Giacomo Matteotti-Martyrto Liberty
Antonini, Luigi
Giacomo Matteotti-Martyrto Liberty By Luigi Antonini Frttident of th* Italian-American Labor Council ON May 80, 1*24, the Italian Chamber of Deputies was holding a meeting in Rome. It was the...
...Whatever it offers you is the price of slavery...
...The liberty for which they gave their life he calls "a putiified corpse," and lie tramples on it these last nine years...
...But Matteotti was not afraid...
...But the king, who had betrayed the Italian people on that October 28, 1922, when he gave power to Mussolini, sgsin betrayed th* Italian nation by protecting Mussolini and keeping him in power...
...that is its only chance of existence...
...A fascist leader, Starace, shouted: "Exactly so...
...Unfortunately, an accident on the coast of Corsica ended my venture, and I had to escape, leaving my airplane in a field...
...None the lean, Rome became for me as Cape Horn to the Flying Dutchman: dead or alive I swore to Set there...
...The session of May 30 was called to take up a fascist proposal for the bloc validation of the fascist majority...
...He waa the General Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party...
...While De Bases waa ia France, two friends were caught distributing his tracts and sentenced to long prison terms...
...As 1 had only done • hours of solo flying I went alone so as not to risk the life of a friend...
...On July 13, I left Cannes in an English biplane, carrying with me 80 kilos of tracts...
...Pegasus is the name of my airplane...
...Believe in Italy and believe in freedom...
...And Mussolini used its power to organise his tyranny...
...8. Do not smoke (the tobacco monopoly provides Fascism with three billion lires a year, enough to pay for its worst extravagances...
...The same monarchy that entrusted the government of Italy to a criminal like Mussolini has decided now to entrust to a Quisling like Togliatti the tisk of organizing the coming Italian National Assembly...
...Its excesses are its logic...
...The plane wss destroyed, bat not De Boses's courage, and he Secretly obtained another plane...
...June the 10th deserves to be the day of punishment for Mussolini and fascism...
...For five months I earned on the work alone, sending every fortnight 600 letters signed 'National Alliance," with the request that each recipent ahould send on six copies...
...4. Speak no word in praise of Fascism...
...You are trying to make the country go backward and to restore absolutism...
...It is appropriate that on Jane 11, the anniversary of the Matteoti murder and s day when Rome as a fas list capital fell, we print Lauro De Boses's "Story ef My Death...
...It was later discovered by newspsper reporters that the crime had been plotted in Mussolini's very office, st Palazzo Vimiale, and executed by a gangster imported from St...
...June 10 became the day when all over the world free Italians would meet to raise the flag of Matteotti...
...The defeatism of the Italian people ia the real foundation of the Fascist regime...
...The Story of My Death Bu Lauro De Boses One of the meet moving stories in the epochal fight against Fascism ia the lonely story of Laura De Boeea...
...vuu are sure to be a severe critic of Fascism, Hnd you must feel the servile shame...
...Giacomo Matteotti wa* particularly hated by the fascist...
...We are in power and we mean to stay...
...They are only united by a conspiracy, and we ate bound by the will A> be free...
...They are your exploiters...
...Suddenly he was surrounded and seized by five men who forced him inside a motor car which immediately started off at great speed toward the Roman countryside...
...He sent thousands of his opponents to jail and concentration camps...
...tench the better...
...do not betray yours...
...An outburst arose from the fascist benches when the President announced that the deputy who would speak for the opposition wa* Giacomo Matteotti...
...The Spaniards have freed their country...
...7. Accept nothing* of Fascism...
...It was the first Parliament elected under the Fascist regime, then just one year snd a half old...
...It was on June 10, 1943, with the fall of the fortress island of Pantelleria, that the liberation of Sicily wa* assured and the fate of Mussolini and his totalitarian despotism decided...
...It was on the eve of another June 10, in 1937, that Carlo and Nello Rosselli, two brothers and two antiFascist leaders, were assassinated somewhere in France by order of Mussolini...
...The meeting was packed with 350 fascist deputies in black shirts...
...It can only exist because of its excesses...
...It wss the sacred duty of the king to order the arrest of Mussolini...
...The Italian nation knelt, Matteoti found a shrine in every Italian heart...
...De Boses conceived the ides of lying aver Rome in »n airplane and flooding the city with his meat ssge...
...In his clear, resounding voice, he launched hia challenge: "The measure before us concerns tho validation of the majority...
...The truth ia always anti-Fascist...
...Citizens, do not let yourselves be frightened by the gangs which you yourselves pay, nor by this "Kadetzky of 1848," the second Risorgimento will triumph like the first...
...We are in t h e fullness of t he Risorgimento...
...Tkt Dirtt(orate...
...You can, and you must: 1. Do not assist at any Fascist celebration...
...Every man of courage and honor is quietly working for a free Italy...
...Matteotti left his home, at 40 Via Pisanelli, to go to Parliament...
...At the end, Matteotti uttered these historicsl words: "Beware...
...I found it in the Hercynian forest, and its old master will bring It to me on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea, believing that it will merely serve the pleasures of an idle young Englishman...
...Mussolini built this totalitarian state because he never ceased to be afraid of Matteoti and of Matteotti'S* ideals...
...Bat while De Bases worked alone, he did*not work in isolation, for sll ever Italy, y«ang Socislists snd libertarians were spresding a messsge of courage aad resistance to the Italian people...
...The new oppressors are fiercerand more corrupt than the old, but they will also fall...
...And yet we sre not going in search of chimeras, but to bear a messsge of liberty across the sea to a people that is in chains...
...Make a chain of trusted friends on whom you may rely, whatever happens...
...Tear VIII after the murder of Matteoti...
...Since that June 10 a curse has descended upon Mussolini snd his fascism...
...TOMORROW at 3 o'clock, in a meadow on the Cote d'Axur, I have a rendezvous with Pegasus...
...He crushed freedom of speech...
...All true friends of Matteotti, all true friends of Italy'* freedom and independence, reject the totalitarian deal of Palmiro (Ercoli) Togliatti and the King...
...The yoang Italian aever returned from his exploit...
...Although he had only five flying hears, he went up ia a rickety plane—and crained...
...My bad accent has not awakened his suspicions...
...The murder of Giacomo Matteoti ia the historical origin of the so-called totalitarian state...
...Giacomo Matteotti, the young deputy who rose on that fateful May 30 to speak for the opposition had been elected as a deputy in two congressional districts, in his own home district in Northern Italy snd in the province of Rome ss well...
...June 10 became a day when unknown hands would always leave flowers on the spot where Matteotti had been kidnapped...
...Bottai said: "The corporative state is the finest police measure we havo yet found...
...But even you are lesponsihle for it by your inaction...
...Mussolini'* close collaborators ran abroad and accused him...
...We are the defender* of the free sovereignty of the Italian people, whom we salute...
...ApTER having flown over Corsica and the Island of asente Cristo a t a height of 12,000 feet, I shall reach M a e about 8 o'clock, having done the last 20 kilometers gliding...
...Do not seek to justify yourself with the illusion that there is nothing to he done...
...He suppressed hte opposition press...
...The friends of Matteotti, the fighti rs for democracy, want to spare the Italian people the final calamity of another form of totalitarian despotism and assure them a just peace, territorial integrity, the right to form a democratic republic, the status of a full alliance with the United Nations...
...He was walking along an embankment of the Tiber...
...There are fW«f them, and they have all received the order to SJH down a t any cost any suspicious airplane...
...He added: ". . . we know the result of thi* election to be due to appalling violence...
...My death—however, undesired by me personally, who have so many things to achieve— eauM net but add to the success of my flight...
...How could \% dominate a free people if it did not terrorize them with its garrison of 300,000 mercenaries T FatcUm hat no choice...
...We protest sgainst 'this bill____" Angry voices from the black shirts shouted: "This is outrageous...
...Matteotti struggled sgsinst his kidnappers, snd even succeeded in breaking a window with a kick, but he was overwhelmed and stabbed to death in cold blood...
...Almost twenty years hsve passed since that June 10 when the spokesman of Italian freedom was silenced...
...Printed below, in part, is a letter which Lauro De Boses wrote est the night ef October 2, 1931...
...He proved that fascism was lying when it said that it had saved Italy from disorder, for the files of Mussolini's own paper showed that fascism itself had been one of the worst elements of disorder...
...Were are two of t h e three t e x t s] * • * NATIONAL ALLIANCE l a t a , , Year VIII after the Matteoti Murder _TbJs j g the text of the message I shall drop over ^Cltiseng...
...The ferocity of the sentences passed on some of its leaders proves to you how much its program frightens the regime...
...It was a hot afternoon on June 10, 1924, in Rome...
...My secret was now revealed...
...However little they may know me, they must realize • • t after my first attempt I have not given up...
...But efhat she ia by a very great majority profoundly antipMsist is given to us by the regime itself, tli» fnocity which it punishes the slightest expression of free rht A regime that knows ita own strength does not aoed to resort to such measure...
...It cannot be blamed for punishing faith in liberty more severely than parricide...
...6. Boycott or hamper every Fascist law by a policy of obstructionism...
...This yonng, paasionate anti-Fascist carried on a single-handed fight against the regime of Benito Mussolini...
...But the'entire Italian population beVan asking: "Where is MatteottiT" and the voice of the Italian people became so strong that Mussolini wss terrified...
...Whoever vou are...
...But the outcome of tyranny Is the death of a nation...
...One cannot both admire Fascism and deplore its excesses...
...During the election campaign, Matteotti had exposed the fascist lies...
...The new Chamber had met for the first time on May 24...
...Hoping to quiet the Italian people, after many weeks, he returned the mutilated body of Matteotti...
...6. Boycott all the servants of the regime in your personal and business relations...
...Liberty may make mistakes . . . bat the people have shown that they are able to correct their errors...
...Th* logic of Its existence is to exalt violence and to strike ToscaninI in the face...
...Louis, Amerigo Dumini, the boss of • fascist Murder Incorporated...
...They are all lies...
...Every regime in the world, even the Afghan and the Turkish, allows its subjects a certain amount of liberty...
...He even ordered the arrest of his closest collaborators and advisers...
...The messages that De Boses carried were dated...
...I shall be worth more dead than save...
...We salute Ms two sons whom Mussolini denied the use of their father's name...
...Even if you do not want to join us, there are always ten things which you yourself can do...
...Fascism alone, In self-defense, is obligated to annihilate thought...
...They shook their lists at the speaker and they even attempted physical attacks upon the opposition deputies...
...To drop the figures of speech, we sre going to Rome to scatter from the sir these words of liberty which, for seven years, hsve been forbidden like a crime...
...The black-shirted fascist* became furious...
...My airplane only flies at 150 kilometers an y , whereas those of Mussolini can do 300...
...And with reason,' far if they had been allowed they would have shaken the Fascist tyranny to its foundation within a few hoars...
...He had dedicated hi* family fortune, hi* great scientific attainmenta and his generoas soal to the cause of democracy and Socialism...
...We say to them that now more than ever the flag of Matteotti symbolize* the hope of salvation of the Italian nation from the menace of death brought upon her by tyranny...
...la June, 1930, I started to put in circulation bisjstlthly letters, of a strictly constitution^ character, espieining the necessity that all men of law and order aheald be in accord in preparation for the day when Fascism should fall...
...Though I have only done 7% hours «l solo flying, if I fail it will not be through fault of sfstogo...
...And now," Metteotti remarked to his friends, "You can prepare for my funeral...
...They were subjected to torture and condemned to 16 years' imprisonment...
...The worst of it was that I could no longer rely on surprise...
...After nine years you see that you have enjoyed not only the moat t> rannical and corrupt but also the most bankrupt of all governments...
...That is not true...
...We salute the custodian of his political heritage, our beloved Comrade Giuseppe Modigliani...
...This Hapshurg in a black shirt has crept into his palace again and he is a n outrage to all our dead...
...In order to silence the Italian people, Mussolini wa* compelled to suppress all their liberties...
...If •Hbo has done his duty, they are there waiting for me...
...June 10 became the day when a cursed Mussolini would be driven to commit a new crime...
...For nine years you have been told that freedom of conscience must he sacrificed for the s-akc of a strong capable government...
...The body of Matteotti was hidden in s hole in the Roman Campagna...
...He promulgated oppressive laws...
...The opposition applauded Matteotti, but from th* black-shirt benches snd bslconies, maddened fascists shouted vituperations...
...I hope he will forgive my subterfuge...
...You have set up an altar to the Unknown at liberty, but you allow it to be desecrated daily by those who imprison every one that still believes in liberty...
...He stood with his notes in his hand, waiting for the first volley of insults to subside...
...I hope that many others will follow me and will at last succeed in rousing public opinion...
...You have given up liberty only to find yourselves deprived also of bread...
...For almost two hours this historical battle continued in the Parliament of Italy...
...The National Alliance has launched its program of a union of all forces against Facism...
...T r i g day on which I read of the arrest of my friends I was on the point of crossing the frontier to leturn to Italy...
...After crucifying the Italian nation under fascism, the same monarchy is trying to crucify the Itulian nation under Togliatti's cossackism...
...The balconies were also packed by hosts of fascist stormtroopers chosen from Mussolini's pretorians...
...He repudiated the murder...
...He dissolved the opposition parties and free trade unions...
...The rumor had spread that th* opposition would challenge the fascist proposal for the bloc validation of the fascist majority...
...My first instinct was to go to Rome to share their fate, but I realized that the duty of a soldier is not to surrender, but to fight to the end...
...Despite Fascist violence snd brutality, the labor snd Socialist opposition had been sble to obtain one million votes out of 2,500,000 votes cast...
...Spread every piece of truthful news you may get hold of...
...Unfortunately, in December, daring a short voyage wilich I was obliged to make abroad, tha police arrested the two friends who hud agreed to post the letters during the absence...
...2. Never buy a Fascist newspaper...
...Mussolini stood silent, accumulating hste in hi* heart Matteotti waited and then shouted: "The leader of fascism stated clearly thst his government did not csre about the result of the elections and that it would have remained in power even had it found itself with a minority...
...Tell others of your belief and fervor...
...As •II the dangers lie on the return flight, I shall not *e until after I have delivered my 400,000 letters...
...I decided imxetdlately to go to Rome, not in order to surrendci, but carry on the work of the National Alliance by throwing 4*11,0*0 letters from the air, and then either to fall in fighting or to return to my base to make other plans...
...Gather in alliance...
...8. Circulate the leaflets of the National Alliance...
...On this 20th anniversary of the murder of Giacomo Matteotti, we salute his memory...
...jost before he took off for Rome...
...He persecuted the families of those of his opponent* who had sought sanctuary in the neighboring country.and here in America...
...He set up a Fascist Special Tribunal...
...And it was on June 10, 1940, that Mussolini plunged Italy into the war by stabbing France in the back...
...We salute the entire Italian people—the fighting patriots of the guerrilla bands and striking industrial workers of the North and the liberated Italians of the South...
Vol. 27 • June 1944 • No. 24
