The Institutionalisation ofSquadrismo: Disciplining Paramilitary Violence in the Italian Fascist Dictatorship

Abstract

This article argues that squadrismo represented a central feature in the ideology and politics of Fascist Italy, influencing the whole period of the dictatorship. In the second half of the twenties, many squadristi became political prisoners, accused of being 'bad Fascists': it looked like the end of squadrismo. Despite punishments and (brief) periods of imprisonment, the squadristi actually continued to play an important part in the fascistisation of Italian society, in particular during the intransigent 1930s. By disciplining the blackshirts while continuing to make use of their particular skills, Fascism hoped to 'tame the revolution'.

The Italians and Fascism

“…Instead it would be more appropriate to seek to evaluate the extent of this involvement across more extended periods of time by taking into account the way in which people's attitudes changed. 14 Also in the light of the above studies, a claim such as the following one recently made by Emilio Gentile seems quite unjustifiable: 'Whatever the attitude of the leaders of the totalitarian regimes may have been with regard to the consensus of the people they ruled, it is an unquestionable historical fact that none of them ever based their power on the consensus of ordinary people -although this was encouraged, stimulated, fabricated and organised -but exclusively on the political monopoly of the single party, on armed force, on police prevention and repression, and on the regimentation of the population, be it consenting or not.' The importance of these distinctions and the awareness that it is impossible to analyse all the attitudes to be found among Italians -or even a statistically significant percentage of them -should not lead us to underestimate the importance of research on these topics.…”