The Sammarinese Fascist Party () or PFS was a

fascist 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 soci ...

political party that ruled

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

from 1923 to 1943.

History

The party was founded on 10 August 1922 and led by

Giuliano Gozi Giuliano Gozi (7 August 1894 – 18 January 1955) was San Marino Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Secretary for Foreign Affairs and ''de facto'' Sammarinese Fascist Party, Fascist leader of San Marino from 1918 until 1943. He also held the role of C ...

, a Sammarinese

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

veteran who volunteered in the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army () (RE) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree c ...

. The Sammarinese party was modelled directly on the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party (, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian fascism and as a reorganisation of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The party ruled the Kingdom of It ...

of the surrounding

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

. Gozi came from a distinguished family and held the posts of Secretary for Foreign Affairs (in San Marino, the foreign secretary leads the cabinet) and Secretary for the Interior; these two offices gave him control of the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

and

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

. From the beginning, the party used violence and intimidation against opponents such as the

Socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

. Its party newspaper was the ''Il Popolo Sammarinese'', modelled after the '' Il Popolo d'Italia''. In terms of policy and ideology, the party was not innovative and stuck closely to

Italian Fascism Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

. They pursued industrialization which turned a country of mostly farmers into one of factory workers. In April 1923, Gozi was elected as the first Fascist

Captain Regent Captains Regent (; ) are the two heads of state of the Republic of San Marino. They are elected every six months by the Grand and General Council, the country's legislative body. Normally the Regents are chosen from parties in coalition and s ...

. After the October elections, both Captains-Regent were Fascists and remained so in subsequent elections for the next two decades as all other political parties were banned in 1926 effectively making San Marino a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...

. However, independent politicians continued to form a majority in the

Grand and General Council The Grand and General Council (; ) is the unicameral parliament of San Marino. The council has 60 members elected for a five-year term. History From the fifth century San Marino was ruled by an assembly composed by all the family heads known ...

until 1932. In addition, the party was split between Gozi's faction and Ezio Balducci's faction, forcing them to look to the Italian party for guidance and mediation. In 1932, Balducci's faction started a rival newspaper, ''La Voce del Titano''. The next year he was accused of plotting a coup and arrested by Italian authorities after fleeing to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Balducci and other alleged conspirators were

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

d from the party and tried and sentenced to hard labour in 1934 by a special court, but the punishment was never carried out. In 1942, four years after Italy had enacted the Italian racial laws, Gozi issued Sammarinese racial law n.33, which prohibited interracial marriage, including between Jews and non-Jewish Sammarinese. By the end of 1942 Gozi ordered that all Jews of San Marino should be deported and jailed.

Electoral history

Grand and General Council elections

References

External links

* {{Authority control Political parties established in 1922 Fascist parties Defunct political parties in San Marino Parties of one-party systems Banned far-right parties Anti-communist parties 1922 establishments in San Marino San Marino in World War II Sammarinese nationalism