A look at the vibrant and dangerous world of underground, anti-fascist Communist newspapers in Mussolini’s Italy.

‘The Illegal Press in Italy’ by Ramingo from The Daily Worker. Vol. 4 No. 114. May 26, 1927.

The brutal fascist reaction ensuing on the November attempt on Mussolini’s life proved an acid test for the opposition parties in Italy. The majority of them quailed before the open struggle with fascism and, lacking firm ties with the masses and experience in illegal work, gradually melted away. The only party to continue the struggle with fascism despite the merciless terror was the Communist Party, proving by its illegal press its true ties with the masses and its inherent vitality.

Illegal Official Organ.

Even during its period of “legal” work the Communist Party occasionally resorted to the publication of illegal leaflets and appeals. In the very heat of the terror, with arrests and butcherings going on wholesale, the Communist Party issued its illegal appeals, replying to fascist terror with Communist steadfastness. The publication of “Unita” the official organ of the C.P. suppressed in November 1926 was soon (unofficially) resumed.

It is widely circulated among the masses and its present circulation is greater than its former legal circulation. The workers buy it gladly in spite of the persecution undergone by persons discovered with illegal literature, Indeed the “Unita” subscription campaign has been most successful, 6,000 lira in Milan alone being collected. Workers collecting subscriptions are not to be intimidated by the fact that according to fascist laws, persons found with subscription lists for the illegal press are considered guilty of anti-Fascist propaganda and liable to five years’ imprisonment. Besides “Unita” another Party paper “Delo” is published in the Slovene language and there is the Young Communist league organ “Avangardia.”

Factory Papers Appear.

The newspapers connected with the various factories also enjoy a wide circulation. All big factories have their illegal press published either by agitation committees, uniting all revolutionary workers, irrespective of party, or by groups of working class youth, in either case working under the guidance of the Communist Party and the Young Communist league, the famous Fiat automobile factory publishes through its agitation Committee “II Martello” (The Hammer).

The “Fiat Lingotto” factory has “Portolongon” called after the famous prison for solitary confinement in Italy; the Citroen automobile factory published “Spartaeo” and almost every factory has its own paper. An interesting feature of this movement is the children’s paper “II Fancullo Proletario” (The Proletarian Child) published for working class children.

Finally, shortly after the revival of the General Confederation of Labor its official organ “Battaile Sindicale” began to come out illegally.

Republication and Adaptation.

Not content with factory publications and those sent from the central organs many organizations republish the most important articles from the latter on the hectograph adding local material, so that the illegal press Is not only on the increase but is getting nearer to the masses through the participation of the local and workers’ correspondents. A study of the innumerable special numbers coming out in the localities on the anniversary of Lenin’s death proves the obvious impress of rank and file participation, with their wealth of local comment, topical remarks, colored illustrations and slogans obviously done by workers for workers. Slogans printed on the hectograph or on scraps of linen and paper are also very popular, especially during revolutionary anniversaries or special campaigns. These are often quotations from Lenin, expressions of sympathy with Soviet Russia, appeal to the struggle with fascism, etc.

A Nightmare For Benito.

In some places appeals and slogans are scribbled on the walls of houses and on the pavements. After the trial of the Florentine Communists in Milan sprawling inscriptions appeared on the polished floor and walls of the Passage Victor Emmanuel—“Three cheers for the Florentine Communists!” “Three Cheers for the Communist Party!” Down with Fascism!” “Illegal appeals and papers” writes “Avanti” the Maximalist paper coming out in Paris, “both printed and hectographed, have become the nightmare of the fascist authorities. They are to be found everywhere—on the seats of trams, in factory cloakrooms, in the cinematographs, and barracks.”

What the Illegal Press Writes About.

The illegal press has not only never lost touch with the masses, but is actually getting closer to them every day. While during its official existence the Communist press was often forced to adopt figurative language and maintain a discreet silence on many points, now, driven underground, it is able to speak out in no uncertain voice and tell the masses the whole truth. The illegal press is now able to expose the home and foreign policy of the fascist government, its preparations for war, its shameless plundering of the Italian working class and the demagogy of the fascist unions. Both the central and local illegal press give a great deal of space to the attack of capital, unemployment and all manifestation of protest and indignation among the workers and peasantry. Articles showing the causes of the economic crisis going in Italy, slogans on unemployment, articles on Soviet Russia, letters from members of the workers’ delegations visiting the U.S.S.R. are constantly printed. The crimes of the fascist despot are exposed and working class readers are told of the cruel fate of the prisoners of fascism, languishing in fascist dungeons, and on the remote islands under fascist inspection, A great campaign was waged in the illegal press around the treachery of the former General Confederation of Labor Leaders and the reorganization of the trade unions on new principles.

Helpless Fury of the Fascists.

It is easy to imagine the rage inspired among the fascists by this illegal press. Mussolini gave long ago a categorical order to root up the Communist Party and destroy the illegal press. Fascism mobilized all its forces lor this struggle and In spite of all this neither the Communist Party nor its press has been; destroyed. This is the most brilliant testimony to the real ties existing between the Communist Party and the masses. The arrests come thick and fast.

When the first number of “Delo” appeared the police made wholesale raids on all the houses in some Slovene localities in the region of Trieste. Workers’ trains coming from Trieste in the evening were surrounded by the police and each worker subjected to an exhaustive search. But neither beatings, arrests, nor any other modes of repression could avail to destroy the illegal press.

Extraordinary meetings of fascist organizations were called in Milan for the consideration of the struggle with the illegal Communist press. Mario Jampolli, the head of the Milan fascists uttered a threatening speech accusing the fascist militia and members of his party of inability to expose the illegal apparatus of the Communist Press. “How is it,” he asked, “that the thousands of members of the fascist militia and the hundreds of fascist spies are unable to prevent “Unita” from being openly distributed among the workers, rot by the hundred, but by the thousand? How is it that no one can find out where it is printed? Or by whom it is distributed?”

At “Any Cost”

In Turin the chief of its police called together all the secret service men giving them categorical orders to made an end of the Turin publication of “Unita at any cost.” Orders were given in Rome to fire on any one pasting up appeals at night. Persons on whom illegal literature was found were subjected to torture.

There have been rases of a single copy of an illegal paper bringing upon its owner five year’s exile. The Communist Frederico Janzzi in Vareza on whom was found a copy of “Unita” was beaten and tortured in the attempt to extort from him from whom he got the paper, but although they burnt him with fire, cut him with knives, and put out one of his eyes, they could get nothing out of him. Janzzi is not the first or the last martyr in the cause of the illegal press. It is only the firmness and courage of the Italian Communists and their ever-growing influence on the masses which enables the Communist Party to support the unequal and terrible struggle with the bloody fascist regime in Italy.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1927/1927-ny/v04-n114-NY-may-26-1927-DW-LOC.pdf