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''Umanità Nova'' is an Italian anarchist newspaper founded in 1920. It was published daily until 1922 when it was shut down by the
fascist regime 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 ...
. In some places, its circulation exceeded that of the socialist paper ''
Avanti! ''Avanti!'' (; Italian interjection – 'come in!') is a 1972 comedy film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills. The screenplay by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond is based on Samuel A. Taylor's pla ...
'' Upon the fall of the regime in 1945, the publication began again, this time weekly. The paper continues today, and ''Umanità Nova'' is the mouthpiece of the
Italian Anarchist Federation The Italian Anarchist Federation () is an Italian anarchist federation of autonomous anarchist groups all over Italy. The Italian Anarchist Federation was founded in 1945 in Carrara. It adopted an "Associative Pact" and the "Anarchist Program" of Er ...
. Contributors to ''Umanità Nova'' include its founders,
Errico Malatesta Errico Malatesta (4 December 1853 – 22 July 1932) was an Italian anarchist propagandist, theorist and revolutionary socialist. He edited several radical newspapers and spent much of his life exiled and imprisoned, having been jailed and expel ...
and Antonio Cieri;
Camillo Berneri Camillo Berneri (; 1897–1937) was an Italian anarchist and anti-fascist activist. Born in Lodi, Berneri joined the Italian Socialist Party at an early age, but quickly became dissilusioned with its lack of militancy and failure to oppose I ...
, Armando Borghi, Carlo Frigerio and
Emilia Rensi Emilia Rensi (26 February 1901 – 23 April 1990) was an Italian philosopher, free thinker, writer and teacher. She wrote for anarchist and progressive magazines, such as Flavia Steno's ''La Chiosa'', ''Volontà'' (1960s), '' Umanità Nova'' (1960s ...
.


History


Early years

The paper was begun in 1909 by
Ettore Molinari Ettore Molinari (1867–1926) was an Italian chemist and anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, h ...
and
Nella Giacomelli Nella Giacomelli (1873–1949) was an Italian anarchist, teacher and journalist. Biography Nella Giacomelli was born on 2 July 1873, in the Lombard city of Lodi, the second of three children by Paolo and Maria Baggi. Her parents separated and ...
, who thought to turn the pamphlet " Human Protest" (La Protesta Umana) into a daily journal. During a national convention in 1911, the Rome Anarchist Communist Group proposed a national outlet to reach the movement outside the country, and in turn, reinforce it within Italy. In April 1919, a large gathering of Italian anarchists, both organizationalists and individualists, attended a national convention in Florence and agreed upon the need to close ranks and form a union together: the Italian Anarchist Communist Union. One of the main resolutions was to print a paper, and when Molinari and Giacomelli proposed it to be published as a national daily, they and Emilio Spinaci were given the responsibility of determining whether it was possible to accomplish the feat of getting all the anarchists together, and began gathering the funds. Nella Giacomelli gave the paper its present name, saying, Due to a blockade of the funds, delays in the post, and a decree placing a quota on paper, to the downfall of new journals, the publication was only possible thanks to an intervention by the workers of the lignite caves of Valdarno who supplied the energy for paper-mills, sending word that they would refuse to make any more deliveries until there was a guarantee to supply paper to ''Umanità Nova''. October 9, 1919, a notice was printed that the daily paper would be prepared, and funds began to arrive: about 200,000 lira were dedicated to bringing it to life. So, on February 26, 1920, the first issue of ''Umanità Nova'' was released, an evening edition of four pages, ten cents cover price. 9,000 copies of the first edition grew to 40,000 within a month and 50,000 in a heated moment, and if more weren't printed, it was only because of the lack of paper. Its cash pool exceeded a million lira. The enormous success reflected not only on the anarchist movement but on a vast segment of the left, which was now contiguous with the movement and would remain so for several months until the failure of the factory occupations, which happened to turn it away. The bold, political line the anarchists held in their struggle helped them grow in numbers and importance. If the Congress of Florence in 1919 had 145 in attendance in July 1920, the meeting in
Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
attracted about 700. In the syndicalist camp, the
Italian Syndicalist Union The Italian Syndicalist Union (; USI) is an Italian anarcho-syndicalist trade union. Established in 1912 by a confederation of " houses of labour", the USI led a series of general strikes throughout its early years, culminating with the Red W ...
(USI) went from 58,000 members by the end of 1919 to more than 180,000 in the first half of 1919 and 300,000 the following year. Among the Confederation, the anarchists succeeded in taking the key administrative reformists such as the FIOM of
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, with
Pietro Ferrero Pietro Ferrero (; 2 September 1898 – 2 March 1949) was the founder of Ferrero SpA, an Italian confectionery and chocolatier company. His company invented Nutella, a hazelnut-cream spread, which is now sold in over 160 countries. His company ( ...
and
Maurizio Garino Maurizio is an Italian masculine given name, derived from the Roman name Mauritius. Mauritius is a derivative of Maurus, meaning ''dark-skinned, Moorish''. List of people with the given name Maurizio Art and music * Maurizio Arcieri (born 1945), ...
. It was a magical moment for Italian anarchism, to which the daily contributed more than a bit. Furthermore, this great efficacy was shown in the course of the imposing "factory occupation" movement among the workers. Just scroll through the newspaper pages in September 1920 to get an idea of how active anarchists were in the occupied factories and workshops managed by their workers. Repression was not long in coming. In October, almost the entire editorship of "Umanità Nova" was arrested, in the hundreds of arrests and searches carried out all across Italy, against anarchists and revolutionary syndicalists. Immediately following that, the USI was beheaded by the arrest of the entire General Council. However, the police could not figure out how the newspaper was still issued every day, with its editors in jail. The dragnet had not captured Gigi Damiani, who contacted individuals who had gone underground and avoided the wave of repression, and who had created a network which allowed it to move continuously. The newspaper was compiled this way, eventually reaching
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 ...
, where it was published regularly.


Censorship, harassment, and closure

On February 29, 1920, there was a rally in Milan, in the Porta Romana school gym, organized by the Proletarian League of injured and disabled veterans. Leftists and trade unionists took part, including the anarchist Errico Malatesta, and Pasquale Binazzi and Armando Borghi's
Italian Syndicalist Union The Italian Syndicalist Union (; USI) is an Italian anarcho-syndicalist trade union. Established in 1912 by a confederation of " houses of labour", the USI led a series of general strikes throughout its early years, culminating with the Red W ...
(USI). The peaceful demonstration turned out to be tragic anticipation of the fascist attack squads in the two years which followed. Protesters were repeatedly charged by the police, who fired on a train carrying demonstrators and killed two, wounding five others. With fascists supporting the ordinary police forces, the number of leaders in the anarchist movement shrank from 28 in 1921 to 3 in 1926. The history of ''Umanità Nova'' — its daily publication in Milan interrupted by the
Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), ...
event, moving to Rome where it became weekly and irregular until its final closure in 1922 — is thoroughly documented in a special dossier of the Directorate-General of Public Security. It began as an ambitious publishing accomplishment led by Malatesta, having a hugely successful subscription drive leading up to its first issue (135,000 lira of "funds collected in the Kingdom" by January 1920). Copies reserved in advance (6 lira for 100 copies), then the promotion, lotteries and house parties, and the establishment of "Committees for Umanità Nova" everywhere. The final act came when the police headquarters in Rome filed a complaint against twenty former editors, correspondents, and members of the board of directors of ''Umanità Nova''. A large pile of correspondence, pamphlets, and propaganda was seized. The newspaper's assets are taken: 5,700 lira, 300 marks, 20,000 crowns, and a checking account at
Credito Italiano ''Credito Italiano'', often referred to by the shorthand Credit, was a significant Italian bank based in Milan. It was established in 1895, succeeding the ''Banca di Genova'' established in 1870 in Genoa. In 1998 it merged with Unicredito to form ...
with 71,328 lira available, plus all their records. A similar situation took place in
La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...
, where the
Blackshirts The Voluntary Militia for National Security (, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts (, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the National Fascist Party, known as the Squadrismo, and after 1923 an all-vo ...
had destroyed the printing press and burned the offices of '' Il Libertario'', and with '' L'Avvenire Anarchico'' in
Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...
. On October 28, 1922, the king
Vittorio Emanuele III Victor Emmanuel III (; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. A member of the House of Savoy, he also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941 and King of the Albania ...
entrusted
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 ...
with the "task of forming a new government." ''Umanità Nova'' has this to say about his decision to give power to the executive head of the blackshirts: ''Umanità Nova'' also places responsibility on the socialists for helping the fascists' political ascent: Immediately following the fascist occupation of Rome, on October 30, 1922, the offices on Via Santa Croce in Milan were invaded and destroyed. After three weeks of forced silence, on November 22, they found a printer willing to publish the paper. While the devastating fury of the blackshirts raged, issue number 196 of ''Umanità Nova'' was released. It would be the last.


New beginnings, abroad

The Italian experiment ended by force, ''Umanità Nova'' was reborn in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, the US, between 1924 and 1925. Eighteen issues were published under the new editor Maris Baldini, a publicist. There are passionate articles about the fight against fascism and the campaign to free
Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrants and anarchists who were controversially convicted of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parm ...
. Many interventions and analyses appeared on the Italian situation and the role of anarchists in this phase: some important and interesting writings by Camillo da Lodi (a pseudonym of Camillo Berneri), A. Borghi, Luigi Fabbri, and others. The American edition of the journal immediately found a large following among exile communities, and the first issues sold out completely. Two special issues of ''Umanità Nova'' were published in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
in 1930 and 1932. From October 20, 1932, to April 15, 1933, ten issues were published from
Puteaux Puteaux () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine department, from the centre of Paris. La Défense, Paris's business district hosting the tallest buildings in the metropolitan ...
: Camillo Berneri and Antonio Cieri, and several free exiles, are the architects of the journal's rebirth as a biweekly. Its trajectory is a history of repression by French authorities. The international scope of ''Umanità Nova'' reaches Russia and Spain in particular; in its new social environment, the paper entered a new phase; its authors desired that it become a paper with international horizons, opening a window onto workers' struggles in each country. The first months of 1933 are full of events of international importance. In January, there was an anarchist uprising in Spain, which ended in the arrest, torture, and assassination of rebels in the
Iberian Anarchist Federation The Iberian Anarchist Federation (, FAI) is a Spanish anarchist organization. Due to its close relation with the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) anarcho-syndicalist union, it is often abbreviated as CNT-FAI. The FAI publishes the pe ...
, and Germany, Hitler came to power, resulting in censorship of the press, restriction of the freedom of association, and repression of the Nazi's opponents. At this moment of critical social importance to the exiles, France ordered ''Umanità Nova'' to be shut down again. Only three issues of ''La Protesta'' exist. The last is dated March 28, 1933. The newspaper appeared again, illegally, in Italy in 1943, fulfilling the dream of Camillo Berneri.


World War II and Resistance

After ten years of forced silence, ''Umanità Nova'' was published by the underground once again, under the title "Risorgiamo" (Resurrection), on September 10, 1943. Between September 1943 and October 1944, articles were written not simple with only the intention of forming solidarity with oppressed subjects, but with the political purpose of urging a fight against fascism. The warning to "concede nothing" in the
partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...
fight came from this open letter to women, almost a political manifesto: Reestablishment of political parties, demonstrations, and freedom of the press continued to be banned and repressed. The mood engendered by these circumstances and the growing demands of workers returning from the war, in the great strikes that had closed factories in
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
from August 17–20, 1943, just before the city successfully resisted the Nazi occupation, can be read in anti-fascist papers, from the communist ''
l'Unità (; English: "the Unity") is an Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, Democrats of the Left, a ...
'' to the socialist ''
Avanti! ''Avanti!'' (; Italian interjection – 'come in!') is a 1972 comedy film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills. The screenplay by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond is based on Samuel A. Taylor's pla ...
'', from the actionist '' L'Italia libera'' to the anarchist ''Umanità Nova''.Schirone, p. 249 Additional concrete suggestions and analysis appears in the article "Fascists and Nazis at work," interesting because it turns the favorite formula of treason used by Nazi propaganda on its head: After the collapse of Fascism in July 1943, and the
Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...
that September, the
Italian Anarchist Federation The Italian Anarchist Federation () is an Italian anarchist federation of autonomous anarchist groups all over Italy. The Italian Anarchist Federation was founded in 1945 in Carrara. It adopted an "Associative Pact" and the "Anarchist Program" of Er ...
(FAI) took over management and publication of the paper. It took on many of the characteristics of that group's
libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...
philosophy: internal organization is not absolute and rigid, but is shaped by the mandates of a congress, who also establish the editorial motifs; an extensive network of frequent collaborators is recognized, any of its readers can have an exchange with the paper, with the effect that very occasional collaborators publish a substantial number of articles; there is absolute freedom to choose the topic to be covered; distribution is left largely to the talents of militants. The circulation data is interesting, although quite difficult to reconstruct. The paper's spread was closely related to the native anarchist movement in each area and the different phases of the evolving Italian political and social situation. With some guesswork, we see that circulation rose from 13,000 in 1944, to an average of 15–16,000 copies per issue, up to a peak of 18,000, reached in 1946, then gradually decreasing to 10,000-10,500 copies in the early 1950s. Approximately 60% of revenue was from direct sales, while subscriptions accounted for at most 15%. The range of its greatest distribution was historically more consolidated:
Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...
,
Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...
, and
Emilia-Romagna Emilia-Romagna (, , both , ; or ; ) is an Regions of Italy, administrative region of northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia (region), Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of , and a population of 4.4 m ...
.


Present

A congress of the FAI currently appoints the editorship and management, and its members rotate every three years unless there are exceptional circumstances. The rotation of offices, used for every post in the FAI, helps prevent any power concentration. ''Umanità Nova'' is printed weekly at a shop in self-managed Carrara and distributed throughout Italy, among anarchist groups and headquarters, libraries, community centers, newsstands, and bookstores abroad. A complete list of outlets can be found on the magazine's website. It is also distributed in pdf format. The newspaper is a weekly issue and publishes around 35 issues per year. Its articles cover the themes of workers' struggles, antimilitarism, feminism, social-ecologism, antispecism, and internationalism. Umanità Nova also publishes translations from foreign anarchist websites and newspapers, most notably from Le Monde Libertaire (France), LibCom.org, CrimethInc.com, Tierra y Libertad (Spain), and Meydan (Turkey). On the occasion of international anarchist and anarcho-sindacalists meetings and congress, the newspaper covers the events with long-form articles and interviews of members of other organizations. It hosts thematic debates developed in several issues about the political and more theoretical question. In the Italian anarchist milieu, the editorial board is known for its hardcore scientific, classist, internationalist, and anti-primitivist views, which lead to several polemics with "anarcho"-primitivist and "post-anarchist" groups and individuals.


See also

*
Anarchism in Italy Italian anarchism as a movement began primarily from the influence of Mikhail Bakunin, Giuseppe Fanelli, Carlo Cafiero, and Errico Malatesta. Rooted in collectivist anarchism and social or socialist anarchism, it expanded to include illegali ...
*
Arditi del Popolo The ''Arditi del Popolo'' () was an Italian militant anti-fascist group founded at the end of June 1921 to resist the rise of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party and the violence of the Blackshirts (''squadristi'') paramilitaries.


References

* Leonardo Bettini, 1976 "Bibliografia dell'anarchismo" (Bibliography of anarchism), Crescita Politica Editrice: Florence * Franco Schirone, 2010 "Cronache Anarchiche" (Chronicles of Anarchism), Milan: Zero In Condotta


Notes


External links


Official site
*
Italian Anarchist Federation The Italian Anarchist Federation () is an Italian anarchist federation of autonomous anarchist groups all over Italy. The Italian Anarchist Federation was founded in 1945 in Carrara. It adopted an "Associative Pact" and the "Anarchist Program" of Er ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Umanita Nova 1920 establishments in Italy Newspapers established in 1920 Anarchist newspapers Italian-language newspapers Weekly newspapers published in Italy Anarchism in Italy Anarchist periodicals