DISTANT LOYALTIES: WORLD WAR I and the ITALIAN SOUTH ATLANTIC by John Starosta Galante BS in Economics, Tufts University, 2000 M
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DISTANT LOYALTIES: WORLD WAR I AND THE ITALIAN SOUTH ATLANTIC by John Starosta Galante BS in Economics, Tufts University, 2000 MA in International Affairs, Columbia University, 2008 MA in History, University of Pittsburgh, 2012 Submitted to the Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in History University of Pittsburgh 2016 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by John Starosta Galante It was defended on June 3, 2016 and approved by Diego Holstein, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of History Lina Insana, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of French and Italian Lara Putnam, PhD, Professor, Department of History Dissertation Director: George Reid Andrews, Distinguished Professor, Department of History ii Copyright © John Starosta Galante 2016 iii DISTANT LOYALTIES: WORLD WAR I AND THE ITALIAN SOUTH ATLANTIC John Starosta Galante, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2016 This dissertation focuses on the impacts of World War I on Italian immigrant communities in the metropolitan areas of Buenos Aires, Montevideo and São Paulo. It uses the period of the war, and the diverse responses to the conflict by immigrants and their institutions of civil society, to highlight patterns of social cohesion and division within Italian overseas communities. It centers its analysis on a pro-war immigrant mobilization influenced by Italian nationalism and an anti-war movement shaped by working-class ideologies that emphasized Internationalism. It therefore considers the tangible connections and sentimental relationships that existed between Italian immigrants in South America and political and intellectual leaders in Italy, a nation-state that existed only from the mid- nineteenth century. Moreover, through its study of three immigrant communities, this dissertation reviews interactions and comparisons among those communities as they related to the pro- and anti-war efforts. It uses the transformative period of World War I to trace and track patterns of interaction and “distant loyalties” in an area it refers to as the Italian South Atlantic. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………………………………………vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………………………………….ix 1.0 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………………………………..1 1.1 THE PARENTHESES OF WAR……………………………………………………………………..4 1.2 IMMIGRANTS IN CONTEXT: A NATIONAL TWIST ON THE “SYSTEMS APPROACH”…………………………………………………………………………………………….7 1.3 CROSS-BORDER EXCHANGE WITHIN MIGRATION NETWORKS………………..16 1.4 “GLOBAL” WORLD WAR AND THE ITALIAN SOUTH ATLANTIC…………………23 1.5 RECONSTRUCTING A NETWORK…………………………………………………………….27 2.0 MOBILIZING DIASPORA……………………………………………………………………………………..32 2.1 COLONIALISMO ALL’ITALIANO: ITALY AND ITS EMIGRANT “COLONIES” IN THE RUN UP TO WORLD WAR………………………………………………………………..35 2.2 LA MOBILITAZIONE ALL’ESTERO: THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT’S EMIGRANT RECRUITMENT DRIVE…………………………………………………………………………….50 2.3 COSÌ LONTANO: EMIGRANT ACTIONS DURING THE WAR (A VIEW FROM ITALY)………………………………………………………………………………………………......61 2.4 UN’ITALIA PIÙ GRANDE: THE “TRIGGER” OF ITALY’S WAR……………………..70 3.0 THE HOME FRONT IN IL PLATA………………………………………………………………………….72 3.1 IL DOVERE DI TUTTI: RECRUITMENT IN BUENOS AIRES AND MONTEVIDEO……………………………………………………………………………………….74 3.2 LA NOSTRA GUERRA: ITALIAN-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPERS DURING THE WAR……………………………………………………………………………………………………..80 v 3.3 L’ANIMA PATTRIOTICA: MOBILIZING THE HOME FRONT…………………………88 3.4 DAL CAPORETTO AL VITTORIO VENETO: THE IMMIGRANT MOBILIZATION IN CRISIS AND VICTORY..............................................................................99 3.5 UNA MOBILITAZIONE ITALO-PLATENSE………………………………………………..107 4.0 THE ‘GREAT WAR’ IN SÃO PAULO…………………………………………………………………….109 4.1 DOVE CI SONO UN MILIONE DI ITALIANI: THE MOBILIZATION IN GREATER SÃO PAULO..............................................................................................112 4.2 NELLA TERRA DI CAFFÈ: IMMIGRANT CIVIL SOCIETY IN “SAN PAOLO”.....125 4.3 LA MINACCIA TEDESCA: IMMIGRANTS, ETHNICITY AND WAR.................133 4.4 GL’ITALIANI IN AMERICA MERIDIONALE: TRANSATLANTIC AND INTER- AMERICAN NETWORKS........................................................................... 141 4.5 MOBILIZATION IN THE ITALIAN SOUTH ATLANTIC…………………………………155 5.0 WAR’S ANTAGONISTS IN ATLANTIC SOUTH AMERICA………………………………………158 5.1 ABAIXO A GUERRA!; ¡ABAJO LA GUERRA!; ABBASSO LA GUERRA!: THE ANTI-WAR MILIEU...................................................................................161 5.2 “NON DATE NIENTE!”: ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS AGAINST THE WAR EFFORT………………………………………………………………………………………………..171 5.3 LAVORATORI DI TUTTI I PAESI: THE TRANSNATIONAL STRUGGLE AGAINST THE WAR……………………………………………………………………………………………..183 5.4 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………………… 193 6.0 CONCLUSION: DISTANT LOYALTIES………………………………………………………………….196 6.1 LA SMOBILITAZZIONE POSTGUERRA: A GLANCE AT THE IMMEDIATE POST- WAR PERIOD……………………………………………………………………………………….196 6.2 LESSONS FROM THE PARENTHESES OF WAR………………………………………..204 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………………………………………210 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Chapter Outline……………………………………………………………………………………………..28 Figure 2: “The Italian school of Padri Salesiani in Cordoba”…………………………………………..39 Figure 3: “The handling of coffee in the farmyard”……………………………………………………….44 Figure 4: “The Italian church on the ‘fazenda’ of Saint Gertrude”…………………………………44 Figure 5: Conscription Order from the Ministry of War Dated January 25, 1916…………..57 Figure 6: “Italian reservists lodged at the ex-‘Italian Hospital’”…………………………………….76 Figure 7: “The crowd” seeing off the Mafalda………………………………………………………………78 Figure 8: “While the Regina Elena sets sail”………………………………………………………………….78 Figure 9: “The patriotic enthusiasm of our richiamati”………………………………………………….85 Figure 10: “Group of gracious saleswomen during the ‘Event’ of October 1915”………….92 Figure 11: “Win or Die!”....................................................................................................94 Figure 12: Program of the Serata a beneficio della Croce Rossa Italiana e famiglie richiamati..........................................................................................................96 Figure 13: Instructions for How to Make a Scaldarancio……………………………………………….98 Figure 14: Advertisement for the Purchase of War Bonds……………………………………………102 Figure 15: A Collection of Red Cross Donations…………………………………………………………..104 Figure 16: “Reception of the Luciani Mission in Montevideo”…………………………………….107 Figure 17: “The distribution of the boarding tickets to the reservists departing on the ‘Regina Elena’”……………………………………………………………………………………………110 Figure 18: Immigrant Mobilization around the World…………………………………………………115 Figure 19: “Our reservists”………………………………………………………………………………………….117 Figure 20: “The alpine lookout”…………………………………………………………………………………..120 Figure 21: “The paolistani reservists at the front”……………………………………………………….123 Figure 22: “The fallen on the field of glory”………………………………………………………………..124 Figure 23: “Comitato Femminile Pro-Patria, São Paolo”.................................................127 Figure 24: Italian Red Cross Propaganda……………………………………………………………………..128 Figure 25: Matarazzo Company War Bond Advertisement………………………………………….130 Figure 26: “The death of a reservist from S. Paulo”……………………………………………………..132 Figure 27: “The demonstration for Fanfulla and the italian colony”…………………………….137 Figure 28: “Changes in temperature”………………………………………………………………………….138 Figure 29: Propaganda for Vito Luciani’s Visit to São Paulo……………………………..............147 Figure 30: “Our reservists on board the Tomasso di Savoia”……………………………………….150 Figure 31: “Before; After”…………………………………………………………………………………………...164 Figure 32: “The ghosts of the rubble”………………………………………………………………………….165 Figure 33: “Today’s great rally against the war”………………………………………………………….169 vii Figure 34: Spanish, Italian and Portuguese Books Available from Guerra Sociale………..170 Figure 35: “Italy” Seeking to Stir the Italian “Colony” of São Paulo……………………………..172 Figure 36: A Tribute to Gaetano Bresci...........................................................................174 Figure 37: “For a monument to the philanthropist”……………………………………………………180 Figure 38: “Superfluous commemorations and practical commemorations”………………181 Figure 39: “Workers!”…………………………………………………………………………………………………188 Figure 40: “Meditation”……………………………………………………………………………………………...194 Figure 41: “Arrival of Tomaso di Savoia; Triumphant return of the victorious veterans”.......................................................................................................197 Figure 42: Plaque Sent by “Italo-Argentines” to Queen Elena of Italy………………………….199 Figure 43: “The first seaplane in Buenos Aires; Yesterday’s test-flights in San Fernando”………………………………………………………………………………………............200 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The preparation, research, writing and revisions for this project required assistance from many institutions and individuals. I feel incredibly fortunate to have received training in historical research and analysis from the faculty in History Department at the University of Pittsburgh. Professors Alejandro de la Fuente, Pinar Emiralioglu, Irina Livezeanu and Patrick Manning were particularly helpful as I worked to find my footing in the discipline. Graduate student colleagues Jesse Horst, Tasha Kimball, Kelly Urban and others provided important advice and comradery throughout this experience. The administrative