The field of politics has always served as a great example when discussing how fearful actions could launch similarly fearful reactions. The last century's far-right or fascist regimes are especially telling examples. Nowadays, it is commonly accepted to avoid as well as to neglect political or social behaviours resembling the fascist past. If anything, it has become an alarming sign in current times when political parallels are discovered between the present and the aforementioned political systems. On one hand, fascism did become a dominant political ideology in the first half of the past century because of its blind support granted by the citizens. On the other, we cannot talk about Fascist regimes without mentioning the counter-actions and the freedom fights it had kindled. From this observation, we can draw the assumption that a political ideology that is building itself on power, dominance, and terror is creating its own contrasting force from within. To analyse such a claim, we can turn to Italy and examine the Fascist regime's function and the Resistance that rose against it. In doing so, we shall take the underground press as an example of a crucial tool of the Resistance. It is in every history book now that the Italian Fascist Party ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, and then the Italian Social Party from 1943 to 1945, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Its ideology was rooted in revolutionary and aggressive nationalism that dulled the desire to restore Italian hegemony over the Mediterranean and rebuild and continue the heritage of the antique Roman Empire. Furthermore, it opposed liberalism, socialism since it only promoted an Italian nationalism built on a shared past and traditions. Such ideology demanded territorial expansion and a fearsome, centralised political power. It should not surprise us that oppression and censorship were used to force people into the fascist system. Especially censorship, which was, of course, used before the Fascist regime, became key in controlling public opinion, spreading propaganda and blocking alternative voices. Since the two main functions of censorship were either to present the political power in an appealing appearance in the public eye as well as to filter and destroy the unwanted press. The answer was a brave and dedicated resistance movement across Italy that challenged and fought the Fascist dictatorship. During the Resistance, the press played a central role. Each party in the CLN had its own periodical, which was produced, printed and distributed underground, thanks mainly to the efforts of the women's relay girls and the Women's Defence Groups. Sometimes they are local publications, such as the bulletin of the communist federation of Florence, "L'Azione Comunista", or that of the Imola federation, "La Comune". Even individual CLNs sometimes have their own periodicals: 'Fratelli d'Italia', for example, is that of the Veneto committee. Then there are the publications, often of only one issue, produced by the same partisan formations and intended for them, as organs of the brigade or division: for example, "Baita", a periodical of the Garibaldini of Biella, with five issues produced between September 1944 and February 1945. Obviously, clandestine publications do not have a regular periodization - the subtitle of "Baita" is "It comes out when it can and as it can" - and also the printing techniques are linked to circumstances and possibilities. Everything is always missing: paper, mimeographs, ink, safe spaces. The bulletins and newspapers of the CLN parties came out in different editions depending on the location and generally had not only a political purpose, but also served to provide information and practical directives for the Resistance struggle (in particular, the communist periodicals). The main press organs of the period 1943-1945 are: “Il Combattente”, “Il grido di Spartaco”, “La nostra lotta” “l'Unità”, “Giustizia e libertà”, “L'Italia libera”, “l'Avanti”, “Noi donne”, “Il Popolo”, “Il ribelle”. Although we are not here to fully discover the history of the Resistance, we can find it worthy to emphasise its underground press. This can help us effectively to see the movement's goals and ambitions. The organisation of the Resistance stood steadily on the influencing anti-fascist voices that were distributed by the underground press. Dr Frank Rosengarten in his book The Italian Anti-Fascist Press (1919-1945) explained what he called "the methodology of underground Journalism." It essentially means employing gathering, editing, circulating, and popularising every relevant anti-Fascist text, opinion, or any other written material. All this was done to support the countering ideology and the objectives. Additionally, since a huge number of Italians fled their home country because of the Fascist rule, the underground press was the only forum for them to show their support and to articulate and spread criticism. Many migrated Italians were active in creating material for the anti-Fascist underground press in order to fight the aggressive fascist propaganda. The armed collision between a military dictatorship and active resistance is inevitable. The changes in the course of a country's history are usually decided on the battlefield. Liberation also means to cease the former oppressing power's presence. However, liberation is only imaginable if the people of the nation already believe in the following, brighter future. Let's ask ourselves: what else can be a better tool to spread bright promises and encouragements during the dark days of a dictatorship than the underground press? (Fonte: Stampa clandestina, in E. Collotti, R. Sandri, F. Sessi, Dizionario della Resistenza, Torino, Einaudi, 2006, pp. 633-654. Contributi di M. Dondi, M. Renosio, F. Sessi).
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