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

4 12/ ANARCHISM
Given the war, given that the only real preventive remedy against it-revolution-was
not fo rthcoming, fa scism or something ofthe sort was inevitable. The fascists,
and those of their leaders who honestly believe that they are in charge of the
movement, are in fa ct merely agents of a phenomenon that is stronger than them
and by which they are dragged along .
... IT]here is no movement less idealistic and more preoccupied with material
slIccess than fascism; it is obsessed by its own material interests and the material interests
of the ruling class. Fascism has the entire working class in its sights with its
most spectacular acts of violence and vandalism, no matter who may argue the opposite;
and the working class is being targeted precisely because it poses a threat to
capitalist profits and trespasses against the interests of shopkeepers and employers
in that, to date, it has represented an erosion or infringement of proprietary rights.
Fascism is rather unmoved by anything else ... From the word go, what was under attack
was not Bolshevism but the proletariat as a whole ...
Activist fa scism served, but also, exploited
the bourgeoisie's fear of
Bolshevism, but it was also primarily the instrument and creature of capitalism's salvation
from the proletariat. .. In fa ct, in every locality, in every region, the fa scists'
greatest violence was not reserved fo r their assault upon a certain political fa ction,
the very one that they were arguing was a menace to the country, to the fatherland,
etc., ... according to the fa scists, Italy and the proletariat fa ced a different enemy in
every district: the very party or organization that enjoyed the widest support and
largest membership among the proletariat in that particular location ...
Their destructive frenzy made no distinction between these various bodies:
leagues or camere del lavoro, placement bureaux or federations, libraries or newspapers,
consumer cooperatives or production cooperatives, workers' mutual societies
or leisure circles, cafes, inns or private homes. Just as long as they belonged to the
workers.
In all of these conflicts and countless attacks countless proletarians have lost
their lives; and those wrapped in fu neral shrouds and laid to rest in the mute earth
have also been drawn from every persuasion and outlook, Catholics as well as anarchists,
republicans as well as socialists, communists as well as reformists, or
non-partisan workers. The only reason why they were targeted by murderous revolvers
was because they were workers, toilers. What more telling evidence could there
be that the fascists' guerrilla war is not waged against this or that specific party but
against the working class as a class The aim is to dismantle its strongholds everywhere,
the fo cus ofthe proletariat's resistance to capitalism; and the intention is to