85 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
85 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
The **Biennio Rosso** (English: "Two Red Years") was a period of intense
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social conflict and strikes in Italy during 1919 and 1920. It arguably
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led to the emergence of [fascism in Italy](Fascist_Italy "wikilink").
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## Background
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The Biennio Rosso took place in a context of economic crisis at the end
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of the war, with high unemployment and political instability. It was
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characterized by mass strikes, worker manifestations as well as
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self-management experiments through land and factories
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occupations.<sup>\[1\]</sup> Tension had been rising since the final
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years of the war. Some contemporary observers considered Italy to be on
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the brink of a revolution by the end of 1918.<sup>\[2\]</sup>
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The population was confronted with rising inflation and a significant
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increase in the price of basic goods, in a period that extensive
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unemployment was aggravated by mass demobilization of the Royal Italian
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Army at the end of the war. Association to the trade unions, the Italian
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Socialist Party (PSI), and the anarchist movement increased
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substantially. The PSI increased its membership to 250,000, and the
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major Socialist trade union, the General Confederation of Labour
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(*Confederazione Generale del Lavoro*, CGL), reached two million
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members, while the anarchist Italian Syndicalist Union (*Unione
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Sindacale Italiana*, USI) reached between 300,000 and 500,000
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affiliates. The vigour of the anarchists was boosted by the return from
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exile of the anarchist leader Errico Malatesta in December
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1919.<sup>\[3\]\[4\]</sup>
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## Events
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A sociological study of violence in Italy (1919-1922) by text mining.
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Arrow width proportional to number of violent acts between social
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groups.(Click on large animated GIF image to see evolution)
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In Turin and Milan, factory councils – which the leading Italian Marxist
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theoretician Antonio Gramsci considered to be the Italian equivalent of
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Russia’s soviets<sup>\[5\]</sup> – were formed and many factory
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occupations took place under the leadership of revolutionary socialists
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and anarcho-syndicalists.<sup>\[6\]\[*better source needed*\]</sup> The
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agitations also extended to the agricultural areas of the Padan plain
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and were accompanied by peasant strikes, rural unrests and armed
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conflicts between left-wing and right-wing militias.
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Industrial action and rural unrest increased significantly: there were
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1,663 industrial strikes in 1919, compared to 810 in 1913. More than one
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million industrial workers were involved in 1919, three times the 1913
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figure. The trend continued in 1920, which saw 1,881 industrial strikes.
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Rural strikes also increased substantially, from 97 in 1913 to 189 by
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1920, with over a million peasants taking action.<sup>\[7\]\[8\]</sup>
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On July 20-21, 1919, a general strike was called in solidarity with the
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Russian Revolution.<sup>\[6\]</sup>
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In April 1920, Turin metal-workers, in particular at the Fiat plants,
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went on strike demanding recognition for their 'factory councils', a
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demand the PSI and CGL did not support. The 'factory councils' more and
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more saw themselves as the models for a new democratically controlled
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economy running industrial plants, instead of as a bargaining tool with
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employers.<sup>\[2\]</sup> The movement peaked in August and September
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1920. Armed metal workers in Milan and Turin occupied their factories in
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response to a lockout by the employers. Factory occupations swept the
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"industrial triangle" of north-western Italy. Some 400,000 metal-workers
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and 100,000 others took part.<sup>\[2\]\[9\]</sup> On September 3, 185
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metal-working factories in Turin had been occupied.<sup>\[10\]</sup>
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The PSI and CGL failed to see the revolutionary potential of the
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movement; had it been maximized and expanded to the rest of Italy, a
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revolutionary transformation might have been possible. Most Socialist
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leaders were pleased with the struggles in the North, but did little to
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capitalize on the impact of the occupations and uprisings. Without the
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support and quarantined, the movement for social change gradually
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waned.<sup>\[2\]</sup>
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## Aftermath
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By 1921, the movement was declining due to an industrial crisis that
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resulted in massive layoffs and wage cuts. In contrast to passive
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demeanor the PSI and CGL, employers and the upcoming fascist did
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react.<sup>\[2\]</sup> The revolutionary period was followed by the
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violent reaction of the Fascist blackshirts militia (the *Fasci Italiani
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di Combattimento*) and eventually by the March on Rome of Benito
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Mussolini in October 1922.<sup>\[2\]\[9\]</sup>
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A quantitative sociological study of the period by analyzing newspaper
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news in the period<sup>\[11\]</sup> (see figure) clearly demonstrates
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the evolution of violence acts between the social groups involved. |