PSI Cremona centenary of the death of Giacomo Matteotti
Giacomo Matteotti and his ideal legacy, a heritage yet to be discovered or rediscovered. On Sunday 5 May, in a crowded Zanoni room, the Honorable Federico Fornero, author of the volume “Giacomo Matteotti, the best Italy”, retraced the human and political story of Matteotti, a story so present in the documents and testimonies, but elusive, almost crushed by the tragic epilogue of the socialist politician, murdered by fascist assassins on 10 June 1924. Fornaro, who accepted the invitation of the Cremonese Socialist Party, led by Diego Rufo, solicited by the questions of Daniele Rescaglio and the journalist from Il Piccolo di Cremona, Federico Pani, introduced his speech by underlining how the politician Matteotti, yesterday as today, still causes a certain annoyance.
Matteotti came from a wealthy family, distant from the farmers of that Polesine, one of the tragically poorest areas of Italy between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, for which he spent himself in many battles for social justice, presenting right from the start, an even current systemic vision of the economy and welfare. And it is here that Fornaro then recalled how the ideal story and the action on the field are the most forgotten part of Giacomo Matteotti activist, local politician, mayor, president of the province and also deeply committed to the defense and relaunching of the rights of those forgotten farmers. His approach was not maximalist, but rather more programmatic, understood as an objective of immediate and immediate improvement in the living conditions of a part of society considered lost. Daniele Rescaglio at the beginning, presenting the volume, recalled the figure of Attilio Boldori, a Cremonese politician killed by fascists in 1921.
Starting from here the discussion then moved on to the political response of the socialists in the aftermath of the news and, of the tragic doubt later confirmed, of Matteotti’s murder at the hands of the fascists. Fornaro underlined that the political choices of the time must be placed precisely in the history of those days and that period. So the Aventine was not a wrong choice, they acted in the wake of parliamentary dynamics, in reality, as Fornaro underlined, it was King Vittorio Emanuele III who turned the other way. And then the network of connivances with fascism, especially at the level of those positions who should have stopped, with the law in hand, the onset of fascist violence.
But what was scary about Matteotti? The denunciation of electoral fraud certainly placed Matteotti in a situation of great conflict with the regime, but in the parliamentary and political life of the time what was frightening was his practice with numbers, the economy, the accounts: arguments capable of crumbling any false rhetoric. Furthermore, Matteotti went around the European capitals to deny the regime’s rhetoric, to tell very different truths than those advocated by fascism. And then the planning of the murder: urged by Federico Pani, Fornaro recalled that there is no definitive proof that the Duce was the instigator. However, an envelope that Matteotti had in his hand when he left the house on June 10th is missing.
Various documents lead one to believe that the murder was planned, and should even have taken place on a train headed to Austria. But then Matteotti gave up that trip, and in this case another plan came into being…
The meeting saw the intervention of Andrea Virgilio, candidate for mayor for the centre-left, who underlined the importance and relevance of Matteotti’s message, a value that is still important in today’s politics.
The daughter of the sculptor Mario Coppetti, Silvia Coppetti, has read some memoirs of her father, who was eleven years old in 1924, in which she remembers those days in June in which the rumor of Matteotti’s death spread. Closing the conference was the regional secretary of the Socialist Party Lorenzo Cinquepalmi.
Cremona 8/05/24
Psi Cremona
Section Mario Coppetti
