Graham R (Ed.) - Anarchism - A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas Volume One - From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE to 1939)

The IntelWar Years /41 1
that the socialists proved to be the weaker-the police and security forces no longer
had any scruples about showing themselves allied with the fascists in the light of day;
and the concerted onslaught by illegal and lawful fo rces, to which the judiciary
would shortly be added, began .
...Initially reluctant, capitalism and the government-those in government, by
which is meant, if not this or that minister personally then definitely the higher civil
service, the prefects, the chiefs of police, etc.-realized that fa scism was a useful
weapon and soon ensured that it was given every assistance in terms offunding and
arms, turning a blind eye to its breaches of the law and, where necessary, covering its
back through intervention by armed forces which, on the pretext of restoring order,
would rush to the aid of the fa scists wherever the latter were beginning to take a
beating instead of doling one out.
...[I]t would be na'ivety itselffor revolutionaries to ask capitalism and the state
to target fascism with repressive measures that might othelWise produce fu rther
harmful effects. Moreover, any repression that goes beyond legitimate self-defence,
any government backlash based upon jails and handcuffs, always has a criminal impact
of its own. And revolutionaries cannot and should not be calling fo r arrests and
convictions, handcuffs and jail terms.
In reality, revolutionaries, socialists and workers will see an end to government
and capitalist connivance with fascism only when they summon up their own capacity
fo r resistance, not sporadically and fitfully, not more or less as individuals or
groups or in any unduly localized way, but across the board. When it comes to demanding
a right, there is only one thing that the workers could ask fo r: that they be
given equal treatment, and be left free to defend themselves every time that they are
attacked; and defe nd themselves using the same resources as the fa scists, to wit,
their own organizations, their own meetings, their own flags, their own beliefs, their
own lives. They would be entitled to ask that the police and the courts not reduce
them to the condition of somebody whose arms are tied while others give him a savage
beating. Or let the capitalist state cast aside all hypocrisy and stop playing two
parts in the fa rce and take direct responsibility fo r the repression of the workers.
But these are pointless demands, unless backed by real fo rce, both moral and
material; and can only be pressed by way of a token demonstration of one's rights
and fo r propaganda purposes. In point offact, Italian jails are filled with workers and
the heaviest sentences rain down on workers who during clashes made the mistake
of using violence to defe nd themselves from the fa scists ...