Antonio Gramsci 1921
Against terror
Unsigned, L'Ordine Nuovo, 19 August 1921.
Text from Antonio Gramsci "Selections from political writings (1921-1926)", translated and edited by Quintin Hoare (Lawrence and Wishart, London 1978). Transcribed to the www with the kind permission of Quintin Hoare.
The invitation which the Communist Trade-union Committee has
addressed to the Italian working-class organizations for concerted
action against the employers' offensive also refers to the need to
check the brigandry of the white guards. It is necessary to stress
this point particularly, in the propaganda which communists must
carry out among the working masses, if we are to obtain the best
possible outcome from the initiative of our trade-union
committee. It has now become obvious that the tactic of
compromises applied by the Socialist Party and the General
Confederation of Labour vis-à-vis fascism, has
only benefited the latter. The popular masses, tormented,
continuously exposed to mortal danger from the punitive
expeditions, without protection from the legal authorities, were
rising violently against the white terror. Automatically,
precisely because fascism had become a national scourge, an
uprising of a national character was maturing, which would have
had very great revolutionary significance. The Socialist Party and
the General Confederation of Labour, with their pacifist attitude,
succeeded in achieving: on the one hand, a collapse of the
revolutionary energies which were developing progressively among
the broad popular masses; on the other hand, an internal crisis of
fascism, which is one not of decomposition but of reorganization
and improved reactionary functioning.
By centring itself on Bologna in place of Milan, fascism is in
fact freeing itself from elements like Mussolini - always
uncertain, always hesitating as a result of their taste for
intellectualist adventures and their irrepressible need for
general ideologies - and becoming a homogeneous organization
supporting the agrarian bourgeoisie, without ideological
weaknesses or uncertainties in action. Compromise tactics must be
adopted by revolutionaries to procure moments of respite for the
proletariat, and to permit reorganization and improved use of the
working-class forces. Socialdemocratic pacifism, however, only
benefited the fascist movement. It procured a respite for the
fascist movement. It permitted the fascist movement to reorganize
itself and eliminate from its own commanding body the uncertain,
wavering elements who, at the moment of action, endanger victory
by their oppositional attitude.
The situation has become objectively clear. The preaching of
nonresistance to evil by the Socialist Party after the Livorno
Congress had created many illusions among the working-class
masses. The workingclass masses, who conceive of the function of
the political party concretely and positively and who continued to
put their trust in the Socialist Party after the Livorno Congress,
were convinced that the preaching of non-resistance to evil was a
tactical camouflage, designed to allow meticulous and thorough
preparation of a great strategic initiative against fascism. This
explains the great enthusiasm with which the first appearances of
the Arditi del popolo were greeted. It was believed
by many workers that the preaching of non-resistance to evil had
precisely served to allow the Socialist Party and the
Confederation to organize meticulously the forces of the
Arditi del popolo, and thus give the popular insurrection a
solid and compact form. This illusion has now vanished. The
great mass of the people must by now be convinced that behind the
socialist sphinx there was nothing.
It is true that socialists too (even perhaps the most
right-wing) took part in the creation of the first nuclei of the
Arditi del popolo. It is nevertheless certain that the
lightning speed with which the initiative spread was not the
result of a general plan prepared by the Socialist Party, but was
simply due to the generalized state of mind in the country - the
desire to rise up in arms which was smouldering among the broad
masses. This was resoundingly demonstrated by the pacification
pact, which could not but cause the movement of proletarian
resurgence to stagnate, and could not but bring about a
reorganization of the reactionary elements and a new strategy on
their part.
By now, the great mass of the Italian people must understand
this. All the more so today, after the new events which have
occurred in the fascist camp. The assembly of fascists opposed to
the concordat at Bologna and the disavowal of Mussolini are clear
indications of a renewal of the reactionary offensive on a large
scale. Is it possible still to think of continuing with the tactic
of non-resistance to evil? The broad proletarian masses must
answer this question. What the Communist Party proposes to do is
consult the will of the Italian workers and peasants.
There can be no doubt about the reply: battle or death;
struggle or annihilation. This is how the problem is inescapably
posed.