Word: fascistically
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...history of bald and boisterous Vincenzo Moscatelli, a Communist Deputy and member of the party's Central Committee. In 1932 Comrade Moscatelli was caught by Mussolini's police and sentenced to 16 years in prison; that gave him a certain claim to fame as an anti-Fascist hero, and even entitled him to a seat in Parliament after the war, as a "Senator by right...
...into his record, discovered that Moscatelli had served only five years in jail, after which he was kept under a form of "house arrest" that apparently permitted him considerable freedom. Why? II Tempo supplied the answer by publishing a facsimile of a groveling letter written by Moscatelli to the Fascist authorities in Piedmont: "I have done much wrong to the fatherland and to the Fascist regime. Today I am glad and proud to be able to declare that I, with a spontaneity beyond any suspicion and an impulse springing from soul-searching sincerity, am determined to reject those Marxist conceptions...
Italy's Communists could not ignore this embarrassing exposure of their anti-Fascist hero.* From party headquarters came a quick but lame explanation: Comrade Moscatelli had written the letter-without meaning a word of it-at party orders, in order to be set free to continue with "delicate" party work. This explanation was almost worse than none. II Tempo pointed out that Moscatelli had in fact earned his release by squealing on several comrades as soon as he was arrested. Added II Tempo: "The squealing paralyzed the party's activities in the region for many years...
Catcalls from the left began. Togni stood his ground. "I fought for Italy," he shouted, "when many of you Communists were serving in Mussolini's Fascist militia and in the Fascist Party." That set off a ten-minute outburst of invective. When it quieted down, Togni resumed: "I would like to know how many ex-Fascists are in your ranks. Also, I would like to know how many ex-spies of the OVRA [Mussolini's secret police] there...
...Moscow ordered Palmiro Togliatti, who was then outside the country, to step up agitation in Italy. Togliatti knew that nothing much could be done under the careful watch of the Fascist police. But he seized the occasion to order four of his rivals in the Italian party to go in and get to work. Three refused, knowing that the mission was hopeless, and were expelled from the party. The fourth, a woman, obeyed and was caught by the OVRA. These maneuvers not only kept Togliatti in good standing with Moscow but made him-by a process of elimination...