The Fourth Congress of the Greater Italian Union ​

A letter published in Popolo d’Italia from a “Concerned Worker” said: I wonder why the people of Italy have not gotten tired of the “leadership” of the Anarcho-Syndicalists? Since the revolution they have governed our country uninterrupted. While we must be thankful for their success in keeping our country from collapsing in its most vulnerable period, they have done little to move our country in the right direction. The oppressors to the north are still more industrialized than us and maintain a larger, more professional army. The mafia still bullies the workers and peasants of Italy. In the end, what do we have to show? Nothing. The pope has the respect of foreign leaders- ours do not beyond the International. Even the French jokingly refer to our system as “Spaghetti Socialism”. We need strong leadership that embodies the will of the people, one that the bespectacled clowns are not providing. It does not help that one of them is shorter than many of our school children! How can we expect to be taken seriously with them at the reigns? Click to expand...



Mussolini talking to workers​



Turati and Matteotti​



Togliatti speaking to factory workers​



The Council of the Republic​

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@Davis, thank you@Attack: Yeah, personally I think some of the ideologies outside the Syndicalist norm are not fleshed out too well either, but I think that also owes to the restrictions the political "slider" system in HoI2 places on the modders.The week before the Congress voting was not unlike previous years, though it was certainly far more heated. Emboldened by Mussolini’s adoption of Totalism, the major figures of the National-Syndicalists and their supporters poured out in rallies and visits to factories and farms to make their case. A common thread ran through all the rallies and speeches of the National-Syndicalists: the Anarcho-Syndicalists were too weak. Armed with arguments from the Totalist Charter, Mussolini and others attempted to prove to the workers and peasants of Italy the necessity of a strong, revolutionary state. Mussolini in one meeting proclaimed that the success of both the Risorgimento and socialism depended on the existence of a revolutionary state entrusted with all the power possible to preserve socialism: “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state”, as he stated [1]. Mussolini went on to reiterate the National-Syndicalists focus on making a viable, strong military. To that end he stated “For my part I prefer fifty thousand rifles to five million votes.”. He also added “demographic policies” being proposed by the National-Syndicalists would help boost the recruitment in the military and factories and would provide everyone a “role” in reunifying Italy.The National-Syndicalists took aim at the government’s policy against the mafia, denouncing it as weak and ineffective. While acknowledging that the government’s policy had reduced violence from the mafia and their alliance with petit-bourgeois landowners, they accused the government of not “finishing” the job. Speakers brought up examples of the black market and human smuggling as a smear on the republic’s reputation. In every meeting the same point was raised: the extermination of the mafia. They raised an all-out “war” against the mafia to eradicate it from Italy.An embarrassing moment occurred for the government when during a speech, Mussolini was shot at by a man within the crowd. The bullet only grazed by Mussolini’s ear and did not injure him too badly. He ordered some of his men to drag the man up to the stage where everyone could see him. Fumbling through the man’s overcoat, Mussolini produced papers identifying him as a commanding officer of a Republican Guard division. Mussolini then took a ring with a distinctive design from the man’s hand and after inspecting it, told the crowd the man was a member of the mafia. Seeing the perfect opportunity to slam the government’s Mafia policy, Mussolini quipped: “And here the government claims the popular militia and Republican Guard are free of mafia infiltration! They are saying these men can fight the mafia, but how could they if they are led by them?”The National-Syndicalists also drummed up the latent desire of many Italians for the “Second Risorgimento”, to finally make Italy whole again. This was a powerful sentiment they hoped to exploit in the choosing of delegates by the councils, one that that Angelo Tasca before them had attempted to tap into. A play was put on by National-Syndicalist organizers in many rallies called “Gennaro and Maria”. The play was simple, involving a medieval-era Italian family being torn apart by war. The two main characters were the eponymous Maria and her brother Gennaro who in time found themselves living in the same city. Maria had been forced into a marriage with a cruel landlord and Gennaro found himself hired as a guard for the same household. Gennaro would often hear the landlord abusing Maria, with his sister often calling out for help. However, he refused to do anything out of fear of being killed by the strength of the landlord’s guards. One day, after meeting with a friend who encouraged him to have strength in the face of adversity, Gennaro challenged the landlord to a duel, and defeating him, rescued his sister from captivity. The two found themselves reunited once again, and together left to where they could live out their lives in peace. While not officially stated, it was understood by the observers that the play was a thinly veiled barb at the reluctance of the government to face the Federation and the Austrians for re-unification of Italy.For their part, it was known that Mussolini eyed the position of president while a close theoretician of the National-Syndicalist movement, Michele Bianchi, would be made the Chairman of the House of Commons.The Social-Reformists too launched a vigorous campaign of their own criticizing the Anarcho-Syndicalist government. Unlike the National-Syndicalists though, the Social-Reformists attacked the Anarcho-Syndicalists for their “overreaching” power and refusal to listen to the demands of the people as industrialization was pursued over the past 15 years. The Social-Reformists acknowledged the importance of industrialization that the Anarcho-Syndicalists and National-Syndicalists wanted furthered, but felt that a far more reduced pace was more appropriate. Speakers to the councils reminded the people that the burden of industrialization more often than not fell on them- would it not be better to have a more gradual and measured plan? [2]Instead the Social-Reformists raised that the governments’ efforts should be focused on improving the infrastructure of the country. They presented plans to improve roads, buildings, schools, the budding telephone network, and so on- issues that directly impacted the populace. As Matteotti said to one council: “You are the ones who drive the economy, should you not see benefit out of it?”The Social-Reformists also raised the possibility of economic reforms that would decentralize the current system, and allow for the creation of other economic arrangements as opposed to the co-ops and councils that dominated the republic.Turning to the military, the Social-Reformists argued that the military was too large and a drain on the country’s resources. They attempted to argue for the Republican Guard to become a small, but professional standing army to protect the country. Knowing the apprehension of a sign of weakness by the republic against the federation, the Social-Reformists assured that the alliance with France as well as the advanced equipment that would be issued to the army would be able to sufficiently defend Italy. They argued that the mass, drafted military of the Anarcho-Syndicalists was actually weaker than a professional one, while the desire for a large, professional military by the National-Syndicalists would create an oppressive force on the people. Their position was one of a realistic position to Italy’s current conditions, as Turati justified in Avanti!: “Italy cannot afford to have a disorganized “popular” military that the Anarcho-Syndicalists have encouraged, and in doing so remove men and woman from the workplaces where they are more urgently needed. We do not need a large military presence to create an overbearing state presence either as the National-Syndicalists wishes to do.”In regards to the mafia question, the Social-Reformists rejected the “heavy-handedness” of both the Anarcho-Syndicalist and National-Syndicalist positions. They believed that the root of the mafia’s strength laid at the demands of people driving the black market. Instead of “wasting” money on police and the military, as they put it, the Social-Reformists instead opted for an increase in social spending to pull out the rug from under the mafia and remove the reasons why people would turn to them. With adequate schooling, healthcare, food distribution, and a focus on consumer goods, why would anyone turn to the Mafia’s black markets?A more controversial aspect of the Social-Reformists was the use of churches. It was known that the government had long encouraged the creation of “radical” clergy that would be able to synthesize religious and socialist teachings, but the government had stopped the extent of their involvement there. The Social-Reformists appealed to these radical clergy by hinting at greater public involvement of their churches than the current government allowed. The Social-Reformists knew of the church’s influence in sectors of the republic and hoped to use that to their advantage in the coming elections.As for the candidates, the two main people that the Social-Reformists were advancing were Filippo Turati and Giacomo Matteotti, for the positions of President and Chairman of the House of Commons respectively. Turati though had to deal with a significant disadvantage compared to the other presidential hopefuls- being born in November of 1857, Turati was 78 years old at the time. He was by far the oldest politician in the Socialist Republic of Italy, and his reputation stemmed mainly from being the founder of the Italian Socialist Party. Even though his minimalist platform had lost out to the maximalists over time, he still retained influence within the trade unions of Italy who had formed links with the Italian Socialist Party historically. His protégé was Giacomo Matteotti, who was expected to carry the Social-Reformist torch in the likely event of Turati’s death in the near future. Matteotti had been able to reach out to the people much better than Turati had been able to and was competent at public speaking- though in the process he formed a bitter rivalry with Benito Mussolini [3].The Anarcho-Syndicalists found themselves working the hardest to pitch their program to the councils. There was a clear anti-establishment vibe in both the National-Syndicalist and Social-Reformist campaigns that was targeted at the long running government. The Anarcho-Syndicalists also had to find a way to reconcile the former PSI Maximalists and pro-Lenin factions with the Anarchists in the group, who had overshadowed the original trade union-based syndicalist politicians (some of whom had defected to the National-Syndicalists in the aftermath of the Second Congress).In regards to the industrialization and five-year plans, the Anarcho-Syndicalists advocated for a continuation of their current long-term objectives. The industry was going to expand “as much as the economy can feasibly handle” as Togliatti explained to the workers of the national tractor factory in Naples. He rejected the National-Syndicalist position of heavy industrialization as something that would bring an “unbearable” amount of pain and suffering among the workers, while chiding the Social-Reformists for not having a grasp on the intricacies of the national economy. Speakers particularly focused in cities where factories were being set up and warned them that the factories might be scrapped if the Social-Reformists had their way.Gramsci set out with the General Responsible for Police Ruggiero Grieco to discuss the mafia problem with concerned people and defend the current government’s anti-mafia policies. Gramsci distributed a pamphlet simply titled “The Mafia Question” which included writings by himself and others regarding the mafia problem and how to feasibly deal with it. In it Gramsci rejected a “war” by the state against the mafia, feeling that it would not eliminate the mafia as it would ignore the conditions they sprouted from. On the other hand, he also rejected the “welfare” policies of the Social-Reformists, stating that direction alone will not solve the intricacies of the social order that existed in Sicily that the Mafia thrived in. To that end he offered instead a combined approach of “cultural” programs among the youth and an increase in funds for the Republican Guard and popular militias to better police the region.During a talk in Palermo with people, Mussolini’s shooting came to Gramsci’s attention. Out of form with the arranged speaking, Gramsci descended into the throng of people and talked to them personally, walking down streets with the people and visiting collectives and councils at random. This was in essence a challenge to the Mafia to shoot him as he was in the open, and the failure of anything to occur was a strong rebuke to Mussolini’s statements regarding the Republican Guard.Grieco, after hearing of Mussolini’s shooting and accusation against the police, arranged a conference with the families of popular police, in particular those who had lost someone fighting the mafia, and called out Mussolini to retract his statements regarding the Republican Guard. In a statement later carried by L’Unita, Grieco stated that “Comrade Mussolini has charged the Republican Guard with corruption and a failure to deal with the mafia. He has charged them with a failure to do their duty to the republic essentially! And yet here I have around me the price many of them had to pay in their war against the most reactionary element of our society, and Mussolini still has the gall to question their loyalty? Comrade Mussolini needs to stick with what he knows best- playing with his toy trains” [4].The military was the place the Anarcho-Syndicalists felt the most troubled. Again and again they emphasized to the people the importance of a “popular” military that was rooted in the people and not a separate institution from the government. While acknowledging the military should be modernized and strategies revised, they felt that the “downsizing” the Social-Reformists were wanting was unfeasible at the time while the National-Syndicalist plans would only cement an oppressive element of the state.For his part, Bordiga embarked on debates regarding the role of the political party. In his time in the House of Commons leading the Anarcho-Syndicalist delegation (and more specifically, the Marxist remnants outs such as Gramsci and Togliatti), he began to formulate the importance of the Party in organizing and rallying workers and its role in a socialist order. To this end he got into conflicts with the Social-Reformists who charged him party-worship while the National-Syndicalists played up populist arguments against party “bureaucrats”. Bordiga remained by the position however, indicating that in the struggle for the workers to control the means of production and abolish class divisions, the party would play an important role in organizing and leading workers, and more importantly becoming an expression of the workers themselves [5].And so the debates proceeded across the week before the elections. Debates became more heated, the battles between the papers got uglier, and agitation in the workplace for different positions became more apparent. Voting took place in the two days leading up to April 1st across the workplaces, and with their delegates chosen, converged onto the Congress of the Republic on April 1st to sit in the House of Commons.Aside from the major figures of the platforms who were usually guaranteed a return and whose loyalties were known, the majority of the delegates were not usually formally aligned to one platform or another. During debates on major changes to policy, they could support a mixture positions proposed by the different platforms. To that end it wouldn’t be until the decisions themselves were made that they would be aware of whose policies got the majority of approval and therefore the go ahead to maintain the government.The first major topic of discussion was the economy. The positions of the platforms focused on industrialization. As discussions and debates got under way, the Anarcho-Syndicalist position to continue the current plans seemed to be the favored position among the delegates.The next major contested position was the mafia as discussion moved into internal security. The debates were much more volatile and heated, and the voting seemingly was split evenly between the platforms. It was in the end the Anarcho-Syndicalist position of Republican Guard funding that won out.The last divided position was over the military. In the meeting officers were invited by the different platforms to advance and justify their positions. While the general structure of the military was retained, the National-Syndicalists won in their arguments for the growth in manpower and a better trained, professional military.Other fields were discussed as well. The Anarcho-Syndicalists managed to defend the current economic structure of councils against the state-run schemes of the National-Syndicalists on the one hand and the decentralizing drive of the Social-Reformists on the other hand. However the National-Syndicalists in this argument made a convincing argument for economic planning, one that the Anarcho-Syndicalists recognized as the Congress went on. For his part, Mussolini managed to defend his role as General Responsible for Transportation, bragging about how “he had made the trains run on time so Comrade Grieco could make his speeches on time”. In delegations sent from the University, the Social-Reformists found that they had made inroads in their education policies and won the arguments there. To that end the Social-Reformists advanced the Free University of Naples professor of economics Piero Sraffa as a candidate for the General Responsible for Education, mostly due to his good ties with the Anarcho-Syndicalist Antonio Gramsci.The Anarcho-Syndicalists found however that most of the delegates were approving of their overall work and secured the confidence to govern the Fourth Congress.Negotiations were made to accommodate the minor sub-ministries to which the other platforms won victories in. However the most significant change was within the General Responsible for Armaments- Vittorio Vidali was returned to work in the Intelligence department while the National-Syndicalist Guido Jung was brought on to implement more efficient economic planning.The Fourth Congress was now convened and could proceed with forming the laws of the land and keeping the development of Socialism on track. More importantly, the Anarcho-Syndicalists could breathe a sigh of relief that the delegates had not been swayed by the arguments of either opposing platform.Meanwhile, as the Congress was opening, some events of note took place outside of Italy. The first item of importance was with the Kingdom of Spain. The country had for some time shown signs of instability and a weak government. Over the course of the opening of the Congress, Spain entered into a period of social breakdown.Spain’s position in the world interested the Italians. Like Italy before the revolution, Spain was a country that had not fully moved out of its old system of landed gentry and the dominance of the Church. With the crash of the Berlin Stock Market, Spain began to tear apart at the seams as demonstrators took to the streets demanding labor reforms and greater suffrage among the people. There was a promising growth of socialist, particularly of the anarchist variety, in Spain that the International was the most interested in. The Kingdom too noticed after the CNT-FAI leader Joaquin Maurín Juliá made a speech promising to unionize all workers that had been laid off to “fight” for their rights that was received warmly across the restless workers. The Kingdom moved to arrest the leaders of the CNT-FAI, but were unable to find them since they had seemingly fled, which they brushed off as something “they knew would happen”.In Mexico, the longtime leader and revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata passed away from natural causes, though unexpectedly, on April 10th. The Socialist Republic of Italy had built up warm relations with Mexico as like the Italians, Mexico had to deal with the influence of the Church in its country and industrializing a nation that had fallen behind in the world. The republic was worried that reactionary elements within the military would seize the opportunity as confusion set in regarding succession, and the International moved to open its networks with Marshal Arango [6]. Thankfully though, the chairman of the Socialist Party Vicente Lombardo Toledano took power and averted a crisis.Meanwhile, Marshal Denikin set out to create a controlling state presence over the people of Russia, creating a top-down bureaucracy to manage every aspect of the country from the capital. The International hoped that Denikin would dig his own grave by creating the conditions ripe for revolution.In the United States, the government oddly vetoed a proposal to grant full and proper citzienship to the Native Americans. Italian papers proclaimed it a sign of the increasing “illness” within the capitalist state. It was more disturbing when considering that Hoover’s vice president, Charles Curtis, was himself half Native-American.Meanwhile in the far east, the disorder from a divided China made itself most apparent within the Legation Cities [7] when the ruling council decided to capitulate to criminal interests and allow them to hold positions of power within the union. This was again, as the Italian papers proclaimed, an example of capitalism’s true face while heralding the progress against the mafia within Italy._______________________________________________________[1] Here Mussolini repeated an argument, nearly verbatim, that he made in the House of Commons in 1928 regarding his opposition to the workers and peasants councils.[2] The Social-Reformists knew there was discontent from the Socialist Republic of Italy’s industrialization policies since its initiation under the Bordiga government. In the pursuit of these ambitious plans, the government often upset the existing social order in the largely agrarian region.[3] In 1926 Mussolini launched a vicious smear campaign in the pages of Il Popolo d’Italia against Matteotti accusing him of various things, ranging from sexual affairs and “bourgeois” habits to treason. It was for this that Mussolini ended up losing the editorship of Il Popolo, but began the rivalry between the two figures. Mussolini viewed Matteotti as his biggest rival due to Matteotti often appealing to the same populism and “patriotic” sentiment that Mussolini relied on for his political success and as such would be Mussolini’s biggest obstacle in his goal to unseat the Anarcho-Syndicalists.[4]Grieco here refers to Mussolini’s position as General Responsible for Transportation. Mussolini had oddly become remarkably competent in his field here despite having no experience prior to his appointment. His office was filled with models of trains that were common in the republic, to which Grieco was also referring to.[5]While Bordiga’s party positions did not occupy a significant position of debate at the opening of the Fourth Congress, it gained importance later on and became a position of the Anarcho-Syndicalists in the Fifth Congress, which helped him regain the prestige he had lost earlier.[6] Marshal Arango, better known by his revolutionary nom de guerre Pancho Villa, was a close associate of Zapata who became the Chief of Staff of the Mexican military following the revolution. He was known to be much closer to the positions of the International than Zapata was.[7] The Legation Cities was a union of coastal cities in China, among them Shanghai, that were independent of regional powers, including the Qing Empire, the German Empire and their imperial company, and the Japanese. The Legation Cities included among them some of the most wealthy cities along the Chinese coast and was open to all for business.-For some remarks: why did I choose what I did in the choices offered? For industrialization, the benefits the Social-Reformists would give- improvements in infrastructure- were not great enough to outweigh those that the other two choices would provide- instant construction of factories! I opted for the Anarcho-Syndicalist position because it gave an overall +4 and a further move towards central planning in exchange for some resources and no dissent. The National-Syndicalist would have offered +6 factories, but with a whopping 10 dissent hit. That much for only two more factories? No way.With the mafia question, the Social-Reformist option would have caused a -5% penalty to the IC. If you recall from my previous chapter, there was an event "introducing" the mafia that, among other things, already gave a -%5 IC penalty. So I would already be even further in the hole in regards to my IC problems against the Federation for only the benefit of having a more "open" society. The National-Syndicalist option on the other hand gave +1 dissent that while moved my sliders more towards "hawk" (always a plus for better manpower growth), would have also made the Repubilc more of an even more "closed" society, and I was not comfortable with that. The Anarcho-Syndicalist option gave the option for one move towards the Hawk end with no dissent hit, so it was good to me.And finally, with the military positions, the Social-Reformists only moved the sliders somewhat towards "standing army" while Anarcho-Syndicalists did the opposite with with the addition +50 manpower. However, the National-Syndicalist position provided something appealing to me- 3 moves towards the Hawk position (Manpower!) and and a +25% increase in overall manpower growth. Every bit helps and a permanent modifier- as opposed to the one time +50 of the Anarcho-Syndicalists, would outweigh the +3 dissent hit.The event that "forms" the government also subtracts -3 from the dissent, so I essentially got the dissent from the last choice cancelled out . I took that opportunity to work in the appointment of Guido Jung (Totalist) to the Armaments minister slot, which gives a well-desired +10% IC modifier which stacks well with Gramsci's +5% IC modifier as a silent workhouse. At the end, I had an overall 29/22, a substantial increase from the 20/18 in the previous chapter.