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| Michele Bianchi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Public Works of the Kingdom of Italy | |
| In office 12 September 1929 – 3 February 1930 | |
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Leader | Benito Mussolini |
| Succeeded by | Araldo di Crollalanza |
| Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior | |
| In office 13 March 1928 – 12 September 1929 | |
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Leader | Benito Mussolini |
| Undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Works | |
| In office 31 October 1925 – 13 March 1928 | |
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Leader | Benito Mussolini |
| Secretary of the National Fascist Party | |
| Caporale d'onore of the MVSN | |
| In office 11 November 1921 – 4 November 1922 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Nicola Sansanelli |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1883-07-22)22 July 1883 Belmonte Calabro, Kingdom of Italy |
| Died | 3 February 1930(1930-02-03) (aged 46) Rome, Kingdom of Italy |
| Political party | National Fascist Party |
| Other political affiliations |
|
| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) |
| Spouse | Maria De Seta |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Italy |
| Branch/service |  Royal Italian Army |
| Battles/wars | |
Michele Bianchi (22 July 1883 – 3 February 1930) was an Italian revolutionary syndicalist leader who took a position in the Unione Italiana del Lavoro (UIL). He was among the founding members of the Fascist movement. He was widely seen as the dominant leader of the leftist, syndicalist wing of the National Fascist Party. He took an active role in the "interventionist left" where he "espoused an alliance between nationalism and syndicalism." He was one of the most influential politicians of the regime before his succumbing to tuberculosis in 1930. He was also one of the grand architects behind the "Great List" (il listone) which secured the parliamentary majority in favor of the fascists.
Biography
Socialism
Bianchi was born in Belmonte Calabro (Calabria), in southern Italy.
He studied law at the University of Rome, and dedicated himself from early on to journalism. He became a member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), and editor of the Party newspaper Avanti!, presiding over the socialist branch in Rome. A delegate to the Bologna Congress in 1904, he backed the syndicalist line enforced by Arturo Labriola.
In 1905, Bianchi renounced his position at Avanti! and took over leadership of the Gioventù socialista (paper of the Federazione dei Giovani Socialisti—youth wing of the PSI). The antimilitarist campaign he led had him imprisoned, then forcibly settled in Genoa. Bianchi adapted to his new residence, and became head of the Ligurian Labor Chamber, as well as editor of the revolutionary paper Lotta socialista.
Syndicalism
In 1906, after backing several workers' riots, Bianchi expressed his pacifism in front of the PSI leadership, and was not universally welcomed. Transferred to Savona, he played a crucial part in the events that led the syndicalists out of the PSI—in between the PSI Bologna Congress of 1907 and the first Syndicalist Congress in July 1908 (in Ferrara).
After being arrested several times and travelling throughout Italy, Bianchi became editor of La Scintilla in 1910; he launched the idea that PSI and syndicalists should reunite on electoral lists for the expected administrative elections. He was outvoted, and resorted to expressing his views solely through the paper—which he turned into a daily, the backer of several local proletarian revolts in 1911.
However, Bianchi was forced by the tight budget to shut down La Scintilla, not before he was yet again arrested in Trieste for attacking Giovanni Giolitti as instigator of the Italo-Turkish War. He benefited from an amnesty and returned to Ferrara, where he created and headed the paper La Battaglia (a failed attempt to gain a seat in the elections of 1913). Bianchi moved to Milan, becoming a major figure of the Milanese Syndical Union and the Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI).
Fascism
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Michele Bianchi's attitude during World War I mirrored that of Benito Mussolini: he became an active supporter of Italy's entry into the conflict, and advocate of irredentism.
In 1915, when Italy joined the Entente Powers, Bianchi volunteered for service and became a junior officer—first in the Infantry, then in the Artillery. With the end of the war, Bianchi joined Mussolini's Fasci italiani di combattimento, and then the National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista, or PNF). In 1921, he became the PNF secretary, and attempted to join the Fascists with other right-wing movements (while authorizing the numerous violent raids carried out by the Blackshirts).
After stomping out a strike action against Fascist maneuvers, Bianchi was one of the Quattuorvirate who led the March on Rome, the pseudo-coup d'état that brought Mussolini as prime minister (October 1922). In the newly formed government, he was general secretary of National Fascist Party, and considered as "Mussolini's closest collaborator." In short time, Bianchi was dismissed as PNF leader in 1923, while joining the Grand Council of Fascism; in 1924, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, but resigned from his government position on 14 March.
In 1925, he was given the position of undersecretary at the Ministry of Public Works, in 1928 the same position at the Internal Affairs one, and on 12 September 1929 he became Minister of Public Works. Again elected to the Chamber, and in failing health, he died soon after in Rome.
Honors and awards
Commemorative Medal of the March on Rome (Gold)
War Merit Cross
Commemorative Medal for the Italo-Austrian War 1915–1918 (four years of campaign)
Commemorative Medal of the Unity of Italy 1848–1918
Allied Victory Medal
Honorary Corporal of the Voluntary Militia for National Security
References
- R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915–1945, Penguin Books, 2005, p. 136
- Dylan Riley, The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe: Italy, Spain, and Romania 1870–1945, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010, p. 50
- Martin Blinkhorn, Fascism and Right in Europe, 1919–1945, London and New York, Routledge, 2013, p. 35
- Dylan Riley, The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe: Italy, Spain, and Romania 1870–1945, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010, p. 50
- R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915–1945, Penguin Books, 2005, pp. 136–137
- Zeev Sternhell, with Mario Sznajder and Maia Asheri, The Birth of Fascist Ideology: From Cultural Rebellion to Political Revolution, Princeton University Press, 1994, p. 191
External links
- Riosa, Alceo (1968). "BIANCHI, Michele". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 10: Biagio–Boccaccio (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
- Newspaper clippings about Michele Bianchi in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
| Members of the Mussolini Cabinet | ||
|---|---|---|
| Head of government and duce of Fascism |  | |
| Minister of Aeronautics (since 1925) | ||
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | ||
| Minister of Agriculture (abolished in 1923) | ||
| Minister of Agriculture and Forestry (since 1929) | ||
| Minister of the Colonies (abolished in 1937) | ||
| Minister of Italian Africa (since 1937) | ||
| Minister of Communications (since 1924) | ||
| Minister of Corporations (since 1926) | ||
| Ministry of Popular Culture (since 1937) | ||
| Minister of the Interior | ||
| Minister of Domestic Economy | ||
| Minister of Domestic Education | ||
| Minister of Finance | ||
| Minister of Justice and Affairs of Religion | ||
| Minister of Industry and Commerce | ||
| Minister of Public Works | ||
| Minister of War | ||
| Minister of Labour and Social Security | ||
| Minister of Posts and Telegraphs | ||
| Minister of War Production (since 6 February 1943) | ||
| Minister of Public Education | ||
| Minister of Trades and Currencies | ||
| Minister of Press and Propaganda | ||
| Minister of Freed Territories from Enemies (abolished on 5 February 1923) | ||
| Minister of Treasure (merged into Ministry of Finance on 31 December 1922) | ||
- 1883 births
- 1930 deaths
- People from the Province of Cosenza
- Italian Socialist Party politicians
- Members of the Grand Council of Fascism
- Government ministers of Italy
- Mussolini Cabinet
- Italian syndicalists
- Deputies of Legislature XXVII of the Kingdom of Italy
- Deputies of Legislature XXVIII of the Kingdom of Italy
- Italian male journalists
- National syndicalists
- Italian military personnel of World War I
- Recipients of the War Merit Cross (Italy)
- 20th-century Italian journalists
- 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
- Tuberculosis deaths in Italy
- Infectious disease deaths in Lazio
- Unione Sindacale Italiana members