist |
Giacomo Matteotti (Italian pronunciation:
Political career
Matteotti was born into a wealthy family, in Fratta Polesine, Province of Rovigo in Veneto. He graduated in law at the University of Bologna.
An atheist[1] and from early on an activist in the socialist movement and the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), he opposed Italy's entry into World War I (and was interned in Sicily during the conflict for this reason).
He was elected deputy three times: in 1919, 1921 and 1924.
As a follower of
Opposition to Fascism
Matteotti openly spoke out against Fascism and Benito Mussolini, and for a time was the leader of the opposition to the National Fascist Party (NFP). In 1921 he denounced fascist violence in a pamphlet titled Inchiesta socialista sulle gesta dei fascisti in Italia (Socialist enquiry on the deeds of the fascists in Italy).
A year before being killed, «a clear warning against him had appeared in the pages of the newspaper founded by Mussolini himself, Il popolo d’Italia».[2]
In 1924 his book The Fascisti Exposed: A Year of Fascist Domination was published and he made two impassioned and lengthy speeches in the Chamber of Deputies denouncing Fascism and declaring that the last election, marked by intimidation and militia violence, was "invalid".[3]
In the speech Matteotti gave on 30 May 1924 in Parliament, he strongly contested the violence, saying "In Naples in one conference that the head of the constitutional opposition was to hold, he was prevented due to the mobilization of the armed corps, which intervened in the city", as a fraud in the 1924 elections (however won by
Murder
On June 1, 1924, the police chief Emilio De Bono ordered Otto Thierschädl, the spotter of the assassination squad, to be released from prison with a telegram signed “for the minister” of the interior: actually, the Minister of the interior, ad interim, was Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.[5]
On 10 June 1924, Matteotti was bundled into a Lancia Kappa and stabbed several times with a carpenter's file as he was struggling to escape. His corpse was found after an extensive search near Riano, 23 kilometres north of Rome, on 16 August 1924.
Five men (
Consequences of the murder
The death of Matteotti sparked widespread criticism of Fascism. A general strike was threatened in retaliation, but the opposition preferred to raise a "moral question" that would point to public disapproval of fascism, to bring about its downfall. Then "Fascism fielded an articulated series of misdirections, obstructions of justice and red herrings, to declare the moral question closed".[6]
Since Mussolini's government did not collapse and the King refused to dismiss him, all the anti-fascists (except for the
Despite pressure from the opposition, Victor Emmanuel III refused to dismiss Mussolini, since the Government was supported by a large majority of the Chamber of Deputies and almost all the Senate of the Kingdom. Moreover, he feared that compelling Mussolini to resign could be considered a coup d'état, that eventually could lead to a civil war between the Army and the Blackshirts.[7]
But during the summer, the trial against Matteotti's alleged murderers and the discovery of the corpse of Matteotti once again spread rage against Mussolini: newspapers launched fierce attacks against him and the fascist movement.
On 13 September, a right-wing fascist deputy, Armando Casalini, was killed on a tramway in retaliation for Matteotti's murder by the anti-fascist Giovanni Corvi.
During the autumn of 1924, the extremist wing of the Fascist Party threatened Mussolini with a coup and dealt with him on the night of San Silvestro in 1924. Mussolini devised a counter-manoeuvre, and on 3 January 1925, he gave a famous speech both attacking anti-fascists and confirming that he, and only he, was the leader of Fascism. He challenged the anti-fascists to prosecute him, and claimed proudly that Fascism was the "superb passion of the best youth of Italy" and grimly that "all the violence" was his responsibility because he had created the climate of violence. Admitting that the murderers were Fascists of "high station", as Hitler later did after the Night of the Long Knives, Mussolini rhetorically claimed fault, stating "I assume, I alone, the political, moral, historical responsibility for everything that has happened. If sentences, more or less maimed, are enough to hang a man, out with the noose!" Mussolini concluded with a warning: Italy needs stability and Fascism would assure stability to Italy in any manner necessary.[8][9]
This speech is considered the very beginning of the dictatorship in Italy.
Trials against his murderers
Only three men (Dumini, Volpi and Poveromo) were convicted and shortly after released under amnesty by King
Before the trial against the murderers, the High Court of the Senate started a trial against general Emilio De Bono, commander of the Fascist paramilitary Blackshirts (MVSN), but he was discharged.
After the
In none of these three trials was evidence declared of Mussolini's involvement,[10] due to trial extinction for the death of the defendant.
Mussolini's alleged involvement
The involvement of Mussolini in the assassination is much debated.
Historians suggest some different theories. The main biographer of Mussolini, Renzo De Felice, was convinced that the Duce was innocent. Aiding him were Aurelio Lepre and Emilio Gentile, who also believed in the Duce's innocence.
The former socialist and anti-fascist journalist
De Felice argued that maybe Mussolini himself was a political victim of a plot, and almost surely he was damaged by the crisis that followed the murder. Many fascists left the Party, and his government was about to collapse. Moreover, his secret attempt to bring Socialists and Popolari into a new reformist government was ruined.
John Gunther wrote in 1940 that "Most critics nowadays do not think that the Duce directly ordered the assassination ... but his moral responsibility is indisputable", perhaps with underlings believing they were carrying out Mussolini's desire by performing the kidnapping and murder on their own.[8] Other historians, including Justin Pollard and Denis Mack Smith, thought Mussolini was probably aware of the assassination plot but that it was ordered and organized by someone else.
Family
In 1912 he met Velia Titta, younger sister of the famous baritone Ruffo Titta, and they married in a civil ceremony in 1916. They had three children: Giancarlo (1918–2006), Matteo (1921–2000) and Isabella (1922–1994).[15] After her husband's death, Velia was under house arrest until September 1933 but her heart and her health was broken and she died the following year. Several people who helped her were also imprisoned such as Carlo Rosselli.[16]
Matteotti's son Gianmatteo (also known as Matteo), became a Social Democratic parliamentary deputy after World War II, serving as Italy's Minister of Tourism in 1970–72 and Minister of Foreign Trade from 1972–1974.
Works
- 1924 The Fascisti Exposed: A Year of Fascist Domination, OCLC 47749(1969)
Legacy
Numerous monuments to Matteotti have been established, including a Monument in Rome along Lungotevere Arnaldo da Brescia, where the kidnap-murder took place.
In Florestano Vancini's film The Assassination of Matteotti (1973), Matteotti is played by Franco Nero.
Footnotes
- ^ Antonio G. Casanova, Matteotti. Una vita per il socialismo, Bompiani, Milan, 1974, p. 90.
- ^ Riccardo Michelucci, GIACOMO MATTEOTTI (FRATTA POLESINE, 1885 - ROMA, 1924) the anti-fascist politician who denounced Mussolini’s crimes, Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide, 2024.
- ^ Speech of 30 May 1924 the last speech of Matteotti, from it.wikisource
- ^ "The Murder and Trials".
- ^ Fabio Florindi, Cento anni dal delitto Matteotti, tra verità e fake news, Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, 25 aprile 2024.
- ^ Marilotti: “Arrivare a verità è debito con Storia”, senatoripd, 10 May 2022.
- ^ Renzo De Felice, Mussolini il fascista vol. I pp. 636 and foll.
- ^ a b Gunther, John (1940). Inside Europe. Harper & Brothers. pp. 239–240.
- ^ The speech of 3 January 1925 from it.wikisource
- ^ See F. Andriola, Mussolini, prassi politica e rivoluzione sociale, Rome, 1981.
- ^ These papers were captured by partisans with the other documents of Mussolini. The folders with Matteotti's files were sent from Milan to Rome, but they never arrived. R. De Felice, Mussolini il Fascista, Einaudi, p. 601 footnote
- ^ Carlo Silvestri, Matteotti, Mussolini e il dramma italiano, Cavallotti editore 1981, p. XXIII
- ^ Mauro Canali, "Il delitto Matteotti. Affarismo e politica nel primo governo Mussolini", (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1997) (new edition 2004)
- ^ Marzio Breda e Stefano Caretti, Il nemico di Mussolini: Giacomo Matteotti, storia di un eroe dimenticato, Solferino, 2024, p. 197.
- ^ "Biography".
- ^ Rachel Holmes (2020). Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel. London: Francis Boutle Publishers. pp. 661–664.
Bibliography
- Luigi Cyaheled, Matteotti è vivente, Napoli, Casa Editrice Vedova Ceccoli & Figli, 1924.
- Carlo Silvestri, Matteotti, Mussolini e il dramma italiano, Roma, Ruffolo, 1947.
- Renzo De Felice, Mussolini il fascista, I, La conquista del potere. 1921–1925, Torino, Einaudi, 1966.
- Carlo Rossini, Il delitto Matteotti fra il Viminale e l’Aventino, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1968.
- Antonio G. Casanova, Matteotti. Una vita per il socialismo, Milano, Bompiani, 1974.
- Adrian Lyttelton, La conquista del potere. Il fascismo dal 1919 al 1929, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1974.
- Ives Bizzi, Da Matteotti a Villamarzana. 30 anni di lotte nel Polesine (1915–1945), Treviso, Giacobino, 1975.
- Carlo Silvestri, Matteotti, Mussolini e il dramma italiano, Milano, Cavallotti editore, 1981.
- Alexander J. De Grand, Breve storia del fascismo, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1983.
- Matteo Matteotti, Quei vent’anni. Dal fascismo all’Italia che cambia, Milano, Rusconi, 1985.
- Fabio Andriola, Mussolini. Prassi politica e rivoluzione sociale, S.l., F.U.A.N., 1990.
- ISBN 88-15-09729-5
- ISBN 88-8314-110-5
- ISBN 88-04-51264-4
- Mauro Canali, Il delitto Matteotti, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2004.
- Nunzio Dell'Erba, Matteotti: azione politica e pensiero giuridico, in "Patria indipendente", 28 maggio 2004, a. LIII, nn. 4–5, pp. 21–23.
- ISBN 0-7425-3123-6
- ISBN 88-548-0041-4
- Gianpaolo Romanato, Un italiano diverso. Giacomo Matteotti, Milano, Longanesi, 2010.
- ISBN 978-88-420-9833-1
- ISBN 0-8032-6622-7
- ISBN 0-7146-5473-6
- ISBN 0-7425-3123-6
See also
- Il delitto Matteotti by Florestano Vancini (1973). Matteotti is played by Franco Nero.
External links
- Newspaper clippings about Giacomo Matteotti in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- What a Murder by Mussolini Teaches Us About Khashoggi and M.B.S., By Alexander Stille, Oct. 23, 2018, The New York Times