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Rating: September 25th is around the corner, the fascists are coming. Are you preparing yourself? I am, and with great attention.
My school memories were buried under who knows how many useless bullshit, I needed to refresh my memory. And what better book could I find in my hands than “March on Rome and Surroundings” by the Sardinian Emilio Lussu. Perhaps some will remember him as a protagonist at the front in “A Year on the High Plateau” (a remarkable book, a Platoon à la Oliver Stone among the trenches of the First World War in Asiago and on the Karst).
In “March on Rome” the focus is on the genesis of fascism, in the period from the end of the Great War until 1928/29. Written simply and without any frills, it tells the story of the author between Rome and the beloved Sardinia, between the Chamber of Deputies and small Sardinian towns, between first-hour fascists (few) and second-hour ones (many, many, and often unsuspected).
I discovered that the fascists roamed around wearing black shirts (I don't seem to see them nowadays but maybe only because they've gotten smart and they know well that it’s the robe that makes the monk). And they brutally beat with batons these squads, not like today where they all seem like a nice group of idiots ready for a good fat snack. And they killed, even deputies. And Di Vagno? And Matteotti? They're not just the names of some streets or avenues in our cities. They were fierce, unlike these losers we're going to elect. They shut down enemy newspapers, assaulted union headquarters (but are there still unions? I don't know, if they exist they’re not doing their job well, today they’re excellently protecting those who have finished working!), plundered apartments, invaded towns, tortured, intimidated. And when they didn't kill or couldn’t break the opposition, the fascists sent enemies into exile (for the bitter record, Lussu ended up in Lipari with hundreds of others). And they also did the Roman salute (occasionally some still do it today, especially at the stadium!).
So what? Is there anyone sane who is truly afraid that perhaps a tenth of what happened during the Twenty-Year period might happen again? The senile King ended badly in History books, thankfully. Are we missing antibodies? Have we forgotten them in some drawer of our poor memory? Maybe, but to a people like the Italians accustomed to doing whatever the hell they want, try to take away a serious shred of freedom and let’s see what happens.
We should have a minimum of respect for History and a small cultural base not to sadfully throw it into chaos. It might be the case to read Emilio Lussu and realize that certain terms should be used sparingly so as not to inflate them and empty them of meaning. Fascism was a catastrophe, let's not offend the Memory.
And we should also vote carefully but that’s a whole different story… Those who will come, if they come, will have the will and duty to do what Democracy will allow them. There will be time for historical judgment, let's leave preliminary judgments at the bar, maybe drowned in a little beer.
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