"The Manifesto of the Italian Fasces of Combat" (), also referred to as the Fascist Manifesto or the San Sepolcro Programme ("Programma di San Sepolcro") being the
political platform
A political party platform (American English), party program, or party manifesto (preferential term in British and often Commonwealth English) is a formal set of principal goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, t ...
developed from statements made during the founding of the ''
Fasci Italiani di Combattimento'', held in
Piazza San Sepolcro
The Piazza San Sepolcro () is a piazza in the center of Milan not far from the Piazza del Duomo.
During the Roman period the piazza was the forum at the intersection of the cardo and the decumanus. In 1030 the Church of San Sepolcro was foun ...
in Milan on March 23, 1919.
It was the initial declaration of the political stance of the ''Fasci Italiani di Combattimento'' ("Italian Fasces of Combat") the movement founded in
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
by
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
in 1919 and it is an early expression of
fascism
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
known as ''
sansepolcrismo''. The Manifesto was co-authored by
national syndicalist
National syndicalism is a socially far-right adaptation of syndicalism within the broader agenda of integral nationalism. National syndicalism developed in France in the early 20th century, and then spread to Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
F ...
Alceste de Ambris and the
futurist poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye de ...
.
Text
Contents of the Fascist Manifesto
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.
Politically, the Manifesto calls for:
*
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...
with a lowered voting age to 18 years, and voting and electoral office eligibility for all ages 25 and up;
*
Proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
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
The Senate of the Republic (), or simply the Senate ( ), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the lower house being the Chamber of Deputies. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform iden ...
(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
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...
;
* The participation of workers' representatives in the functions of industry commissions;
* To show the same confidence in the
labor unions
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
(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
This article lists the statutory retirement age in different countries. In some contexts, the retirement age is the age at which a person is expected or required to cease work. It is usually the age at which such a person may be entitled to recei ...
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."
The Manifesto in practice
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
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
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.
[Art. 1 comma 1 R.D.L. 15 marzo 1923 n. 692.]
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
The Lateran Treaty (; ) was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between Italy under Victor Emmanuel III and Benito Mussolini and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle the long-standing Roman question. The treaty and ass ...
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
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
.
See also
*
Definitions of fascism
*
Communist Manifesto
''The Communist Manifesto'' (), originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (), is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The t ...
* ''
Manifesto of Futurism
The ''Manifesto of Futurism'' ( Italian: ''Manifesto del Futurismo'') is a manifesto written by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, published in 1909. In it, Marinetti expresses an artistic philosophy called Futurism, which rejected the ...
''
*
Constitution of Fiume
* "
Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals"
* "
Manifesto of Race"
References
{{Fascism
1919 in Italy
1919 in politics
1919 documents
Italian fascist works
Political manifestos