ABSTRACT: A collection of documents on the radicals' libertarian antifascism: to recognize fascism means to understand what it has been and above all what it can be. Apparent antifascism too often hides a complicity with those who represented the true continuity with fascism, the reprise of laws and methods typical of that regime. (" WE AND THE FASCISTS", The radicals' libertarian antifascism, edited by Valter Vecellio, preface by Giuseppe Rippa - Quaderni Radicali/1, November 1980)

All of the articles in this volume speak sufficiently for themselves. Nevertheless a word regarding the occasions on which they were written may be of some help.

"Saḷ Is Long Ago, While the Enemy Is Near: We Are Against the Saḷ Republicans of Today", by Marco Pannella, was written when the argument was raging in the country about a "proclamation" that was "found" after thirty years that had been signed by Giorgio Almirante, currently Secretary of the MSI (neo-Fascist, ed.), and collaborator with the Germans at the time of the Saḷ Republic (1) - something which he, unlike many others, has never denied in any case.

"The Outlawing of the MSI: Why We Are Against It", by Giulio Ercolessi, expounds the reasons why the Radical Party did not adhere to the petition campaign for a law banning the MSI.

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1) The Saḷ Republic, named for the town on the shores of Lake Como, was a last stronghold of Italian Fascist resistance from the signing of the armistice on Sept. 8, 1943 until the liberation of Milan from German occupation in 1945. Translator's note.

The second article, again by Ercolessi, as the title itself suggests (" The Outlawing of the MSI: A Reply to the Comrades of A.O.") (2), is a reply to Avanguardia Operaia which in its daily paper, "Il quotidiano dei Lavoratori" (The Daily Worker), argued against the Radical Party who in their eyes were guilty of tepid anti-Fascist activity. It does, of course, go beyond a mere rebuttal to Avanguardia Operaia.

"Why We Defend the Fascists" is a text written by the Radicals' National Secretariat. It explains why the party decided to support the decision of the Radical attorneys Franco de Cataldo and Mauro Mellini to defend some members of Avanguardia

Nazionale (3) the neo-Fascists were being persecuted not for their criminal acts but for their thoughts, beliefs and ideology. We know that crimes of opinion are a Fascist measure only when used against our comrades... Pannella's two commentaries, "New Corporatism" and the editorial "The Fascists Choose the Fascist Process" concern the same subject which aroused discussion within the party as well as without. To provide a break in the

"debate" which was getting hot, it was considered useful to print two letters as well, one from the attorney Sandro Canestrini, and

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2) A.O. = Avanguardia Operaia (Workers' Vanguard, a small leftist party). Translator's note.

3)

one from a group of Pisan Radicals. "Piazza Fontana, Here We Go Again" (4) and "Lower Your Head, Monster!" are two long articles that explain why the Radical lawyer Franco de Cataldo and the review "Prova Radicale", overcoming no little resistance in the party, decided to defend Giovanni Ventura who was accused of the Piazza Fontana massacre. Included are also two letters of Ventura himself written to the Radical party officers.

"Quello starnuto di Plebe" by Gianfranco Spadaccia was written for "Prova Radicale" and tries to clear up a little the web of speculation woven around Armando Plebe's declared desire (quite bland, actually) to become a PR member. Plebe had been an orthodox PCI Marxist and subsequently an ardent member of the MSI, a senator and corporatist theoretician. The possibility of Plebe's becoming a Radical is also the subject of an interview in "Il Resto del Carlino" (a Bologna daily, ed.) with Marco Pannella ("I Don't Like Plebe, But...").

There is, as one can see, a "great absence", a "spectre" which is the question of Via Rasella (see note...). This is a voluntary omission. The question of Via Rasella is a very vast one. Pannella's speech at the Radical Party's XXIst Congress was in fact concerned with violence and non-violence, the conflicting views of those who wanted an armed defence of the government, of class, of the country or of religion, and those who maintain that

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4) Piazza Fontana in Milan was the scene of a terrorist bombing which was never solved despite many investigations and trials.

the enemy must be killed. It was a speech that was full of ideals and ethical values that also concern other problems of liberal and non-violent civil jurisprudence. Not by chance Pannella also spoke on that occasion of nihilists, Dostoevsky. the republican Oberdan. But the editor of "Unità" (the official Communist daily, ed.) came to a stop at the "contingent" Via Rasella episode, unfortunately, not wanting to see any further than his nose. The "Paese Sera" (another Communist daily, ed.) on that occasion took quite a different attitude. There was a reason for it. Reporting on the Congress was the excellent Fiamma Nirestein. The resulting effect in the paper was rather comical: headlines, summaries and editorials reflected "Unità's" "Communist" position and were totally different from the objective and serene, if sometimes critical, articles.

The Via Rasella "hole" however will be quickly filled. It is, in fact, our intention to continue discussing it and we are planning the publication of a volume entirely dedicated to the subject and the problems connected with it.

For here and now we are limiting ourselves to reprinting the text of an interview with Marco Pannella from "Settimanale" that appeared soon after the "uproar". And, of course, we refer the reader to the other - not a few - publications on the subject. There is, in fact, the speech of Marco Pannella at the XXIst Congress which was published in the review "Quaderni Radicali" no.5/6 ("Il Mein Kampf" of Marco Pannella), and the following contributions by Gianni Baget Bozzo, Norberto Bobbio, Roberto Guiducci (in "Quaderni Radicali" no.7), Angiolo Bandinelli, Erensto Galli della Loggia, Ugo Ronfani, Roberto Roversi, Salvatore Sechi, Federico Stame, Marco Pannella (in "Quaderni Radicali" no.8/9).

Va. Ve.