The 1922 Turin massacre refers to the attack by Italian Fascists against members of a local labour movement in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Over three days starting on 18 December and ending on 20 December 1922, at least 11 workers (and perhaps as many as 24) were killed in a terror campaign from 18 to 20 December 1922, to break the resistance to

Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

by the labour movement and working class .Sonnessa, "The 1922 Turin Massacre (''Strage di Torino'')", ''Modern Italy'', Volume 10, Issue 2, November 2005, pp. 187-205

Background

After the

March on Rome The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, ...

and the appointment of Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister on 29 October 1922 the Turin labour movement kept on offering resistance to Fascism. The residual working class opposition was shown by the ongoing clandestine production and distribution of the Turin-based Communist newspaper '' L'Ordine Nuovo'', headed by Antonio Gramsci, as well as political, factory and paramilitary organization, including popular uprisings against Fascist encroachment on working-class neighbourhoods and an important factory election victory. Another important factor was the rivalry between the paramilitary and political leadership of the local Turin ''

fascio Fascio (; plural ''fasci'') is an Italian word literally meaning "a bundle" or "a sheaf", and figuratively "league", and which was used in the late 19th century to refer to political groups of many different (and sometimes opposing) orientations ...

''. Once in government Mussolini sought to contain the violent excesses of local ' led by

Cesare Maria De Vecchi Cesare Maria De Vecchi, 1st Conte di Val Cismon (14 November 1884 – 23 June 1959) was an Italian soldier, colonial administrator and Fascist politician. Biography De Vecchi was born in Casale Monferrato on 14 November 1884. After graduating ...

. The Turin's Fascists became increasingly angered by Mussolini's tendency to collude with local economic and political elites and police chiefs in marginalizing the leader of Turinese and Piedmontese , De Vecchi and his right-hand man Piero Brandimarte. Fascism's increasingly prominent political position at the national level required stricter discipline from Fascists to prevent disaffection of its more liberal and squeamish backers.

The massacre

The initial pretext for the large-scale offensive against the labour movement in Turin was the killing of two Fascists, Giuseppe Dresda and Lucio Bazzani, in the Barriera di Nizza, by the Communist militant and tram worker Francesco Prato, on the night of 17–18 December 1922. In revenge Fascists raided and burned down the ''

Camera del lavoro A list of national trade union centers in Italy include: Trade union centers Main national trade union centers The following three confederal trade unions are considered and recognised by the Italian Republic as relevant counterpart: * Italian Ge ...

'', the trade union headquarters, and attacked on two clubs of the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Socialism, socialist and later Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the l ...

.Lajolo, ''An Absurd Vice''
p. 21
/ref>Ten Slain in Turin in Fascisti Riots
''The New York Times'', December 20, 1922 This was followed by the destruction of the Turin-based Communist newspaper '' L'Ordine Nuovo''. A number of the editors were taken to the central park in

and were threatened to be executed by Fascist squads. The fascists rounded up communists and trade unionists in the city and executed a number of them in gruesome manners with one victim,

Pietro Ferrero Pietro Ferrero (; 2 September 1898 – 2 March 1949) was the founder of Ferrero SpA, an Italian confectionery and chocolatier company. His company invented Nutella, a hazelnut-cream spread, which is now sold in over 160 countries. Ferrero Roch ...

, being tied and dragged behind a truck until he died and another victim being bludgeoned to death. Officially, eleven people were killed and ten were seriously wounded by the Fascists. However, in 1924, Brandimarte declared to the ''Il Popolo di Roma'' newspaper that he had chosen 24 "subversives" from his lists and "entrusted them to our best squads to do justice. And justice was done. The dead were 22, because two escaped shooting."1922 Torino: la prima strage nera
''

La Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnol ...

, 13 December 2012

Aftermath

Brandimarte was arrested in May 1945 after the fall of the Fascist regime. He was indicted for the murders in Turin, but the case was transferred to Florence. Five years later he was sentenced to 26 years and three months in jail, although he denied to have organized the massacre. However, in April 1952, the Bologna Court of Appeals absolved him because of insufficient evidence. In 1946 a plaque with the names of the 11 victims was on the Piazza 18 dicembre 1922.Lapide in memoria delle vittime della strage del XVIII dicembre
MuseoTorino

References

* Lajolo, Davide (1983).
An Absurd Vice: A Biography of Cesare Pavese
', New York (NY): New Directions Publishing, * Sonnessa, Antonio (2005).
The 1922 Turin Massacre (''Strage di Torino''): Working class resistance and conflicts within fascism
, ''Modern Italy'', Volume 10, Issue 2, November 2005, pp. 187–205. {{coord, 45.0728, 7.6896, display=title Italian Fascism 1920s in Turin Conflicts in 1922 Turin massacre Anti-communist terrorism Political repression in Italy Turin 1922 1922 murders in Italy