Letter to an Italian Guerrilla
Letter to an Italian Guerrilla IT hag been several <y*an slate* I saw you last, nor have I heard from you since 1 Mi Italy. I do not know where) you are at present—whether you are fighting in the...
...Though we loathed the regime more than anything in the world, we did not see how we could get rid of it...
...But the Abyssinian war was certainly one of them...
...F. G. H...
...We were still a "group of friends" with many noble ideals but meat of us began to see, at that time, that the realization ef these ideal* called for the destruction of th* society wherein every individual Wee a slave in the hands of a tyrant, and for the construction of a new society whose social justice and political equality would guarantee the individual a maximum development...
...We increased cur discipline to a maximum and intensified the political education of our newer friends...
...They never folly grasped that the ones who were on top in Italy did not represent the people nor that the people had no legitimate way of organizing and of expressing their opinions...
...Most of the mere than fifty nations at Geneva thought In terms ef their own interest* and had not suffered yet the blows of aggression Their idea of democracy as a safe and stable form of life had net then been transformed Into ' the lighting slogan of a crncisl war...
...how the individual's dependence on the community and his dedication to its purpose are creating a new sense of responsibility and a new scale of values...
...Patiently ma moved ahead...
...that no combination of powers can permanently guarantee peace, and freedom from aggress ion, to the world as long as the motives of man art those of yesterday: that the revolution pf motives that has taken place in the hearts of the guerrillus, that transformed their communities and enabled them to resist, cannot be annulled, once the dangers of today have been removed...
...As our group grew— and as the dissatisfaction among -the Italian people became more general and thus the police more vigilant —we discontinued even the most innocuous meetings such as our Sunday hikes, visits to art galleries ami concert halls...
...It waa then that we went to see the temples of Paestum and the Etruscan tombs of Tarquinia, then that we went to hear the concerts- in the Augusteo or to visit the Apollo in Vnllc Giulia...
...I I don* recall now nil the specific factors that transformed our "group of friends" Into the nucleus of an active underground organization...
...Once too weak to set the world on fire, our little flame i* now en-gulled in a burning universe...
...This was both an asset and a liability...
...Bat the powers in which we trusted did not have treat in us...
...And though at first you did not take part in it—because having a concrete program seemed to yen to limit one's sense of humanity—ideally you remained a member of our group s*nd an inspiring symbol of Its integrity...
...transforming the motives and goals of man...
...And you may be able to show, too...
...Our opposition to the regime was secondary, though ever uncompromising, and only brought to focus when Fascism interfered with our other purposes...
...There We* re hoihc wlMfty though fr that if the Italian.people did net like Mussolini it was their problem to get rid of him...
...But I know you will not despair because of that...
...With a pee-Fascist political mentality and not yet aware of the, nature and significance of Fascism, they were unable to take advantage of our dearly bought wisdom...
...that it will lather become the.fopndaJtjop on' whioh all men of goodwill must choose to build...
...onlj^etrengeh .and position, of the underground, documents whose authenticity they could not deny, they frankly admitted that they did not dure to forward such information because their governments or agencies were little interested in material that would reflect upon the soundness of their then rampant policy of appeasement...
...And our ideals, at first, ware not political...
...And when we sometimes handed them documents on fascist international intrigue...
...We just ware a handful of friends, with common ideals...
...INTEGRITY, moral integrity, that indeed became the • watchword ef out vary existence...
...At that time B. joined us as did others who either had been abroad or had' received political training through' leaders of other underground group...
...I do not know where) you are at present—whether you are fighting in the rnmmtotns or hiding in some town occupied by the enemy...
...But I do...
...Once too weak to over-, throw the tyrant by ourselves, we seem even more insignificant now than the mightiest nations have gone to battle...
...They did net realize that Fascism, by then, had already bteemt a world-wide problem and that only a world-wide campaign ef free peoples could cope wit* it...
...At that time, our primary purpose was to Hve for our friends and to enjoy the thing* we" loved...
...While, the powers decided for non-rntervetnion in Spam, each of us risked hi* life by contributing what money we could to the Spanish Republic...
...WHENEVER we talked to ous Britishair American ™ Triundi roimaanr tUsteli or newspapermen— wa realised that they had to see things in the light of what they were used to- in their own countries...
...There were you and I and our friends, knit together by a common enthusiasm for the great and good end lieautiful thing* in Ufa, in contrast to the base interests of the fascist cliques around us...
...Practicably our contribution was of no consequence, but ideally it proved to us that we were still free to join, any other people oi this earth who fought for freedom...
...Just as we pointed the way when the powers were still trying to compromise with what they did not recognize as the foe of humanity, so you may...
...That was When our practical work started...
...Letter to an Italian Guerrilla IT hag been several <y*an slate* I saw you last, nor have I heard from you since 1 Mi Italy...
...A liability because our formal polUieaWdWcatiow remahwd lather limitedf What we knew we leam*d" from member* of the older generation what bed known otboettmoa, 01 f rW books which we» passed from hand'to band and Which cost us yean Tp .prison-^ dhteovered...
...It is true that st that time we could offer little to the great powers...
...At that same timer links with other groups were strengthened and we all rejoiced when news of their successes reached us...
...Ws were not supposed to know about the...
...personal contacts were to be as infrequent as possible...
...Bet Fascism's initial difficulties in the Ethiopian campaign and the people's disgust with an unnecessary, unprovoked-war showed us thst the end could not be so far away and that we could possibly do something about hastening a new beginning...
...again point, the way, now that the powers are not yet fully aware of the nature and the amount of influence the Fascist experience will have eu the future world...
...Our task seemed to be to carry on, upholding the nobler things in life through the period of darkness which sometime—though we did not know hew—would give way to a brighter world...
...Up to that time few of our group were able to see any prospect Of an early collapse of Fascism...
...Even today when the spark of freedom that we kept alive, lonely and forgotten as, we were, has developed into a .world-encircling,,flame, it will appear to the powers that we can offer but little...
...This group of ours did not origtrmte, as other anti-Fascist oigmdaatJens did, from Urn remnants of pes* Fascist politics...
...While the powers of this weehi hesHatod'to act accowking to thvir ccmi-mitments and while the flag of appeasement waa solemnly carried from and to land, jwe remained true to the standards'o* humanity which her—s and aairrts, thinkers and poet* had established before us...
...Bet our experiences under Fascism became, as it Inter proved, our greatest asset...
...You may be able to show how th* very life of th* underground i* becoming,the foundation of a new type of society...
...work of ether members of our group so that no one could reveal information if caught by the polke and put to torture...
...hew the guerrilla's life, with its immediate tasks and ultimate purposes, is...
...That was before Munich when we all hoped for war, because war alone would bring us a chance of salvation...
...It wee born in the Fascist era—in th* middle M's—ami none el its members had lived under any regime but the Fascist...
...Our stubbornness in the presence of Fascist lures and democratic power politic*, our moral integrity—which we had recognized as the eornerstone of our resistance and as the assurance of final victory—must have appeared to those in the outside world who knew of n* as a futile and unpractical demonstration...
...know that wherever you are the jigtrt ef freedom will not go out...
...Yet I console myself with the thought that much of the best that hi being done in Italy today was prepared, years ago, by that "group of friends'* to which you and I belonged...
...I think" no one can sap for sure when our group actually started...
...I am tad to be so far away now that the Anal battle is being fought...
Vol. 27 • January 1944 • No. 3
