The Italian Resistance: Fascists, Guerrillas and the Allies

by Tom Behan

One of the enduring myths about World War Two is that only the Allies liberated occupied Europe. Many countries had anti-fascist Resistance movements, and Italy's was one of the biggest and most politically radical yet it remains relatively unknown outside of its own homeland.

Within Italy many plaques and streets commemorate the actions of the partisans - a movement from below that grew as Mussolini's dictatorship unravelled. Led by radical left forces, the Resistance trod a thin line between fighting their enemies at home and maintaining an uneasy working relationship with the Allies.

Essential for courses on World War Two and European history, Tom Behan uses unpublished archival material and interviews with surviving partisans to tell an inspiring story of liberation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Italy, World War II, European History, War, Politics

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Allyson]

This is a complex introduction to many aspects of the Italian resistance and the aftermath thereof. It is fascinating to read how fascism and fascists managed to survive the war and hold high office until today. Also interesting how later times indulge in revisionist history that seems to vindicate fascism in Italy. What was a little repulsive was the role of the allies, in particular the CIA (OSS) and British Intelligence in bolstering, supporting and protecting certain fascists after and during the closing stages of WW2. This overt and not so overt interference, the game playing and manipulation of situations acted to support the fascists against the resistance parties. This was very much predicated on the fear of socialism and communism that the allies had, but their approach seemed ill-founded on realities. There was never a Nuremburg trial type approach in Italy because of the almost independent liberation of major Italian cities by the Resistance. I found the book insightful and fascinating in its examination of many elements historical, political, gender relations and cultural. I did have a slight issue with the writing style at times because it seemed rushed, was grammatically problematic and a bit convoluted. However, the book, though complex, was accessible to anyone who wants an introduction to a history of the Italian Resistance and of Italy during WW2.

[Socraticist]

This is a scholarly work (over 40 pages of notes!), but it’s not particularly hard to read. My only quibbles would be that the writing and organization could be a little better. So 4.5 stars, rounded up.

One strength of the book is how it shows the widespread, grass-root support of the resistance in both its civil war and patriotic fight. Another key contribution the book makes is in arguing the complexity and difficulties of the issues involved. In both ways it has achieved its aim in better educating naive readers like me.

[Phil Webster]

This excellent book shows how the liberation of Italy from fascism between 1943 and 1945 was not just achieved by the Allied armies. Italian anti-fascist partisan fighters and striking workers also played a big part.

We read about:
The brutality of the German Nazis and Italian fascists.
The bravery of the partisans in the mountains and in the cities.
The risings in several cities which liberated those cities before the Allied armies arrived on the scene.
The central role played by women in the Resistance.
The different political trends within the Resistance.

I'd already read a lot about the Italian Resistance, so I was generally aware of the above points. What did surprise me was the chapter on what happened after the end of the war. Large numbers of fascists kept their places in the police force, the judiciary, and the state machine. The result was the shocking persecution of many partisans in the post-war period. This also explains the later collaboration of fascists with elements of the state in right-wing terrorist attacks and even in aborted right-wing coups.

Behan follows the Italian historian Claudio Pavone in arguing that there were three dimensions to the partisans' fight.
(1) A war of national liberation following the German Nazi invasion from the north in 1943.
(2) A civil war fought against Italian fascists.
(3) A class war. Many of the Italian factory owners and landowners had backed Mussolini, and many working-class members and supporters of the Resistance wanted the war to end with a radical social change in a socialist direction.

Incidentally, many good working-class militants and Resistance fighters supported the Italian Communist Party (PCI). But, unfortunately, the PCI leadership was thoroughly under the thumb of Stalin's regime in Russia, which claimed to be "communist", but which, after Stalin's counter-revolution destroyed all traces of workers' democracy in the 1920s, had become a state capitalist tyranny. (The PCI even had some Trotskyist partisans murdered, just like Stalin had had Trotsky himself assassinated in 1940.)

Now, a quarter of the way through the 21st Century, fascist parties are growing again, and this book is a timely reminder of just how terrible things will be if they ever get into power again. (Nazis with nuclear weapons?!) Ruling classes could again turn to fascism as a weapon to protect their interests. As Bertolt Brecht said in his play "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui", with reference to Ui/Hitler:

"The womb he crawled from is still going strong."