Early fascism grew into a mass phenomenon through massive state connivance

Evidence

For despite Giolitti’s success, the employers were in no mood to be satisfied with the compromise he had achieved. Many of them saw the notional “control” which he was prepared to grant the unions as a mortal threat to their positions of power. It was in the autumn of 1920 that fascist squads began to carry out raids on behalf of the landowners of North and Central Italy against both the socialist and Catholic peasant associations, and against socialistcontrolled municipalities such as that of Bologna or socialist papers such as the Trieste daily Il Lavoratore . And it was also during this period that a number of industrialists began to pour funds into Mussolini’s organisation. In all probability Giolitti too was a source of finance for the fascists in this period. At all events Bonomi, Giolitti’s ex-socialist Minister of War, in October 1920 sent out a circular giving effective encouragement to demobilised officers to join the Fasci . And the entire early development of fascism from the marginal phenomenon of 1919 to the mass phenomenon of 1920 was assisted by massive State connivance. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 107

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to later Islamophobia readings on how state machineries tolerate or enable reactionary violence against subordinated groups — fascism’s early trajectory as state-condoned squads, parallels to state tolerance of anti-minority violence.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing the precise mechanics of ‘state connivance’ — Giolitti’s financing, Bonomi’s circular, employers’ motives — as a case study for how states outsource coercion to paramilitaries.