Il regime fascista a Parma. 1925-1936

The thesis addresses a little studied period in Parma’s history. Chapter one describes the start of the regime, in the years from 1925 to 1929: the shocking and brutal violence towards the anti-fascist opposition in 1925, intended to definitively eradicate their presence from the Province; the occupation of local power by fascism, which also established a monopoly on the information in local newspapers; the heated and sometimes inexplicable internal conflicts within the local fascist group, between moderates and radicals, which would culminate in the defeat of the intransigent stance. Finally this chapter analyses the plebiscite of 1929 in Parma: in the context of an extraordinary mobilization of fascism and of the Catholic church in order to encourage a favourable result, and despite electoral rules that did not permit full freedom of vote, Parma expressed greater dissent compared to the national average, though within the very restricted terms in which dissent could be expressed. A dissent which was not repeated in the following plebiscite of 1934. Chapter two provides a review of all the party structures and of the regime, as they were expressed locally, also extending to the mass organizations connected to the PNF, regarding their function and composition; the relations are examined between the state and the PNF, between fascist prefects and federal secretaries; the action of the fascist government itself is considered, since it profoundly affected the economic, social, and cultural institutions, along with the provincial institutions, implementing a modernization programme, with a marked development of public works and fascist social and welfare policies. Finally, the elite of the provincial power system is discussed. Chapter three analytically evaluates anti-fascism in Parma, in particular in the communist wing (the communist party was the political group that contributed most to active anti-fascist activities), but also considering socialist, democratic, and liberal anti-fascism, and spontaneous and popular anti-fascism, while Catholic anti-fascism is discussed in the following chapter, dedicated to the relations between the church and fascism, with anti-fascism concentrated in the context of the Catholic Action movement. Chapter four is dedicated to relations between the local church, consisting effectively of two diocese, Parma and Borgo San Donnino (later Fidenza), individually examining the attitudes to fascism of the four bishops succeeding to the guidance of the two diocese, noting a more marked propensity towards the regime by the diocese and bishops of Fidenza. Through analysis and using a detailed police investigation of the leaders of the Catholic Action movement, conducted in 1931, this chapter evaluates the attitudes of the militants and directors of the Catholic Action movement in relation to fascism, assessing the degree of consent, as well as the presence of important anti-fascists until 1931 in the highest offices of Catholic Action. This chapter provides a new analysis of the conflict between the State and the Church in 1931 in its local repercussions, and the numerous incidents that emerged from it. Chapter five examines the consensus (and modest dissent) that the Parma citizens expressed for the Abyssinian campaign, as well as the extraordinary mobilization in favour of the war and against the “iniquitous sanctions” imposed against Italy by the League of Nations.