Resistance is not Futile
Emanuela Romeo (she/her) is a final year PhD student in History at the University of Strathclyde, and she is funded by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities. Her research project, entitled ‘The ‘Difficult’ Resistance in Piedmont: Conflict and Co-operation between Partisans in the Province of Turin’, investigates the complex relations existing between the Piedmontese partisan formations during the years 1943-1945.
Emanuela is aware that the Italian Resistance can be an unfamiliar topic to a Scottish audience. Therefore, her research showcase aims to introduce the public to this dramatic but fascinating period of the Italian history. Paraphrasing the famous motto of the Borg in the Star Trek TV series, she wishes to show why ‘Resistance is not futile’.
Clearly, Resistance was not futile for the partisans who fought against the Fascists, and the German occupiers. Likewise, she believes it is not futile to study their hopes and expectations, the challenges they had to face on a day-to-day basis as well as the mistakes they made.
The showcase will focus on the reasons that spurred many Italian people to join the Resistance. Thanks to a thorough study of a series of documents written by the partisans themselves during the war period, it is now possible to have a better understanding of their thoughts, ideas and ideals as well as of their feelings, expectations and beliefs.
Through her research showcase, which will also display pictures of a variety of original documents produced by the partisans themselves, Emanuela hopes to give the audience an insight of what it meant to be a partisan in Italy during the Second World War. Finally, she wishes that the showcase can encourage reflection on the forms of Resistance of our time.
Resistance is Not Futile
Who actually were the Italian partisans and what did they fight for?
During the years 1943-45, a not insignificant number of people chose to join the Italian Resistance. What did they want to achieve?
They aimed to liberate the country from the German occupiers and the Fascists, but many of them also fought for a new and better world. However, the partisan journey was anything but straightforward.
It is known that the relations between the partisan formations (which belonged to different political parties) were often difficult, sometimes even conflictual. Apologetic and superficial reconstructions of the partisan struggle, which depict the partisans as heroes, not only are misleading but can also favour a widespread attack on the legitimacy of the Resistance and its values.
Partisans expressed and defended important values such as freedom, democracy and social justice. However, they were far from being perfect. Studying their hopes and expectations, the challenges they had to face on a day-to-day basis as well as the mistakes they made, is fundamental to understand who they actually were.
Paraphrasing the famous motto of the Borg in the Star Trek TV series, Emanuela believes that ‘Resistance is not futile’. Resistance was not futile for the Italian partisans in 1943-45, and it is not futile for us to study, and reflect on what it means to be a partisan.
Exploring Partisan Communication
During her PhD, Emanuela had the opportunity to explore several archival collections and study many documents written by the partisans themselves during the war period. From the first moment, she was impressed by the large quantity and diversity of the papers they produced.
These important documents are now kept in different Italian Archives. For instance, the Archive of the Resistance movement in Turin keeps thousands of partisan papers which are organised and divided in large folders. Within those folders, it is possible to find not only the letters the partisans exchanged, but also detailed internal reports and circulars, leaflets, even lyrics and poems. This Archive also keeps a valuable collection of journals issued by the partisan formations. It is a real and almost unexplored treasure.
This rich and valuable material is extremely important because it clearly shows the ups and downs, the internal struggles and also the contradictions of the partisan movement. Furthermore, it proved to be particularly useful to understand how the partisan formations interacted with each other on a day-to- day basis and negotiated their relationships at ground level. In other words, how they communicated.
Partisans not only communicated in order to solve practical matters, settle internal disputes or convince local people to support their struggle. They also needed to express their feelings, motivations, ideas and ideals. Therefore, they often wrote down their thoughts on a piece of paper. These writings are extremely interesting, in particular because they reveal what the rank and file partisans thought and fought for.
Partisan Poems
In addition to their prose works, partisans also produced a fair number of poems. The majority of their poems dealt with the difficulties and dangers of partisan life, describing acts of war, battles and atrocities committed by fascist and German soldiers. In their verses, the cruelty of war is always present, as well as the sorrow and anger for the loss of their comrades, slaughtered by the enemy. In the Archive of the Resistance movement of Turin there is also a version of one of the most popular partisan songs, ‘The Wind Whistles’.
Scarpe Rotte
Interestingly, one of the partisan journals of the province of Turin was named after a verse of this famous song. The journal, called Scarpe Rotte (Broken Shoes), was issued by the 11th Garibaldi Brigade, which was stationed in the Lanzo Valleys (province of Turin). The articles published in Scarpe Rotte aimed to spur the partisans to do their best and follow the example of the bravest among their comrades.
However, even though many of the articles described the challenges the partisans had to face, their tone was less dramatic compared to the one used in the poems. For instance, many articles depicted the partisans in their moments of relaxation, others made ironic remarks about the food quality or the lack of personal hygiene shown by some comrades.
Why am I a Partisan?
On the 18th of November 1944, the editors of Scarpe Rotte launched a prize contest for the best article on the topic: ‘Why am I a partisan?’. Through this initiative they hoped to involve more partisans in the activities of the journal. The best article would be published in the next issue of Scarpe Rotte and its author would receive a prize of 500 lire.
Thanks to a private collection, it is possible to read not only the article which won the prize, but also the other essays. This collection of drafts is extremely useful in order to understand what the rank and file partisans thought.
According to the authors of these articles, fighting against Fascism was also a way to fight the capitalists who had supported it. They joined the Resistance not only to free the country from the Germans and the Fascists, but also to build a better world. A world characterised by peace, freedom and social justice, in which the working class was no longer exploited by capitalists.
CONNECT WITH EMANUELA
E-mail: emanuela.romeo@strath.ac.uk