Political education and electoral politics: Communists and Catholics as teachers of democracy in early post-war Italy

ABSTRACT

This article analyses electoral politics as a field of citizenship education in a post-fascist democracy. Considering the rivalry between Communists and Catholics in Cold War Italy, made famous by the novels of Don Camillo e Peppone, it asks how they competed for the education of voters by approaching them directly through the media and face-to-face communication. It thereby dissects the different notions of democracy that informed their practices, while simultaneously emphasizing the commonalities which emerged from mutual observation and communication between these two ostensibly isolated ‘subcultures’. This look at pedagogical endeavours during election campaigns, which also targeted their own members, reveals how these two camps defined and spread the norms and values that shaped a vital civil society in post-fascist Italy. Driven by a shared sense of mission as moral agents of a new democratic order, Communists and Catholics through their competition established ‘democratic’ values and rules of conduct among their voters. The article also considers the difficulties that arose from this specific relationship between parties and voters as teachers and pupils of democracy.

KEYWORDS:

• Elections
• democratization
• Communist Party
• Christian Democratic Party
• Catholic Church
• gender

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Anderson, Practicing Democracy; Mergel, Propaganda nach Hitler, 44, 49–50, 61–2, 180, 299; Mergel, “Americanization, European Styles,” 260, 264; Lawrence, Electing Our Masters, 82, 113, 121–2, 145; Crook, French Vote, 121, 172–3, 211–12. On the distinguished social position of political representatives, see Briquet, “Klientelismus und Politisierung,” 95–6; Musella, “The Notabile as Actor,” 110.

2. Ridolfi, “‘Partiti elettorali’,” 67, 70–5; Pignotti, La moltitudine apolitica, 11–12; Tabor, “Il popolo alle urne.”

3. Ballini, “Le ‘regole del gioco’,” 4–11.

4. Lawrence, Speaking for the People, 188–93; Tabor, “Il popolo alle urne,” 18–19; Crook, French Vote, 18–41, 47–8, 172; Mergel, “Betrug, Krawall, Stimmenkauf”; Richter, Moderne Wahlen; Palonen, Politics of Limited Times, 51–2.

5. Berg and Mesner, After Fascism; Bessel and Schumann, Life after Death; Baldassini, L’ombra di Mussolini.

6. Ricci, “Timori di guerra civile”; Ventresca, From Fascism to Democracy.

7. On Cold War propaganda, see Cheles, “Picture Battles.”

8. Lupo, Partito e antipartito, 65; Lanaro, Storia dell’Italia repubblicana, 68. On the narrative of a pro-acting PCI and a re-acting Catholic world, see Acanfora, “Myths”; Ventrone, La cittadinanza repubblicana.

9. Ginsborg, “Civil Society”; Scoppola, Repubblica dei partiti, 55, 168–78; Cavazza, “Comunicazione di massa,” 203–4; Cavazza, “Delegittimazione”; Ventrone, Il nemico interno, 3, 18–19.

10. Mariuzzo, Communism and Anti-Communism.

11. Ventrone, La cittadinanza repubblicana, 80, 157.

12. Imbriani, Vento del Sud, 32, 57, 59, 116–17; Paggi, Il ‘popolo dei morti’, 17–20. See also Corduwener, “Challenging Parties,” 76.

13. Banti, La nazione del Risorgimento; Riall, The Italian Risorgimento; Pesman, “Mazzini and/in Love,” 97; d’Amelia, “Between Two Eras,” 117–18; Duggan, “Francesco Crispi”; Duggan, The Force of Destiny, 211–12.

14. Patriarca, “Indolence and Regeneration”; Patriarca, Italian Vices; Soper, Building a Civil Society, 6–7; d’Amelia, “Between Two Eras,” 125–6.

15. Soldani and Turi, “Introduzione,” 17; Hom, “Origins of Making Italy.”

16. Soldani and Turi, Fare gli italiani; Forgacs, Italian Culture, 16–29; Schieder, “Die Zukunft der Avantgarde,” 60–1.

17. Schieder, “Die Zukunft der Avantgarde,” 62–5.

18. Gentile, “‘L’uomo nuovo’,” 241; Knox, “Conquest, Foreign and Domestic,” 9–10, 18, 26; Saunders, “A ‘New Man’,” 230–1; Ben-Ghiat, Fascist Modernities, 5.

19. Gori, “Model of Masculinity.”

20. Terhoeven, Liebespfand fürs Vaterland.

21. Gentile, “‘L’uomo nuovo’”; Knox, “Conquest, Foreign and Domestic,” 10–11, 18–19, 46; Payne, Geschichte des Faschismus, 273–4, 547–8, 583; Ben-Ghiat, Fascist Modernities, 3–6, 15.

22. Bosworth, “Everyday Mussolinism”; Willson, “Italian Fascism”; Gentile, “‘L’uomo nuovo’,” 239–41; Ben-Ghiat, Fascist Modernities, 8.

23. Riall, The Italian Risorgimento, 77. On the culture war between Catholicism and liberal and/or democratic patriotism in Risorgimento Italy, see Borutta, “Anti-Catholicism.”

24. Ballini, “Le ‘regole del gioco’,” 15.

25. See the quote from the Communist Party bulletin, 1945, cited in Ventrone, La cittadinanza repubblicana, 88.

26. See Aguado, “Citoyenneté feminine,” 22, 47; Lawrence, Electing Our Masters, 116–29; Schröder, Händler und Helden, 187; Mergel, Propaganda nach Hitler, 51–6; Crook, French Vote, 172–4; Kergomard, “An die Urnen, Schweizerinnen!”

27. Cf. Ventrone, La cittadinanza repubblicana, 160–1.

28. Buchanan, “‘Good Morning Pupil’.”

29. On the partito nuovo, see Gozzini, “Democrazia dei partiti.”

30. “Difficoltà della battaglia democratica,” in La Lotta, December 8, 1945.

31. “Hanno paura della democrazia,” in La Lotta, February 20, 1948; “Aderiscono al Fronte i piccoli commercianti di Vercelli,” in L’Unità: Edizione dell’Italia settentrionale, April 2, 1948. See also Vecchio, “Tricolore, feste e simboli,” 376–7; Cavazza, “Transizione difficile,” 459, 461–3. Pietro Scoppola criticizes this strategy for having ignored the social diversity of Italy, without recognizing that it was actually a copy of the DC’s catch-all party approach; see Scoppola, Repubblica dei partiti, 140–1.

32. See, for example, the letter of Giuseppe Zerzuoli (Lerzuoli?), Segretario della Sezione di Seggiono (Grosseto), to Aldo Moro, April 27, 1960, in Rome, Istituto Luigi Sturzo (ILS), Democrazia Cristiana (DC), Segreteria Politica (SP), Atti della Segreteria, box 87, fasc. 12a.

33. On the relationship between the DC and the Church, see Allum, “‘From Two into One’,” 27–8; Traniello, “Political Catholicism,” 46. On the Azione Cattolica see Manoukian, Presenza sociale, 361; Casella, “Storia dei rapporti,” 271–2.

34. Preziosi, “Guido Gonella,” 170–2; Cavallo, Italiani in guerra, 349–53; Formigoni, “Gioventù cattolica maschile,” 240; Traniello, “Political Catholicism,” 42–3.

35. Acerbi, “Problema dei giovani”; Forgacs and Gundle, Mass Culture, 253, 262–8; Vecchio, “L’arrivo della televisione”; Prada, Videocrazia, 42–52, 54–6, 58.

36. In 1926, in the wake of Fascism, its founder, Don Luigi Sturzo, had linked a veritable “democratic” future to Christian morality. See Sturzo, Italien und der Fascismus, 245.

37. See for example: Anche Don Schiassi denunciato dai comunisti, in L’Avvenire d’Italia [Bologna], May 22, 1953.

38. De Giorgi, “Cattolici e costume civile,” 179, 175–7, 182, 184, 195–6.

39. Cavazza, “Transizione difficile,” 448.

40. Acerbi, “Problema dei giovani”; Kertzer, Comrades and Christians, 133–45.

41. See, for the reverse view, Acanfora, “Myths.”

42. Bellassai, La morale comunista; Casalini, Famiglie comuniste.

43. Moro, “Togliatti.”

44. Bodei, “Colonizzare le coscienze.”

45. On party schools, see Tonelli, A scuola di politica.

46. See Togliatti’s speech at the Party congress in Avellino in September 1944, cited in De Felice, “Togliatti e la costruzione,” 48; Boarelli, Fabbrica del passato, 29–34, 195; Bellassai, “Mascolinità,” 273–4; Ventrone, La cittadinanza repubblicana, 36–8.

47. Quote from Togliatti’s speech at the Party congress, cited in De Felice, “Togliatti e la costruzione,” 48.

48. “La paura,” in Giornale dell’Emilia, May 29, 1953; Cavazza, “Costituzione in piazza,” 159–61; Ventrone, Il nemico interno.

49. For examples, see “Reclutare organizzare costruire il Partito,” in La Lotta, June 2, 1945; “Responsabilità,” in ibid.; PCI Bologna, Verbale della riunione di Comitato Federale, June 16, 1953, pp. 14–17 in Bologna, Fondazione Gramsci Emilia-Romagna (FGER), Partito Comunista Italiano, Federazione provinciale di Bologna (PCI-BO), Comitato Federale (CF), Verbali, 1953, box 2, fasc. 2; Alberoni et al., L’attivista di partito, 236.

50. “I frati della ‘volante’ uno dopo l’altro,” in Due Torri, April 15, 1958.

51. See the letters to the editor in Due Torri and to its author, “Tino Clerici” (a pseudonym), from April and March 1958 in Bologna, FGER, PCI-BO, Segreteria, Corrispondenza, “Partenza/Arrivo 1951–1961,” b. 1, fasc. 2.

52. “Disturbatori di comizi denunziati dai carabinieri,” in La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, May 12, 1946; “Impegno dei partiti per l’ordine pubblico,” in La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, May 17, 1946. In detail on this see Gatzka, Demokratie der Wähler, 175–82, 219–27; cf. Cavazza, “Comunicazione di massa,” 224, 237; Cavazza, “Costituzione in piazza.”

53. “Non fu il candidato a strappare i manifesti,” in L’Unità: Edizione bolognese, April 9, 1953; “Potrebbe avere serie conseguenze la sentenza sulla propaganda murale,” in L’Unità. Edizione bolognese, April 26, 1953; “Identificati gli aggressori dei propagandistici del ‘Civico’,” in L’Avvenire d’Italia, May 17, 1958.

54. “L’impegno dei partiti per una competizione pacifica,” in Il Resto del Carlino, May 18, 1958; Specchio dei tempi, in La Stampa, March 29, 1958.

55. Colarizi, “Togliatti e l’anomalia italiana,” 426–9.

56. Cavazza, “Transizione difficile,” 452.

57. Mafai, L’Apprendistato della politica, 38–9; Gaiotti De Biase, “Impact,” 226–8. See also Gabrielli, “Educare alla democrazia,” 98.

58. Direzione del PCI, Commissione Centrale Stampa e Propaganda, to the Segreterie delle Federazioni del PCI, February 2, 1951, p. 6 in Rome, ILS, DC, SP, Informazioni riservate, box 243, fasc. 10; PCI Bologna, Verbale del Comitato Federale, June 16, 1953 in Bologna, FGER, PCI-BO, CF, Verbali, 1953, box 3, fasc. 2. On the PCI’s notions of ‘the people’, see Bassi, Questione di classe.

59. “Latte a 20 Lire,” in La Lotta, July 28, 1945.

60. Marcellino and Righi, Le tre vite, 160, 163, 165; Gabrielli, “Educare alla democrazia,” 99–100.

61. “Iniziativa femminile,” in La Lotta, June 30, 1945; “Solidarietà,” in La Lotta, July 14, 1945; Asili per i figli del popolo, in: La Lotta, July 14, 1945; Mafai, L’Apprendistato della politica, 29–31, 34, 38. On female protagonism in Italy’s immediate post-war period, see Gagliani, “Welfare State”; Tambor, “Red Saints,” 433; Ceccatelli Gurrieri and Paolucci, Il paradigma dell’emancipazione.

62. Mafai, L’Apprendistato della politica, 38–9; Gaiotti De Biase, “Impact,” 226–8. See also Gabrielli, “Educare alla democrazia,” 98.

63. De Giorgi, “Cattolici e costume civile,” 180.

64. Forgacs and Gundle, Mass Culture, 254, 259; De Giorgi, “Cattolici e costume civile,” 180.

65. Prefetto di Padova to the Ministeri dell’Interno, May 5, 1958 in Rome, Archivio Centrale dello Stato (ACS), Ministero dell’Interno, Gabinetto (MI-GAB), 1957–60, box 405, fasc. 17,221/2; “Mia madre ha votato tranquilla per il Partito Comunista Italiano,” in La Lotta, June 12, 1953. On Catholic propaganda techniques, see Novelli, Turbopolitica, 190–201.

66. Una sterminata moltitudine ascolta la parola di De Gasperi, in L’Avvenire d’Italia, May 15, 1953. On the culture of plebiscites, see Fimiani, Plebisciti e potere.

67. On the trainings, see “Attiviste democristiane,” in La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, February 26, 1948; Ventrone, La cittadinanza repubblicana, 80.

68. Ventrone, La cittadinanza repubblicana, 188.

69. Acanfora, “Myths,” 312–20.

70. See, for example, “Forze organizzate e influenza elettorale,” in La Lotta, December 15, 1945.

71. Ventrone, La cittadinanza repubblicana, 86.

72. “Per una politica di rinascita,” in L’Unità. Cronaca della Puglia, April 12, 1953; Verbale della riunione del Comitato esecutivo, April 23, 1948, p. 1 in Bologna, FGER, PCI-BO, Comitato Esecutivo. Verbali, 1948, box 1, fasc. 1; “Loro hanno la TV, noi dobbiamo portare l’Unità tra la gente,” in L’Unità. Edizione bolognese, May 10, 1968. Cf. Ventrone, La cittadinanza repubblicana, 192, 195.

73. Interview with Ida Cavallini, in Liotti et al., Memorie e storie, 125; “Un po’ di veleno ogni giorno,” in Noi Donne, January 17, 1954.

74. “Sii più comprensiva con lui,” in Noi Donne, January 17, 1954.

75. Ventrone, La cittadinanza repubblicana, 164.

76. Gatzka, “Des Wahlkvolks großer Auftritt.”

77. Direzione del PCI, Commissione Centrale Stampa e Propaganda, to the Segreterie delle Federazioni del PCI and the Responsabili delle Commissioni Stampa e Propaganda, February 2, 1951 in Rome, ILS, DC, SP, Informazioni riservate, box 243, fasc. 10.

78. Ibid. See also PCI Bologna, Verbale della riunione di Comitato Federale, March 21, 1953, pp. 10, 19, 21, 23, 31 in Bologna, FGER, PCI-BO, Comitato Federale, Verbali, 1953, box 2, fasc. 2; “La giornata del compagno propagandista,” in Quaderno dell’attivista, April 16, 1953; “Dialogo familiare,” in La Lotta, May 22, 1953.

79. Forgacs, “Italy’s Public Sphere.”

80. See, for example, the reports from the prefects of Alessandria, Arezzo, Bologna, Brindisi, Foggia and Parma to the Ministero dell’Interno, May 5, 1958 in Rome, ACS, MI-GAB, 1957–60, box 405, fasc. 17,221/2; Visentini, “Osservazioni sulla propaganda,” 284–5. On the character of political communication in Italy, compared with Germany, see Gatzka, Demokratie der Wähler.

Additional information

Funding

Research for this article was supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Claudia C. Gatzka

Claudia C. Gatzka obtained her Doctorate at Humboldt University and is Assistant Professor in Modern European History at the University of Freiburg as well as principal investigator of the project Veiled voices of democracy. Political representations of the ‘people’ in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1945–2000, funded by Gerda Henkel Foundation. Her research focuses on the history of democracy and political representation, mass politics, and tourism in the 19th and 20th centuries in Western Europe and beyond. Her comparative study of the relationship between voters and their representatives in Italy and West Germany, titled Die Demokratie der Wähler. Stadtgesellschaft und politische Kommunikation in Italien und der Bundesrepublik, 1944–1979, was published in 2019 by Droste (Düsseldorf).