The “bomb” of the Duce who never exploded

The socialization of the factories repeatedly announced had to create a “new order” and the consent to republican fascism. Bursts of strikes from March 1945 and up to liberation

Adolf Hitler had expressed his total disappointment when on November 14, 1943 the National Assembly of the Fascist Party in Verona had chosen as the denomination of the State, born with the return of Benito Mussolini to the political scene, that of the Italian Social Republic. There was no word “fascist” and the Führer instead claimed that the matrix was clear. The hypotheses of a republican fascist state were also set aside and the Republican National State, both because the Duce wanted a national and not ideological call, and because he still burned the total inaction of the fascists to his defenestration of 25 July and his liberation from the hotel-project on the Gran Sasso on September 12. That “social”, officially adopted I December for a state entity recognized only by Reich and his satellites, recalled his socialist training and anticipated his intention to create a popular consent with a revolutionary political initiative that he himself called “the bomb” because once triggered and exploded, he would not have allowed to go back.

Mussolini convinced of the collaboration between capital, work and state

The “fundamental premise for the new structure of the Italian economy” had been advanced by the Minister of Economy Angelo Tarchi in the Council of Ministers of 13 January 1944, and for Mussolini that was the founding premise of the Republic of Salò, with the aim of compacting the people to the regime with the promise to divide the profits of the productive entities, the insurance of social justice, the co -management of the factories and the dialogue of the tensions they made up the reality of that half of Italy. As an expert journalist he announced it on the front page on February 13 on the Columns of Corriere della Sera with a title with nine columns: “The Duce decree for the socialization of companies”. According to him, that is the passage towards the realization of a new social order, through “the action of weapons with the affirmation of a political idea” which, supports, will create the harmonious distribution of wealth, will ensure justice and brushed away the conception of state capitalism replaced by the “collaboration of capital and work in the life of the state”.

The Germans do not deal with the government of the RSI but with the industrialists

For the Germans “La Bomba” will never have to explode: the real power is in their hand, the RSI is a state-anthoccio and Mussolini governs to the extent that Hitler grants it to him. The Reich does not want revolutions: it only claims that north Italy is committed to supporting the war effort, and in fact the Nazi proconsoli treat directly with the industrialists, not with the republican government. To obtain that maximum they are also available to some small concessions to the workers. But to avoid misunderstandings Rudolf Rahn officially asks Berlin if Mussolini’s proclamation “must be firmly opposed (…) or if it should be made to implement this experiment under our guide and our surveillance. This is always the assumption that in no way can war production be prejudiced ». In September, the Germans authorize the application to just four companies, in October to editorial and paper companies. Stop.

Double -games with the CLN to save the systems from destruction and transfer to the Reich

The large industrialists, who also from the Mussolinian adventures have obtained orders and huge profits despite producing non -competitive war material and in quantities not in line with the needs of a modern war, have already chosen to turn their backs, because for them it is much better to lose that war but preserving the plants and preventing disassembly with transfer to Germany; And worse still is what they see in the proclamations of Mussolini, or a communist drift. “The bomb” accentuates the phenomenon of under the underhabanco to the resistance and of the oriented dubbing, since it removed too much capitalism and granted too little to workers. As for the National Liberation Committee, the point of view was that the factories had to be defended because “a question of national political importance and how such must be resolved; It does not constitute a problem of internal police of the establishments. The Committee is willing to deal with industrialists only on condition that these explicitly recognize the authority who belongs to it to organize and direct the defense of the factories, formally committing to not taking other initiatives. The concrete agreements must be defined as a case -by -case basis with the factory committees that come to this by the CLNAI ».

The sale of the people of Italy and the request to pay in Swiss francs

At the beginning of 1945 the Undersecretary of the Interior of the RSI Giorgio Pini stigmatized in a report to Mussolini that the Fiat’s management was ambiguous by now supporting the Germans now the workers, and the collaborative of the Lombard industrialists with resistance is put on white. Between March and April 1945 the strikes multiply: Genoa, Turin, Vercelli, Savona, Legnano, Saronno, Sesto San Giovanni, and a continuous and unstoppable burst in Milan. The fascist socialization had not proved, despite Mussolini’s conviction, “the logical and rational solution that avoids on the one hand the bureaucratization of the economy through state totalitarianism, and overcomes on the other the individualism of the liberal economy which was an effective tool for progress at the beginning of the capitalist economy, but today it is to be considered no longer in the phase with the new” social “needs of the national communities”. He had entrusted the local administrations and the food sector to the workers’ categories but had not found the desired “specific preparation” and “civic consciousness”. It was also deluded that he had recovered his consent after the crowd bath of his last public speech at the Lirico Theater of Milan on December 16, 1944, and in fact the enthusiasm had been sincere and overflowing, and would have deceived anyone, but had proved to be completely ephemeral. In March 1945 “La Bomba” had already been completely defused and now he didn’t even believe it. On the other hand, when in October he sold the people of Italy to the Lombardy industrialist Riccardo Cella for 75 million lire, he had wanted to be paid with the equivalent in Swiss francs.