Fascio (; : fasci) is an Italian language word literally meaning 'bundle' or 'sheaf', and figuratively 'league', and which was used in the late 19th century to refer to political groups of many different (and sometimes opposing) orientations. A number of Nationalism fasci later evolved into the 20th century Fasci movement, which became known as fascism.
Origin
During the 19th century the bundle of rods, in
Latin called
Fasces and in
Italian language fascio, came to symbolise strength through unity, the point being that whilst each independent rod was fragile, as a bundle they were strong. By extension, the word
fascio came into modern Italian political usage to mean group, union, band or league. It was first used in this sense in the 1870s by groups of
revolutionary Democracy in
Sicily, to describe themselves. The most famous of these groups was the
Fasci Siciliani during 1891–94.
[ A History of Fascism 1914-1945, Stanley G. Payne, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. p. 81.] Thereafter, the word retained revolutionary connotations. It was these connotations which made it attractive, for example, to young nationalists who demanded Italian intervention in World War I. The
fasci they formed were scattered over Italy, and it was to one of these spontaneously created groups, devoid of party affiliations,
Benito Mussolini belonged.
[By permission of author, Fascism, Noël O'Sullivan, J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1983. p. 207.]
History
World War I
On 18 August 1914 Italian
syndicalist Alceste de Ambris, speaking from the rostrum of the Milanese Syndical Union (USM), began a ferocious attack against
Neutral country in World War I and urged intervention against
German Empire Reactionary and the necessity of aiding France and the United Kingdom. He equated the war with the French Revolution.
This caused a deep split within the Italian Syndicalist Union (USI). The majority opted for neutrality. The Parma Labor Chamber, the USM, and other radical syndicalists left the USI and on 1 October 1914 founded the Fasci d'Azione rivoluzionaria internazionalista. On October 5 Angelo Oliviero Olivetti published his manifesto in the first issue of a new series of Pagine libere. Benito Mussolini shortly thereafter joined this group and took leadership.[ The Birth of Fascist Ideology, From Cultural Rebellion to Political Revolution, Zeev Sternhell with Mario Sznajder and Maia Asheri, trans. by David Maisel, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 1994. pp. 140, 214.]
Mussolini's split
On 11 December 1914 Mussolini started a political group,
Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria, which was a fusion of two other movements: the above group,
Fasci d'azione rivoluzionaria internazionalista and a previous group he started called the
Fasci autonomi d'azione rivoluzionaria.
[ The Birth of Fascist Ideology, Zeev Sternhell, p. 303.]
This new group was also referred to as the Milan fascio, of which Mussolini was the leader. 24 January 1915 was the turning point in the history of the fasci as their leaders met in Milan and formed a national organization.
After World War I
In 1919, after the war had ended, Mussolini reconstituted the Milan
fascio, using the new name
Fasci Italiani di Combattimento. Other
fasci of the same name were created, with the common goal of opposing all those—including the
Monarchy and state—whose specific leanings were deemed to be depriving Italy of the fruits of victory in the war. According to H. W. Schneider, the new Milan
fascio was formed of roughly the same people who had been members of the older
fascio in 1915, but with a new name and a new objective.
[H. W. Schneider, Making the Fascist State, NY, 1928, p. 56, cited in Fascism, Noël O'Sullivan, J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1983. p. 207.]
After World War II
In Italy, after World War II, the term
fascio is used as a pejorative for
Neo-fascism.
