Sansepolcrismo is a term used to refer to the movement led by Benito Mussolini that preceded Fascism. The Sansepolcrismo takes its name from the rally organized by Mussolini at Piazza San Sepolcro in Milan on March 23, 1919, where he proclaimed the principles of Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, and then published them in Il Popolo d'Italia, on June 6, 1919, the newspaper he co-founded in November 1914 after leaving Avanti!
Origins
On March 2, 1919, Il Popolo d'Italia published a statement that included the program for a meeting for March 23, 1919. Further mentions of the meeting were published on March 4 in Genoa by the Fascist War Veterans publications Italia Redenta ("Italy Redeemed") and Pensiero e Azione ("Thought and Action"). Word of the meeting was then spread among various veterans' associations spread throughout Italy. The statement was reiterated later March 9 in Il Popolo d'Italia: "On 23 March an 'anti-party' will be created, the Fighting Fascists, who will face against two dangers: the reaction of the right, and the destructiveness of the left."
On the evening of March 21, 1919, the Union Local of the Association of Traders and Merchants in Piazza San Sepolcro officially formed the Fascio di Combattimento di Milano ("Milan Fighting Fascists"). Participants were afterward regarded as the so-called Fascio primigenio ("primitive Fascists"). After the first meeting of the council, they included: Benito Mussolini, Ferruccio Vecchi, Enzo Ferrari, Michele Bianchi, Mario Giampaoli, Ferruccio Ferradini, and Carlo Meraviglia. It also decided that the gathering of March 23 would be chaired by Ferruccio Vecchi and that their Executive Secretary would be Michele Bianchi.
Foundation of the Fascists
In the previous days, rumors circulated that accused the Red Guards of planning to prevent the gathering. The night before, supporters began to organize in Milan, almost all veterans of World War I, but the morning of March 23 was found to be quiet at Piazza San Sepolcro and confirmed by Carlo Meraviglia, who had arrived in advance specifically to review the situation.
The meeting of the March 23, originally intended to be held at Teatro Dal Verme, had lower participation than expected, and ultimately was held in the meeting room of the Industrial Alliance in Piazza San Sepolcro in Milan, an arrangement made possible by the Industrial Alliance President, the interventionist Cesare Goldmann, who had financed Il Popolo d'Italia and also took part in the meeting. The first to speak was Ferruccio Vecchi, acting as chairman, who opened the meeting, followed by Lt. Enzo Agnelli, who gave greetings from the Milan Fighting Fascists, founded just two days before.
The first policy declaration was made by Mussolini, who spoke broadly on three fundamental points of the new movement. These were summarized on the following day in Il Popolo d'Italia:
After Mussolini, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti spoke, inviting those present to oppose the Italian Socialist Party, who he accused of launching the Biennio Rosso, which he called an assault on the country. There followed a short speech by Mario Carli, who brought the membership of some Fascists and futurists from Rome, Florence, Perugia and Taranto. The Manifesto principles of Mussolini, put to the vote, were approved unanimously by the Assembly.
The meeting was adjourned to resume work in the afternoon. Celso Morisi presented an agenda, approved by acclamation, in favor of the workers of Dalmine and Pavia, who despite being entered into a strike and having occupied the factories had also continued to work. Then came the speech of Malusardi and Giovanni Capodivacca who required the assembly "to give a precise content of fascist action" and especially "to take up the urgent problems of assistance to the victims of war". Capodivacca's speech brought further remarks from Mussolini, who took the floor again, laying the foundations of the Corporatism and anticipating the creation of Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni (Chamber of Fasces and Corporations).
Several other speakers participated including Luigi Razza and Giovanni Marinelli. Michele Bianchi made the only speech that was critical, pointing out that "Everything that modern society has put into effect contains obstacles to maintaining society, which will be eliminated. Perfectly in agreement. Only, before eliminating these, we must create an organization, a system, that we must gear up to replace what we intend to discard".