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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 October 2016
This article aims to explore the interplay between religion and political radicalism in Europe by focusing on the case of Italian ‘White Leagues’ (Catholic trade unions) in the interwar period. Interest in this movement stems partly from the opinion that the understanding of politics in early twentieth-century Europe has often been distorted by the historiographical focus on the political polarisation between communism and fascism, which has led to the neglect of the complex ideological area in between. The article will focus in particular on the main organiser of the peasant ‘White’ unions in Italy, Guido Miglioli. He developed a network of political contacts across Europe with the aim of resuscitating the anti-fascist struggle in Italy and launching a campaign for the liberation of the peasantry. This was to be achieved through a European peasant International that would draw from the Soviet example while maintaining its Christian roots.
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19 On the similar case of German exiles in France see Palmier, Jean-Michel, Weimar in Exile: The Anti-Fascist Emigration in Europe and America (London: Verso, 2006), 184–218 Google Scholar; on the case of French exiles in the United States from 1940, Loyer, Emmanuelle, Paris à New York. Intellectuels et artistes français en exil, 1940–1947 (Paris: Grasset, 2005)Google Scholar.
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21 Biographical note by the Italian ministry of the interior, 1928, CPC 3274, f. 1, ACS.
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24 Schor, Ralph, Écrir en exil. Les écrivains étranger en France, 1919–1939 (Paris: CNRS, 2013), 96 Google Scholar, 112, 129.
25 Prezioso, Itinerario di un ‘figlio del 1914’, 323.
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29 See CPC, Romano Cocchi, b. 1385, f. 1097/1–2, ACS; Vial, L'Union populaire italienne, 181–2.
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36 Fincardi, C'era una volta il mondo nuovo, 42–3.
37 Koestler, Arthur, Arrow in the Blue (London: Readers Union, 1954), 196 Google Scholar.
38 de Wit, Theo, ‘Politics without Dénouement, Faith without Guarantee: A Critical Appraisal of the Politics of Religion of the Left and the Right’, in Losonczi, Péter and Singh, Aakash, eds., From Political Theory to Political Theology: Religious Challenges and the Prospects of Democracy (London: Continuum, 2010), 127 Google Scholar.
39 Spriano, Paolo, Storia del Partito Comunista Italiano, vol. II, Da Bordiga a Gramsci (Turin: Einaudi – L'Unità, 1967)Google Scholar, part 2, 493–4.
40 Miglioli, Con Roma e con Mosca, 54.
41 Ibid. 55.
42 Miglioli, Le Village soviétique, 5.
43 Miglioli, La Collectivisation des campagnes soviétiques (Paris: Rieder, 1934), 15–6.
44 Ibid. 35.
45 Ibid. 37.
46 Exodus (Old Testament), 16, 15–35, La Sacra Bibbia (Rome: CEI, 2014), 101.
47 Gabrielli, Patrizia, Col freddo nel cuore. Uomini e donne nell'emigrazione antifascista (Rome: Donzelli, 2004), 79 Google Scholar.
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49 Arthur Koestler, Arrow in the Blue, 194.
50 Koestler, Arthur, Fischer, L., Gide, A., Silone, I., Spender, S. and Wright, R., The God that Failed (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1949)Google Scholar. For the Italian case, see Lee, Joanne, ‘Political Utopia or Potemkin Village? Italian Travellers to the Soviet Union in the Early Cold War’, Modern Italy, 20, 4 (2015), 379–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Spriano, Paolo, I comunisti europei e Stalin (Turin: Einaudi, 1983)Google Scholar.
51 Miglioli, ‘Testamento spirituale’, published in Leonori, No Guerra ma terra! Guido Miglioli: una vita per i contadini (Milan: CEI, 1969), 274. On Miglioli's dilemma between Christian Democracy and Communist Party in post-war Italy see Baldoli, Claudia, ‘Guido Miglioli: il percorso di un cattolico nell'Italia del dopoguerra’, in Isnenghi, Mario, ed., Le rotte dell'io. Itinerari individuali e collettivi nella storia d'Italia (Naples: Scriptaweb, 2008), 127–53Google Scholar.
52 Franzinelli, I tentacoli dell'OVRA, 125; Vial, ‘I Fasci in Francia’, 27; Schor, Écrir en exil, 11. See also Milza, Pierre, ed., Les Italiens en France de 1914 à 1940 (Rome: EFR, 1986)Google Scholar.
53 ‘Presse étrangère’, 19 Jan. 1929, B/A 1714, 2100-5, Archives de la Préfecture de la Police, Paris (APP).
54 Maltone, Exil et identité, 67.
55 ‘Comité de défense des victimes du fascisme’, leaflet by Henri Barbusse, president of the committee, 23 Jun. 1927, B/A 23.160, APP.
56 ‘Italie’, ‘Comité Prolétarien Antifasciste’, report by the prefecture of Paris on the relationship between French and Italian anti-fascists, 30 Oct. 1926 and French communist poster of 4 Nov. 1926, B/A 2387, 1.00.443/204, APP.
57 Italian consul at Lyon to the Italian foreign office, the Italian embassy to Paris and the Italian head of police, 5 May 1927, CPC 3274, f. 1, ACS.
58 Two Italian police informers’ notes from Paris, 15 Nov. 1927, ibid.
59 Note by the Italian political police to the ministry of interior, 15 Dec. 1927, ibid.
60 Italian police informer's note from Paris, 15 Nov. 1927, ibid.
61 Biographical note by the Italian ministry of interior, 1928, ibid.
62 Political police report from Brussels, 10 Oct. 1928, CPC 3274, f. 2, ACS.
63 Political police reports from Paris, 3 Aug. and 10 Oct. 1928, ibid.
64 Pasture, Histoire du syndicalisme chrétien international, 124–5. For a recent historiographical overview on the relationship between the Church and fascism see Ceci, Lucia, ‘La Chiesa e il fascismo. Nuovi paradigmi e nuove fonti’, Studi Storici, 55 (Jan.–Mar. 2014), 123–37Google Scholar. For a nuanced assessment of the relationship between the Vatican and fascist totalitarianism, see Pollard, John, The Vatican and Italian Fascism: A Study in Conflict, 1929–1932 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and idem, The Papacy in the Age of Totalitarianism, 1914–1958 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), esp. chs. 4–7.
65 Bertagna, Federica, La stampa italiana in Argentina (Rome: Donzelli, 2009), 136 Google Scholar.
66 Interview of Miglioli by Pierre Hubermont, translation published as ‘Fascismo e Vaticano: Quello che dice l'On. Guido Miglioli’, L'Italia del popolo, 9 May 1929.
67 Sturzo, The Vatican's Position in Europe (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1944), 7.
68 ‘Il fascismo e la Chiesa’, Lotta antifascista, 3, June–July 1931, Ministero dell'Interno (thereafter MI), DGPS, F1 (1926–43), b. 71, ACS.
69 La religione non deve impedire l'unione di tutti gli sfruttati (PCd'I, 1932), MI, DGPS, F1 (1926–43), b. 76, ACS.
70 Italian foreign office to ministry of interior, 5 Aug. 1929, CPC 3274, f. 2, ACS.
71 Political police report from Berlin, 17 Aug. 1929, ibid.
72 Italian embassy to Berlin to foreign office, 13 May 1929, ibid.
73 Italian embassy to Berlin to the ministry of interior, 24 Nov. 1929, ibid.
74 Ibid; a similar interpretation was shared by Miglioli, although he was aware that, due to long-term divisions over the issue of anti-clericalism, Catholic and socialist trade unions came to an agreement against fascism only in 1922, when it was too late: Miglioli, Con Roma e con Mosca, 80.
75 ‘300 délégués acclament la lutte mondiale contre le fascisme’, L'Humanité, 10 Mar. 1929.
76 ‘Dans un meeting réunissant dix mille prolétaires les délégués parlent. . .’, L'Humanité, 11 Mar. 1929.
77 Service de Presse du Secours Rouge International, n. 11, 19 Mar. 1929, special issue on the International Anti-Fascist Congress of Berlin, F/7/13248, Archives Nationales, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Paris (AN).
78 On the Italian colonisation of Libya see Labanca, Nicola, La guerra italiana per la Libia, 1911–1931 (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2012)Google Scholar.
79 Informer's report from Berlin to the ministry of interior, 23 Aug. 1931, CPC 3274, f. 3, ACS.
80 Informer's report from Berlin to the ministry of interior and the foreign office, 26 Oct. 1931, ibid.
81 ‘Kampfbund gegen den Faschismus’, conference reports published on Alarm, n. 7, Apr. 1931, Rep. 77 Ministerium des Innern, 1, Sektion 31, Titel 4043 Politische Polizei, Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, 362–3.
82 Informer's report from Berlin to the ministry of interior, 23 Oct. 1930, CPC 3274, f. 3, ACS.
83 Italian embassy to Paris to the Italian foreign ministry, 2 Feb. 1930, MI, DGPS, DPP, b. 102, Cat. K-28, f. 14, ‘Internazionale bianca’, ACS.
84 As reported by a number of confidential reports by fascist spies who followed Miglioli's activities: CPC 3274, f. 3, ACS.
85 Informer's report from Berlin to the ministry of interior, 26 Mar. 1931, CPC 3274, f. 3, ACS.
86 Informer's report from Berlin to the ministry of interior, 24 Mar. 1931, ibid.
87 Three informers' reports from Berlin to the ministry of interior, 1 and 8 July and 8 Aug. 1931, ibid.
88 Italian embassy to Berlin to the foreign office and the ministry of interior, 17 Oct. 1931, ibid.
89 Ruggero Grieco, foreword to Miglioli, Guido, La tua marcia. Lettera al contadino italiano (Brussels: Edizioni di Cultura Sociale, 1932), 4–5 Google Scholar.
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93 Italian embassy to Paris to the foreign office and ministry of interior, 26 Nov. 1935, CPC 3274, f 4, ACS. In his memoir Miglioli later emphasised that the origins of his anti-colonialism were to be found in his opposition to the Italian war in Libya in 1911–1912, and that his very first speech as he entered Parliament in 1913 had been against Liberal Italy's occupation of Tripoli.
94 Informer's note from Paris to the Italian ministry of interior, 23 May 1936, CPC 3274, f 4, ACS.
95 Miglioli, Guido, La aldea soviética (el problema agrario en Rusia) (Madrid: Ulises, 1931)Google Scholar.
96 Some of his travels appeared to be funded by the Agrarian Institute. See for example informer's report to the Italian ministry of interior, 26 July 1934, CPC 1385, f. 1097 (2), ACS.
97 French ministry of interior, report on ‘Miglioli Guido, anti-fascist’, 4 July 1935, F/7/14746, AN.
98 For a biography of Berneri, see De Maria, Carlo, Camillo Berneri: Tra anarchismo e liberalismo (Milan: Franco Angeli, 2004)Google Scholar.
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101 Miglioli, Con Roma e con Mosca, 147.
102 Informer's report to the ministry of interior, 3 Sept. 1938, CPC 1385, f. 1097 (2), ACS. However, Sturzo continued to oppose such unity between Catholics and communists, as he also demonstrated with regards to the Spanish Civil War: despite his excellent connections with Spanish liberal Catholics who fought for the Republic, he believed that the Church should only be concerned with ‘innocent victims on both sides’: Alfonso Botti, ed., Luigi Sturzo e gli amici spagnoli. Carteggi (1924–1951) (Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 2012), 7–8.
103 Pinna, Pietro, Migranti italiani tra fascismo e antifascismo. La scoperta della politica in due regioni francesi (Bologna: CLUEB, 2012), 127–32Google Scholar; Vial, L'Union populaire italienne, 204.
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106 Political police report from Paris to the Italian ministry of interior, 21 Dec. 1938, MI, DGPS, DPP, b. 24, f. 3, ACS.
107 Political police report from Lyon to the Italian ministry of interior, 19 Apr. 1938, ibid.
108 Schor, Écrir en exil, 206–8; Palmier, Weimar in Exile, 312–4.
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111 Reports of 12 Oct. and 16 June 1933, and of 16 Oct. 1939, Terre 7 NN/3151, f. 39.001, SHD.
112 See Bayerlein, Bernhard H. with Leonhard, Wolfgang, Der Verräter, Stalin, Bist Du! Vom Ende der linken Solidarität. Sowjetunion, Komintern und kommunistische Parteien im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1941 (Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, 2008)Google Scholar.
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115 Informers’ reports to the Italian ministry of interior, 8 Nov. and 16 Dec. 1939, CPC 1385, f. 1097 (2), ACS.
116 Special police officer Julliard, Lyon to the prefect of Rhône, 23 Dec. 1939, F/7/14748, AN.
117 ‘Un appel de l'Union populaire italienne aux 850,000 Italiens de France’, Epoque, 14 May 1940.
118 L'Unione, 18–25 Feb. 1940.
119 ‘Plus que jamais contre la collusion communiste-hitlérienne’, L'Unione, 24–31 Mar. 1940. See also Cocchi, Amitié franco-italienne (Paris: Comité d'amitié franco-italienne, 1939), which includes letters of support to Cocchi and the Union by leaders of the PCF, Maurice Thorez, of the Christian Democratic party, ‘La Jeune République’ Philippe Serre, and of the Socialist party, Jean Zyromski (27–8).
120 Letter dated early Dec. 1940 and published in Bellò, Carlo and Zanibelli, Amos, eds., Guido Miglioli. Documenti inediti: 1940–1945 (Rome: Cinque Lune, 1980), 37–8Google Scholar.
121 Con Roma e con Mosca, 227.
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125 See, among many works on the subject, Gentile, Emilio, Politics as Religion (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006)Google Scholar. The debate generated by the concept has even led to the foundation of a dedicated academic journal, Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions published by Taylor & Francis.
