The Ventotene Manifesto: The Crisis of the Nation State and the Political Identity of Europe

Abstract

The island

On 5 November 1926, the Fascist Government of Italy voted a number of restrictions on citizens’ rights, wiping out the last vestiges of the political freedom that had survived the first years of Mussolini’s rule. Measures included the disbanding of all non-Fascist political parties, trade unions and democratic organizations, the suppression of the free press, restrictions on travel abroad and, last but not least, ‘mandatory residence’ for political and ideological reasons. The latter, known as confino politico, allowed authorities to forcibly relocate political dissidents to secluded places for a given period of time and under the eye of local authorities. Although not unknown to previous Italian governments, ‘mandatory residence’ had yet to be used on such a scale and at the total discretion of the authorities; paradoxically, the vagueness of the decree made clear its real purpose: ‘mandatory residence’ could be inflicted on all ‘who have committed or have manifested the deliberate intention of committing’ deeds with the purpose of violently unsettling the social, economic or national order of the state (Ghini and Dal Pont 1971, 35).