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"The Manifesto of the Italian Fasces of Combat" (Italian: "Il manifesto dei fasci italiani di combattimento"), also referred to as the Fascist Manifesto or the San Sepolcro Programme ("Programma di San Sepolcro") being the political platform developed from statements made during the founding of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, held in Piazza San Sepolcro in Milan on March 23, 1919.[1]
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It was the initial declaration of the political stance of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento ("Italian Fasces of Combat")[2] the movement founded in Milan by Benito Mussolini in 1919 and it is an early expression of fascism known as sansepolcrismo. The Manifesto was co-authored by national syndicalist Alceste de Ambris and the futurist poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.
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Italians!
Here is the program of a sane Italian movement. Revolutionary because anti-dogmatic and anti-demagogical; strongly innovative because anti-prejudicial. We place the valorization of revolutionary war above everything and everyone. The other problems: bureaucratic, administrative, legal, educational, colonial, etc., we will chart when we have created the ruling class.
For this WE WANT:
For the political problem
Universal suffrage by regional list voting, with proportional representation, voting and eligibility for women. Minimum age for voters lowered to 18; minimum age for deputies lowered to 25. The abolition of the Senate. The convening of a National Assembly for the duration of three years, whose first task is to establish the form of the state constitution. The formation of National Technical Councils of labor, industry, transportation, social hygiene, communications, etc., elected by the professional or trade communities, with legislative powers, and the right to elect a General Commissioner with ministerial powers. For the social problem: WE WANT:
The prompt enactment of a state law enshrining the legal eight-hour workday for all jobs. Minimum wages. The participation of workers' representatives in the technical operation of industry. The entrusting to the proletarian organizations themselves (who are morally and technically worthy) of the management of public industries or services. The speedy and complete settlement of the railroad workers and all transportation industries. A necessary amendment of the Disability and Old Age Insurance Bill by lowering the age limit, currently proposed at 65, to 55. On the military issue:
WE WANT:
The establishment of a national militia with brief educational services and exclusively defensive duty. The nationalization of all arms and explosives factories. A national foreign policy intended to enhance, in the peaceful competitions of civilization, the Italian nation in the world. For the financial problem:
WE WANT:
A strong extraordinary tax on capital of a progressive nature, having the form of true PARTIAL EXPROPRIATION of all wealth. The seizure of all property of religious congregations and the abolition of all diocesan benefices, which constitute a huge liability for the nation and a privilege of the few.
The revision of all war supply contracts and the seizure of 85 percent of war profits.
— Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and Alceste de Ambris, Manifesto dei Fasci italiani di combattimento
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The Manifesto (published in Il Popolo d'Italia on June 6, 1919) is divided into four sections, describing the movement's objectives in political, social, military and financial fields.[3]
Politically, the Manifesto calls for:
- Universal suffrage with a lowered voting age to 18 years, and voting and electoral office eligibility for all ages 25 and up;
- Proportional representation on a regional basis;
- Voting for women;
- Representation at government level of newly created national councils by economic sector;
- The abolition of the Italian Senate (at the time, the Senate, as the upper house of parliament, was by process elected by the wealthier citizens, but were in reality direct appointments by the king. It has been described as a sort of extended council of the crown);
- The formation of a national council of experts for labor, for industry, for transportation, for the public health, for communications, etc. Selections to be made of professionals or of tradesmen with legislative powers, and elected directly to a general commission with ministerial powers.
In labor and social policy, the Manifesto calls for:
- The quick enactment of a law of the state that sanctions an eight-hour workday for all workers;
- A minimum wage;
- The participation of workers' representatives in the functions of industry commissions;
- To show the same confidence in the labor unions (that prove to be technically and morally worthy) as is given to industry executives or public servants;
- Reorganization of the railways and the public transport sector;
- Revision of the draft law on invalidity insurance;
- Reduction of the retirement age from 65 to 55.
In military affairs, the Manifesto advocates:
- Creation of a short-service national militia with specifically defensive responsibilities;
- Armaments factories are to be nationalized;
- A peaceful but competitive foreign policy.
In finance, the Manifesto advocates:
- A strong extraordinary tax on capital of a progressive nature, which takes the form of true partial expropriation of all wealth;
- The seizure of all the possessions of the religious congregations and the abolition of all diocesan benefices, which constitute an enormous liability on the Nation and on the privileges of the poor;
- Revision of all contracts for military provisions;
- The revision of all military contracts and the seizure of 85 percent of the profits therein.
These early positions reflected in the Manifesto would later be characterized by Mussolini in "The Doctrine of Fascism" as "a series of pointers, forecasts, hints which, when freed from the inevitable matrix of contingencies, were to develop in a few years time into a series of doctrinal positions entitling Fascism to rank as a political doctrine differing from all others, past or present."[4]
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Of the Manifesto's proposals, the commitment to corporative organisation of economic interests was to be the longest lasting. Far from becoming a medium of extended democracy, parliament became by law an exclusively Fascist-picked body in 1929; being replaced by the "chamber of corporations" a decade later.
Eight-hour workday was introduced in 1925.[5]
Fascism's pacifist foreign policy ceased during its first year of Italian government. In September 1923, the Corfu crisis demonstrated the regime's willingness to use force internationally. Perhaps the greatest success of Fascist diplomacy was the Lateran Treaty of February 1929, which accepted the principle of non-interference in the affairs of the Church. This ended the 59-year-old dispute between Italy and the Papacy.
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