A Civil War (46 page)

1
See M. Weber,
Economy and Society
, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978, vol. I, p. 31 (original edition:
Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft
, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1922).

2
Battaglia,
Un uomo
, pp. 196–7. See also p. 237: ‘Nati come fuorilegge, tendevamo per istinto a ritornare nella legge' (‘Born as outlaws instinctively we tended to re-enter the law').

3
Schmitt,
Theory of the Partisan
, p. 65, paraphrase of R. Schroers,
Der Partisan. Ein Beitrag zur politischen Antropologie
, Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1961, and p. 73. For these authors, who are unable to include human liberty among the factors of history, the figure of the partisan without a ‘powerful third party' is theoretically unthinkable, as distinct from that of the criminal.

4
The existence of this alternative is acknowledged, with the words quoted in the text, also by Schroers, for whom, however, the problem still remains, for the irregular, that of ‘legitimising oneself with the regular' (see preceding note).

5
The protocol was signed by Pajetta and Bonomi on 26 December 1944, at the conclusion of Parri's mission to the South (see Catalano,
Storia del CLNAI
, pp. 341–3).

6
See
Guerra di classe
, 30 March 1937, cited in M. Oliviari, ‘L' azione politica di Camillo Berneri nella guerra civile spagnola', in
Critica storica
XIX (1982), p. 225.

7
Fenoglio,
Il partigiano Johnny
, p. 116. The ‘Blues' were Enrico Martini's politically autonomous band.

8
Bianco,
Guerra partigiana
, p. 21.

9
Letter by the Command of the 14
^th
Capriolo division ‘ai compagni responsabili', 23 January 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 274). The bad relations between Mauri and the Garibaldini are widely documented.

10
See for example the case of the cobbler Carnera, a courageous and courteous Garibaldino from Spain, to whom the ‘soldati', after an initially warm welcome, seem to prefer ‘bourgeois' (‘borghesi') second lieutenants (Artom,
Diari
, pp. 85–97).

11
Agenda no. 1, signed Bolla, 9 October 1944 (IZDG, envelope 272b, folder III/I); Fogar,
Le brigate Osoppo-Friuli
, p. 301.

12
‘Atto di fede' (‘Act of faith'), undated, in INSMLI,
CVL
, envelope 90, folder 12.

13
See Quazza,
Un diario partigiano
.

14
Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, pp. 189, 169 (29 March and 7 February 1944).

15
Gobetti,
Diario partigiano
, pp. 152–3.

16
Dante Livio Bianco has written that the keen egalitarianism of the initial stages, though destined to change, ‘represented, in its way, that need for renewal and breaking from the past, which was the soul of the partisan' (
Guerra partigiana
, p. 23).

17
See, on this theme, Leed's remarks in
No Man's Land
, especially on pp. 26–7.

18
The partisan ‘refuses to be drowned in the uniform level of a single mentality or discipline'. Battaglia,
Un uomo
, p. 216.

19
Bianco,
Guerra partigiana
, p. 35. On p. 144 he would speak of ‘months and months of a new-style
naja
but still “naja” '.

20
Letter by Michele, political commissar of the 1
^st
Gramsci division, to the commissar of the 6
^th
Nello brigade,
Atti
, 22 November 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 621).

21
See Lazagna,
Ponte rotto
, p. 70.

22
See the letter by Piol of the Command of the 3
^rd
Piedmont division, 12 September, and the one by the ‘compagni responsabili' of the same division to ‘cari compagni', 10 October 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 325–7, 424).

23
Moscatelli's letter to Walter, 31 October 1944 (IG,
BG
,
Emilia-Romagna
, 06754).

24
Report by Michele, commissar of the 1
^st
Gramsci division, October 1944 (?) (ibid., 06746).

25
The style of these documents of the Command of the 11
^th
Torino brigade reveals the author – ‘È mio intendimento', ‘Insisto' – as being a regular officer (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 19 and n. 2, under the dates 7 and 10 June 1944).

26
See the resentful letter sent on 15 February 1945 by the delegation for Lombardy to ‘compagno Italo' (ibid., vol. III, p. 364). For the ‘valanga burocratica' (‘bureaucratic avalanche') which at a certain moment descended on the Command of the Lunense division, see Battaglia,
Un uomo
, pp. 193ff. For the ‘sea of duplicated and typewritten papers' that reached the formations, see also Mila,
Bilancio della guerra partigiana
, p. 417.

27
Unaddressed letter by the Command of the 40
^th
Matteotti brigade (1
^st
Lombardy division) of 14 August 1944 (IG,
BG
, 0592).

28
Rome edition, 30 December 1943, article entitled ‘Organizzare la Guerra partigiana'. On ‘La formazione dei nuovi quadri' (‘The training of new leaders'), see the record of occurrences clearly delineated by Poma and Perona,
La Resistenza nel Biellese
, pp. 207–12.

29
See Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, p. 390.

30
Quazza,
Resistenza e storia d'Italia
, pp. 241–52.

31
For example, on p. 51 of
Guerra partigiana
.

32
The statute, of September 1944, is in
Le formazioni GL
, p. 171.

33
Medical second lieutenant Dario Diena, ‘Relazione sulla situazione e sugli avvenimenti partigiani nella Valle d'Aosta come li ho visti io alla fine di agosto al 28 ottobre 1944' (INSMLI,
CLNAI
, envelope 4, folder I, subfolder I).

34
Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, p. 392 (25 January 1945).

35
‘Rapporto del distaccamento Calcagno' of the Cascione division, 24 February 1944 (IG,
BG
, 09941).

36
Lazagna,
Ponte rotto
, p. 31.

37
Open letter by Filippo, commander of the Nanetti division, to Olivi, commander of the Piave brigade, 29 August 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 285). In the minutes of the discussion to which the letter refers there are the following words: ‘The ranks that the men bore in the old army are not valid in the partisan formations … here ranks and responsibilities are given according to the abilities and partisan determination' (ibid., p. 287).

38
See G. and E. Varlecchi,
Potente
, p. 83; the report conserved in ISRT,
CVL
, Comando militare toscano, envelope 5, folder 7; the ‘Relazione sull'attività clandestine e operativa svolta dei patrioti toscani nel periodo 8 settembre 1943–7 settembre 1944', compiled by Major Achille Mazzi: here one reads that ‘the chiefs were elected by the
gregari
(passive yes-men) – a secret and tacit pact linked them' (ibid.).

39
See Giovana,
Storia di una formazione partigiana
, p. 76.

40
Agenda item no. 1 of the Command of the Lombardy Garibaldi division, 8 October 1944 (IG,
BG
, 01186).

41
‘Relazione sulla situazione della brigata Calvi Cadore dai primi di ottobre al suo scioglimento', dated Milan, 24 November 1944 (ibid., 012).

42
Memorandum of 4 September 1944 (INSMLI,
CLNAI
, envelope 10, folder I, subfolder I).

43
Weber,
Economy and Society
, vol. I, p. 241.

44
J.-J. Langendorf,
Elogio funebre del generale August-Wilhelm von Lignitz
, Milan: Adelphi, 1980, p. 60.

45
Weber,
Economy and Society
, vol. I, p. 240.

46
Report by Major Healy of the 8
^th
Army on the partisans of the Ravenna area, 23 January 1945 (in Casali,
Il movimento di liberazione a Ravenna
, vol. II, p. 332)

47
Report on the 13 Martiri di Lovere (Bergamasco) brigade, 2 August 1944 (IG,
BG
, 1055).

48
Quazza,
Un diario partigiano
, p. 191 (16 July 1944).

49
See Battaglia,
Un uomo
, pp. 189–90. In the Lunense division, of which Battaglia was commissar, free election of the chiefs was practised (ibid., p. 130). For the fascination of the chief, see the testimony of Tersilla Fenoglio Oppedisano, who associates it with
esprit de corps
(Bruzzone and Farina,
La Resistenza taciuta
, p. 154).

50
Letter of the delegation for Lombardy to the Brescia federation of the PCI, 18 September 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 353).

51
Andrea's report to ‘cari compagni' (Parmense), 14 March 1944 (IG,
BG, Emilia-Romagna
, G.IV.2.2).

52
See Falaschi,
La Resistenza armata
, p. 79, which paraphrases and disagrees with a judgment expressed by Alberto Asor Rosa (
Scrittori e popolo
, Rome: Samonà e Savelli, 1965, p. 250), according to which it would seem to be a question of a ‘transference of the intellectual who in this way recognises himself as having the right to command'.

53
Cino and Ciro's ‘Osservazioni e proposte', 21 January 1945, are published in
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 259–69 (the words quoted are on p. 265). The proposal of the Communist delegation of the CLNAI, 8 January 1945, ibid., pp. 206–8. See also the observations of General Cadorna, who obviously repeats the hierarchic principle, in Secchia and Frassati,
La Resistenza e gli Alleati
, pp. 292–3. It had been the General Command of the CVL that had requested, since 17 August 1944, the integration of the Corps ‘as such' in the ‘new national army' (
Atti CVL
, pp. 158–60).

54
For the proto-antipathy of young workers towards the uniform (as cadets), see the suggestions offered by Passerini,
Torino operaia
, p. 156.

55
But those whom he met dressed like that turned out to be soldiers of the 4
^th
Army fleeing from France. G. C. Pajetta,
Il ragazzo rosso va alla Guerra
, Milan: Mondadori, 1986, p. 12.

56
‘Usually there were enough uniforms for a hundred carnivals', writes Fenoglio in his description of ‘the wildest parade in modern history', that of the partisans entering Alba (B. Fenoglio,
I ventitré giorni della città di Alba
, Turin: Einaudi, 1975, pp. 8–9).

57
Atti CVL
, p. 493. For the badge and armband, see the orders of 20 August and 1 September 1944 (ibid., pp. 164–5, 177–8).

58
Lazagna,
Ponte rotto
, p. 240. For the adoption of uniforms, see Dellavalle,
Operai
, p. 187.

59
See the regulation in
Atti CVL
, p. 490. For the preceding orders of 21 July, see Dellavalle, pp. 122–3.

60
See Battaglia,
Un uomo
, p. 127.

61
See Giovana,
Storia di una formazione partigiana
, p. 76.

62
See Cino and Ciro's ‘Osservazioni e proposte', in
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 268.

63
See the letter, regarding unification, of the Biellese zone Command to the Piedmont regional military Command, 4 April 1945 (ibid., pp. 581–2).

64
Pajetta,
Il ragazzo rosso va alla guerra
, p. 50.

65
So runs the commitment (‘impegno') to be assumed by anyone enlisting in the 7
^th
Piedmont division (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

66
Letter of the Piedmont military committee to the Command of the 4
^th
Cuneo brigade, 18 March 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, p. 311).

67
The circular is published in
Formazioni GL
, pp. 100–1. Prearo, who was a captain, failed in his command action, and was to be substituted by young GL politicised lieutenants. My thanks to Giorgio Rochat for this information.

68
Michele, of the 1
^st
Gramsci division (Ossola-Valsesia), to
Atti
, 14 November 1944 (IG,
BG
, 06914).

69
Letter to ‘Cri.' (Giuseppe Alberganti), who was in charge of the insurrectional triumvirate of Emilia-Romagna, to the General Command, 14 July 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 125).

70
Cino and Ciro's letter to the CVL General Command, 9 December 1944 (IG,
BG
, 07324).

71
See Dellavalle,
Operai
, p. 183.

72
‘On the other hand', it is added, ‘it is hard to keep an army together' without a military police force: ‘Relazione del commissario politico del Comando piemontese delle formazioni Giustizia e Libertà', 31 December 1944, written by Giorgio Agosti (
Formazioni GL
, p. 283).

73
See the ‘Bollettino n. 33', 8 August 1944, of the 52
^nd
Clerici (Comasco) brigade, quoted in
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 171. In another document this brigade appears under the name ‘Fronte popolare'.

74
See, for example, Quazza,
Un diario partigiana
, pp. 177, 178, 183, 197, where the words ‘paga', ‘gratifica', and ‘indennizzo' (‘pay', ‘allowance', and ‘indemnity') are used.