1922 Turin massacre

The 1922 Turin massacre refers to the

attack by Italian Fascists against
members of a local labour movement in
Turin, Italy, during a three-day terror
campaign from 18–20 December 1922, to
break the resistance of the labour
movement and working class to
Fascism.[1]
 1922 Turin massacre

The plaque remembering the 11 who died

was erected in 1946.

Location Turin

Date 18–20 December

 1922
Target Members of the local
labour movement in
Turin

Attack type Massacre

Deaths Eleven people were

killed and ten were
seriously wounded

Perpetrators Fascist squads led by

Piero Brandimarte

Background
After the March on Rome and the
appointment of Benito Mussolini as prime
Minister on 29 October 1922 the Turin
labour movement kept on offering
resistance to Fascism. The residual
working class opposition was shown by
the ongoing clandestine production and
distribution of the Turin-based Communist
newspaper L'Ordine Nuovo, headed by
Antonio Gramsci, as well as political,
factory and paramilitary organization,
including popular uprisings against Fascist
encroachment on working-class
neighbourhoods and an important factory
election victory.[1]

Another important factor was the rivalry

between the paramilitary and political
leadership of the local Turin fascio. Once
in government Mussolini sought to contain
the violent excesses of local squadrismo
led by Cesare Maria De Vecchi. The Turin's
Fascists became increasingly angered by
Mussolini's tendency to collude with local
economic and political elites and police
chiefs in marginalizing the leader of
Turinese and Piedmontese squadrismo, De
Vecchi and his right-hand man Piero
Brandimarte. Fascism's increasingly
prominent political position at the national
level required stricter discipline from
Fascists to prevent disaffection of its
more liberal and squeamish backers.[1]
The massacre
The initial pretext for the large-scale
offensive against the labour movement in
Turin was the killing of two Fascists,
Giuseppe Dresda and Lucio Bazzani, in the
Barriera di Nizza, by the Communist
militant and tram worker Francesco Prato,
on the night of 17–18 December 1922.[1]

In revenge Fascists raided and burned

down the Camera del lavoro, the trade
union headquarters, and attacked on two
clubs of the Italian Socialist Party.[2][3] This
was followed by the destruction of the
Turin-based Communist newspaper
L'Ordine Nuovo. A number of the editors
were taken to the central park in Turin and
were threatened to be executed by Fascist
squads.[2]

The fascists rounded up communists and

trade unionists in the city and executed a
number of them in gruesome manners
with one victim, Pietro Ferrero, being tied
and dragged behind a truck until he died
and another victim being bludgeoned to
death.[2] Officially, eleven people were
killed and ten were seriously wounded by
the Fascists.[2] However, in 1924,
Brandimarte declared to the Il Popolo di
Roma newspaper that he had chosen 24
"subversives" from his lists and "entrusted
them to our best squads to do justice. And
justice was done. The dead were 22,
because two escaped shooting."[4]

Aftermath
Brandimarte was arrested in May 1945
after the fall of the Fascist regime. He was
indicted for the murders in Turin, but the
case was transferred to Florence. Five
years later he was sentenced to 26 years
and three months in jail, although he
denied to have organized the massacre.
However, in April 1952, the Bologna Court
of Appeals absolved him because of
insufficient evidence.[4]
In 1946 a plaque with the names of the 11
victims was on the Piazza 18 dicembre
1922.[5]

References
1. Sonnessa, "The 1922 Turin Massacre
(Strage di Torino)", Modern Italy,
Volume 10, Issue 2, November 2005,
pp. 187-205
2. Lajolo, An Absurd Vice, p. 21
3. Ten Slain in Turin in Fascisti Riots ,
The New York Times, December 20,
1922
4. (in Italian) 1922 Torino: la prima strage
nera , La Repubblica, 13 December
 2012
5. (in Italian) Lapide in memoria delle
vittime della strage del XVIII
dicembre , MuseoTorino
Lajolo, Davide (1983). An Absurd Vice: A
Biography of Cesare Pavese , New York
(NY): New Directions Publishing,
ISBN 9780811208512
Sonnessa, Antonio (2005). "The 1922
Turin Massacre (Strage di Torino):
Working class resistance and conflicts
within fascism ", Modern Italy, Volume
10, Issue 2, November 2005, pp. 187–
205.
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