The next of the London Commune’s reading group meetings on the class struggle in Italy takes place on Monday 16th May. We will be discussing the rise of fascism, resistance to it and different ideas of ‘anti-fascism’, and the lessons for today.
The meeting takes place from 7pm at Freedom Bookshop, Angel Alley, near Aldgate East station.
We have prepared a reading pack (click here to see as one Word file). This includes an article on the Arditi del Popolo armed anti-fascist movement; short sections of two pieces by Italian Left Communist Amadeo Bordiga questioning the idea of anti-fascism and its interconnection with capitalism; and an article by David Broder briefly explaining the twists and turns of Stalinist policy. The aforementioned reading pack is much less reading than the whole text of the articles linked to above.
Readers with more time may be interested in some further articles on the subject. For example, Gramsci’s 1925 speech to the Italian Parliament denouncing Mussolini’s measures to crush civil liberties (click here). We have also uploaded a section of SWPer Tom Behan’s study of the Arditi del Popolo – giving a typical Trotskyist account of anti-fascist policy (click here), together with a (long) critical review of the book by anarchist Iain McKay (click here); and an article on Stalinists attitudes to Fascism by the Trotskyist Pietro Tresso (click here).
Email uncaptiveminds@gmail.com for more info.
the commune 
And you might like to see what Big Flame tried to do to alert the movement of the links between the politics of sexuality and fascism. Sorry if the first page of this doesn’t read properly; at least it didn’t on my screen just now.
Click to access sexualityfascism.pdf
Hope the commune discussion goes well – I live in the north of England.
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