A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #30-25 - No, sir. Anarchists, antimilitarism, and conscientious objection at the beginning of the Cold War. (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Summary of the paper presented at the Carrara Conference (11-12 October 
2025) on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the FAI ---- The first 
years of activity of the FAI Antimilitarist Commission ---- During its 
Bologna congress (16-20 March 1947), the Italian Anarchist Federation 
(FAI) launched the slogan "not one man, not one penny, not one hour of 
work for the war", drawing on a specific antimilitarist tradition: 
"neither one man nor one penny" had declared Andrea Costa to oppose 
Italy's colonial involvement in Africa in 1887, a slogan that was later 
taken up by the International Antimilitarist Alliance, founded in 
Amsterdam in 1904. In Bologna, the FAI also established an 
Antimilitarist Commission, entrusted to a young Pier Carlo Masini, which 
organised "antimilitarist days" in collaboration with local groups: 
between 13 June and 14 November 1948, around one hundred rallies were 
held in Tuscany, Liguria, Marche, Romagna and Veneto, followed by dozens 
of initiatives in Lazio in April 1949.

In preparation for these "antimilitarist days," a manifesto entitled 
"Against Militarism and War" was published in November 1947. Written, as 
stated on the inside cover, by several young anarchists, the manifesto 
accused all Italian parties of being militarist because they represented 
one of the two Cold War blocs, from which they reaffirmed their complete 
non-involvement. According to this manifesto, anarchist antimilitarism 
was integral and revolutionary: integral because it condemns all war 
since it "trains discipline, increases the power of the military class, 
hinders the circulation of ideas, poisons relations between peoples, and 
leaves behind a mass of displaced people who will form the backbone of 
reaction"; revolutionary because it aims to eradicate the "causes of the 
phenomenon of war and the phenomenon of militarism." Reaffirming the 
principles of direct action and the correspondence between means and 
ends, the manifesto specified: "It must be individuals, above all, who, 
in complete independence, plan initiatives and muster the moral courage 
to implement them."

The Antimilitarist Commission, and Masini in particular, also 
established contact with the pacifist and nonviolent movement, 
particularly with the former Catholic priest Ferdinando Tartaglia (whom 
Masini himself had known since his days with the newspaper "Gioventù 
anarchica"), and with Aldo Capitini and his Movimento di Religione. With 
these groups, Masini waged a political and cultural battle aimed at 
pushing them beyond moral testimony to the recognition that power, not 
the instinct for violence, was at the root of war. While acknowledging 
the "inefficiency" and "fearful inconsistencies" of the pacifist 
movement, the seventh issue of the FAI's "Bollettino Interno" of 1948 
nevertheless encouraged seeking out forces that "agree on a line of 
opposition to the war and inviting them to mobilize on their behalf, on 
their own path, with their own flag." The contingent collaboration 
proposed by the Antimilitarist Commission resulted in various 
initiatives between 1947 and 1948, such as, for example, the series of 
lectures held by Tartaglia at some anarchist groups on the theme War: 
its supporters and its adversaries and Masini's participation in the 
fourth congress of the Religion Movement and the first conference on 
political renewal promoted by Capitini.

It is well known that in 1949, conflicts with the "Volontà" group led 
Masini to resign from both "Umanità Nova" (where he had been an editor 
since 1948) and the Antimilitarist Commission; Masini later founded the 
Gruppo Anarchici di Azione Proletaria (GAAP). Meanwhile, the Pinna 
affair had erupted.

Anarchism in the face of the first conscientious objectors

In 1948, Pietro Pinna, influenced by Capitini, refused to perform 
military service: he was the first (or classified as such) conscientious 
objector in Italy. In 1950, he was followed first by Elevoine Santi of 
the International Civil Service, then by the anarchists Pietro Ferrua, 
Mario Barbani (who in reality was not initially an anarchist but would 
become one shortly thereafter), and Angelo Nuzza. To these figures 
should be added Libereso Guglielmi, the first proto-objector, portrayed 
by Italo Calvino in the story "An Afternoon, Adam." Libereso Guglielmi, 
Ferrua, and Nuzza belonged to the anarchist group Alba dei Liberi of San 
Remo. Given this, it is not surprising that in his seminal book 
"Anarchist Conscientious Objection in Italy," Ferrua referred to San 
Remo as the "capital of conscientious objection in Italy."

Conscientious objectors sparked intense debate within the anarchist 
movement. In September 1949, "Umanità Nova" accused Pinna of being 
exploited by left-wing parties and of having an overly "Christian" 
attitude, predicting that his case would remain an isolated one. A few 
weeks later, another article noted the "unjustified emotion" his case 
had aroused and reported two speeches given at a demonstration in Paris. 
The first, by André Breton, rejected the pacifist, humanitarian, and 
reformist tone of supporters of conscientious objection. In the second, 
the French anarchist Fontaine (perhaps Georges Fontenis?) contrasted 
theological conscientious objection (the refusal to use force) with 
revolutionary conscientious objection (the refusal to use force under 
orders and for the benefit of the state), willing to take up arms "to 
defend freedom." Fontaine therefore advised "young revolutionaries" to 
use "malice" to avoid conscription or to "do antimilitarist work in the 
army." In other words, in his view, conscientious objection unduly 
transformed a political problem (how to behave before military service) 
into an ethical one.

Giovanna Caleffi, who had already paid homage to Pinna and hoped for 
similar cases, responded to these theses: "Nothing serious will ever 
begin in our society," we read in the September 1949 issue of "Volontà," 
"if the first step is not to resist, individually, clearly, each 
according to his own will. Pietro Pinna has given us a warning example. 
He tells us that the individual who dares to will firmly is invincible." 
Conscientious objectors who publicly refused military service (facing 
trial and prison), Giovanna Caleffi added in "Umanità Nova," spread the 
antimilitarist spirit "infinitely more than those who were content to 
avoid military service either through desertion or through cunning," 
because the deserter saved his conscience (and perhaps his life), but 
those who publicly refused conscription (like the objectors) saved 
themselves and at the same time encouraged and helped others to find the 
courage to save themselves.

In an article published in 1953 in "La Palestra dei Reprobi," Ferrua and 
Barbani noted the presence within the Italian anarchist movement of a 
tendency that criticized conscientious objectors (including anarchists), 
despite the nonviolent traditions existing in anarchist thought (in this 
regard, they cited Lao-tse, Han Ryner, Tolstoy, Herbert Read, and Émile 
Armand). From their perspective, there was no conflict between violence 
and nonviolence: one seeks to destroy the capitalist framework, the 
other the authoritarian residues present within each person. While 
defining conscientious objection as a contingent method of struggle, the 
two clarified that this method of struggle appealed to that individual 
moral imperative that rejected compromise.

Within the FAI, there was a group in favor of conscientious objection. 
It included figures such as Italo Garinei, who followed the plight of 
conscientious objectors in the Turin newspaper "Era Nuova"; Giuseppe 
Mariani, who considered conscientious objection a sort of modernization 
of desertion in the changed historical context; Alfonso Failla, whom 
Ferrua described as one of the FAI's most ardent supporters of 
conscientious objection; Ugo Fedeli, who, among other things, testified 
at Ferrua's trial; and Umberto Marzocchi, who on April 30, 1950, during 
a rally in Turin, defined conscientious objectors as those who 
"practically" refused to be used as instruments of death.

A (brief and provisional) conclusion

Between the late 1940s and early 1950s, the antimilitarist movement also 
took the form of conscientious objection: ethical-political impulses 
thus intertwined with anti-authoritarian ones. From this perspective, 
conscientious objection seems, in a certain sense, to represent the 
exemplary gesture capable of shaking consciences. Yet, we must not fall 
into simplistic identifications: for Pinna, for example, conscientious 
objection was an ethical act, consisting of the personal refusal to take 
up a weapon to kill; for anarchist conscientious objectors, however, it 
was a political act, linked to the anarchist antimilitarism discussed in 
the first part of this article. For some, it was essential not to kill; 
for others, the essential thing was not to obey.

DB

https://umanitanova.org/signorno-gli-anarchici-lantimilitarismo-e-lobiezione-di-coscienza-allinizio-della-guerra-fredda/
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