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Home , ANPI, Bettino Craxi, Ferruccio Parri, Giovanni Gronchi, Italian Social Movement, Liberation Day

Philip Cooke. The Legacy of the Italian Resistance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. 276 S. ISBN 978-0-230-11410-4.

Reviewed by Filippo Focardi

Published on H-Soz-u-Kult (March, 2013)

In his most recent book Philip Cooke aims “to strengths and weaknesses. Neorealist cinema, investigate the various ways that the Resistance most notably “Roma, Citta Aperta” by Roberto movement in has impacted Italian politics, Rossellini, is a powerful medium through which society, and culture over the period from 1945 to the Resistance is painted as the redemption of the the present day” (p. 3). The research focuses in entire Italian people thanks to a collaboration be‐ particular on the relationship between Italian pol‐ tween Catholics and Communists. The Resistance itics and the culture of the Italian Resistance, seen is described as a unifed national liberation move‐ as two interwoven strands that contributed to the ment, while the reality of a civil between Ital‐ formation “the DNA of modern Italy” (p. 3). Re‐ ians is overshadowed. This same interpretation is garding his methodology, the author claims to use found in the press and in the country’s collective “a holistic approach that bridges the gap between memory which advances a rhetorical and inter‐ historical and cultural analysis” (p. 3). The result‐ pretive paradigm, still in vogue today, of the Resis‐ ing work is an examination of various “vectors of tance as a sort of second Risorgimento. However memory” – associations, political parties, Italian literature, unlike that of the French, fails to key individuals, historiography, literary texts, create a national epic out of the Resistance. memoirs, flms, monuments, songs, and so on – Rather what dominates the published works dur‐ that have been used to transmit the Resistance ing this time are “short stories” (p. 33), which mir‐ legacy. The volume follows a chronological order ror the strong regional diferences characteristic and is subdivided into eight chapters refecting of the Italian Resistance. the major junctures of Italian post-war history. In the political sphere signs of crisis are The frst chapter is devoted to the crucial pe‐ quickly seen: the early fall of the government led riod between 1945 and 1948. The legacy of the by Italian Resistance leader in No‐ struggle against the Nazis and Mussolini’s Social vember 1945; the disappearance the following Republic is marked from the outset by various year of the (PDA) that had inspired H-Net Reviews the liberation movement; the arrest of hundreds blica, in: Leonardo Paggi (ed.), Le memorie della of former partisans, in particular Communists, at Repubblica, Firenze 1999, p. 325–378; Filippo Fo‐ the start of the which placed the Resis‐ cardi, La guerra della memoria. La Resistenza nel tance itself on trial; the splitting of of Catholics dibattito politico italiano dal 1945 a oggi, - and actionists from the predominantly Commu‐ 2005. This also allows him to burst the myth nist National Association of Partisans of Italy of a Communist monopoly of the Resistance. (ANPI); and the ouster of the In the 1950s “the process of erasure of the Re‐ (PCI) from the government in 1947 with the accu‐ sistance legacy” (p. 39) is halted, however the Re‐ sation they were plotting an armed sistance is not yet “released from the cus‐ (“Plan K”). While the author lays to rest the idea tomshouse” (p. 81). For this we must wait until the that there ever was “a secret army of communist 1960s, the era analyzed in the fourth chapter. partisans” (p. 26) ready to take power, he does Here the author does not difer in opinion from recognize the strong tensions within the PCI that collected works on the period. The turning point resulted from friction between the strategy of par‐ here is the so-called “Tambroni Afair,” sparked ty leader who sought ofcial by the decision of Prime Minister Fernando Tam‐ recognition of the party by collaborating with the broni, a Christian Democrat, to allow the neo-fas‐ other antifascist forces and the persistence of rev‐ cist (MSI) to hold its na‐ olutionary ideas among the partisan base. This tional conference in , a stronghold of the latter tendency continues even after the end of . The choice led to massive the war, as evidenced by the killing of “class ene‐ demonstrations in the summer of 1960 against mies” that occurred mainly in the region of Emil‐ Tambroni. The subsequent fall of his government ia. paved the way for the (PSI) to enter The next two chapters are dedicated to the the ruling majority and solidifed the hegemonic periods running from 1948 to 1955 and from 1955 assertion of the Resistance culture as a second to 1960. It is an era which continues to be charac‐ Risorgimento and heroic war of liberation. The terized in the prevailing historiography as domi‐ Resistance thus enters the Pantheon of the nation. nated by “anti-antifascism” and the crisis of the Proof of this are the celebrations of the twentieth Resistance in the context of the political hegemo‐ anniversary of the Liberation in 1965, organized ny of the Christian Democrat Party (DC). See for by a committee that included representatives of example Giovanni De Luna / Marco Revelli, Fascis‐ the PCI and transmitted on TV for the frst time. mo/Antifascismo. Le Idee, le identitá, Firenze To challenge the ofcial canon of the Resis‐ 1995. The author highlights the vigor shown by tance, broadly refected in cinema and historiog‐ the anti-fascist culture and he rightly draws atten‐ raphy, are literary works such as “I Piccoli tion to two aspects: the efective mobilization of Maestri” by Luigi Meneghello Luigi Meneghello, I the actionist culture, under the leadership of Piccoli Maestri, Milano 1964. , with its ironic tone, , in defense of the Resistance and “Il Partigiano Johnny” by Beppe Fenoglio. and the rediscovery of the Resistance on the part Beppe Fenoglio, Il Partigiano Johnny, Torino 1968. of the thanks to political fgures In the second half of the Sixties, with the rise of and ex-Partisans such as , En‐ the student movement, it is primarily the Italian rico Mattei and , who was elect‐ youth who begin to condemn the patriotic recast‐ ed President of the Republic in 1955. Among those ing of the Resistance in ofcial ceremonies and in‐ who have supported a similar view as the author stead rediscover the movement’s revolutionary see: Cristina Cenci, Rituale e memoria. Le cele‐ and class origins. brazioni del 25 aprile in Le memorie della Repub‐

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The years 1970–1978, subject of the ffth chap‐ went to fght for Mussolini thinking they were ter, represent the period in which the anti-fascist preserving the “honor” of the nation. culture had its greatest infuence on society, as ev‐ The last two chapters deal with the period idenced by a peak in construction of monuments from the end of the First Republic to today. Anti- dedicated to the Resistance and in the difusion of communist criticism of the Resistance gains accel‐ partisan songs. At the same time, this era is eration, driven by the desire for political legitima‐ marked by heightened political competition cy of the New Right which rose to power in 1994 played out around the claim of a monopoly on the under the aegis of . Above all the memory of the Resistance: On the one hand there National Alliance (AN) – ’s party are the political parties, from DC to PCI, which formed from MSI in 1995 – called for “reconcilia‐ used the Resistance to defend government institu‐ tion” between the old rivals, placing both fascists tions threatened by terrorist challenges from both and anti-fascists on equal footing characterizing and the left and on the other hand is the both as acting with patriotic intentions. It is dur‐ “militant anti-” that promoted the idea of a ing this time that on television, in newspapers “betrayed Resistance” (given their revolutionary and in book stores rampant revisionist history aspirations were blocked) to radically challenge fnds inspiration in the works of Renzo De Felice these institutions. The author ofers an efective (although Cooke discusses De Felice only in pass‐ analysis of the attempt to appropriate the memo‐ ing) and the extraordinary success of the journal‐ ry of the Resistance by the young extra-parlia‐ ist Giampaolo Pansa, the “Dan Brown of Italian mentary left, some of whom then opted to contin‐ history” (p. 181). The anti-fascist front manifests ue the armed struggle in the image of the parti‐ two contradictory positions: one faction of the sans. PDS, with Massimo D’Alema and The sixth chapter, covering the years 1978– at the helm, accepts the demands of reconciliation 1989, traces the period between the election as and the revision of memory while another faction President of the Republic of the Socialist leader is instead mobilized to defend the Resistance. The Sandro Petrini – a prominent fgure of the old latter reaction is demonstrated by the “both an‐ anti-fascists; charismatic and pugnacious, in the tifascist and anti-Berlusconi” protest (p. 156) orga‐ front lines of the defense of the Resistance – and nized in on , , 1994, the transformation of the PCI into the Democratic and in the revival of Resistance songs, starting Party of the Left (PDS) as result of the fall of the with “Bella Ciao,” covered by bands like the Mode‐ Berlin Wall. The author links this transformation na City Ramblers. to repudiation of the past and the abandonment The last part of the book is marred by some of the Resistance by the party that had been its shortcomings on the part of the author, who most tenacious guardian – a conclusion I fnd doesn’t take into consideration the politics of much too drastic. More convincing is the assertion memory developed over the last decade resulted that the weakening of the Resistance legacy in the in new days commemorating World War II. Partic‐ is a result of the anti-communist campaign ularly surprising is the lack of any reference to of the Socialist Party led by set in a the fundamental work of , cultural context that is marked by the rediscovery President of the Republic, to revive the memory of of the theme of civil war and the memory of Salo. the Resistance. On the whole, however, the work This is demonstrated by the success of Carlo Maz‐ is very valuable, and its fnal appeal to Italian his‐ zantini’s book, “A Cercar La Bella Morte” Carlo torians to make the fruits of their labor more ac‐ Mazzantini, A cercar la bella morte, Venezia 1986. cessible to the general public should be embraced. , with its humanization of young fascists who

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Philip Cooke certainly proves that it can be done in quite an excellent manner.

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Citation: Filippo Focardi. Review of Cooke, Philip. The Legacy of the Italian Resistance. H-Soz-u-Kult, H- Net Reviews. March, 2013.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=38681

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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