Remembering the Anarchist Resistance to fascism
by Andrew Flood
On February 3rd 1931, Italian police arrested Michael
Schirru in a hotel room in Rome. He was Italian by
birth but had become a US citizen. He had returned to
Italy with one purpose, to kill Mussolini. Schirru
was just one of many anarchists in the pre-war years
who put their lives on the line in the fight against
fascism.
Schirru's 'trial' took place on May 28th. The judge
was Cristini, a young fascist cut-throat raised to
the highest ranks in the hierarchy. No jury. A
contemporary account of the trial in a US anarchist
paper described how "Schirru conducted himself with
great dignity during his trial - which, under the
circumstances could hardly be called a trial. He
repeated his former declaration of intention to kill
Mussolini and gave his reasons". The Tribunal
sentenced Schirru to be shot in the back.
"At 2:30 o'clock, the next morning, he was awakened
from his sleep and told that his execution would take
place at sunrise. He asked permission to write his
last words to his dear ones; declined the assistance
of the priest and then was taken to the Braschi
fortress, on the outskirts of Rome, where he was
executed - only eight and a half hours after sentence
had been passed - by a firing squad of twenty-four
fascist militiamen".
Individual acts like these were just the tip of
anarchist organisation against fascism. In this
period every western government saw fascism as a
useful bulwark against 'communism'. From the early
1920's Italian anarchists had physically fought the
fascists (see Workers Solidarity no.51) and even
after World War II anarchists were being jailed for
fighting the fascist Italian state in that period.
German resistance
In Germany the anarchist- syndicalist FAUD (Free
Union of German Workers) had decided in 1932 to go
underground once Hitler came to power and to work
towards a general strike. This proved impossible, the
FAUD was far too small to do so on its own and of
course once Hitler came to power its numbers were
further decimated as many members were either
arrested or forced to flee into exile. However with
the help of Dutch anarchists they did succeed in
setting up a FAUD secretariat in exile in Amsterdam.
Inside Germany FAUD members like labourer Franz
Bunget and unemployed steelworker Julius Nolden
attempted to continue operating underground. Both
were to be arrested by the Gestapo. However with
others they succeeded in getting an underground
network going that smuggled people out of Germany and
smuggled anti-Nazi pamphlets in, often with strange
titles to mislead the fascist authorities.
Court records show that one pamphlet went under the
title of 'Eat German fruit and stay healthy' and
became "so popular among miners that they used to
greet each other with: 'Have you eaten German fruit
as well?'" The outbreak of the Spanish Revolution in
1936 saw an underground network that raised money for
the Spanish anarchists and their fight against
fascism and recruited technicians to go to Spain and
provide needed expertise.
In December of 1936 however the Gestapo managed to
discover the first of these groups and in raids then
and in 1937 arrested 89 male and female members of
this anarchist underground. In early 1938 these
comrades were charged with "preparing acts of high
treason". All but six were convicted.
Julius Nolden was 'lucky' and spent the next 8 years
in Luttringhausen prison until the arrival of the
'allies' in April of 1945. Others were not so 'lucky'
and were murdered in prison. Lathe operator, Emil
Mahnert was thrown out of a window, bricklayer,
Wilhelm Schmitz, died in "unexplained circumstances",
Ernst Holtznagel was sent to a military punishment
battalion where he died, Michael Delissen was beaten
to death by the Gestapo in December 1936 and Anton
Rosinke was murdered in February 1937.
The history of the anarchist resistance to fascism is
something we are never told about in mainstream or
even left histories. The victors over fascism wrote
the 'history' of anti-fascism after W.W.II. They gave
prominent place to the aristocratic German officers
who failed to kill Hitler late in the war but ignored
the ordinary workers who struggled in the 1920's and
1930's when the western governments saw Hitler as an
ally. The account here is but a snippet, based on the
valuable work done by the 'Kate Sharpley Library' in
recovering, translating and publishing this history.
After the war in August 1946, Ernst Binder wrote:
"Since mass resistance was not feasible in 1933, the
finest members of the movement had to squander their
energy in a hopeless guerrilla campaign. But if
workers will draw from that painful experiment the
lesson that only a united defence at the proper time
is effective in the struggle against fascism, their
sacrifices will not have been in vain."
Andrew Flood
The Kate Sharpley Library can be contacted at BM
Hurricane, London WC1N 3XX, England. They publish
several pamphlets and a regular bulletin of
'recovered history', as well as maintaining an
extensive anarchist archive.
--
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