Matteotti, the memory in the Chamber. Meloni: free and courageous man killed by fascist squads for his ideas

One hundred years after the famous speech on 30 May 1924, in which the Socialist MP Giacomo Matteotti denounced Fascist violence in Parliament during the elections of 6 April of that year, his figure was commemorated today, Thursday 30 May 2024, in Montecitorio, with an introduction by President Lorenzo Fontana and the participation of the Head of State Sergio Mattarella. Present, among others, were the President of the Senate Ignazio La Russa, the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court Giovanni Amoroso. The audience included over 300 students. The book of his parliamentary speeches was also reprinted on the occasion.

"Today we are here to commemorate a free and courageous man who was killed by fascist squads for his ideas. Honouring his memory is fundamental to remind us every day, 100 years after that speech, of the value of freedom of speech and thought against those who would arrogate to themselves the right to establish what is permitted to say and think and what is not," said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who added: "Matteotti's lesson, today more than ever, reminds us that our democracy is such if it is based on respect for others, on confrontation, on freedom, not on violence.

"The Chamber honours Giacomo Matteotti, one of the fathers of democracy, victim of fascist squadrism. A plaque has been placed on the seat from which he made his last speech 100 years ago. In perpetual memory of his sacrifice, this seat will no longer be occupied,' said Chamber President Lorenzo Fontana during the commemorative ceremony in the hemicycle. The request for a plaque to be placed on the seat from which Matteotti delivered his last speech, so that it would no longer be occupied, had been made in the Chamber some time ago by the oppositions and first and foremost by Avs. The presidency of the Chamber had immediately shown itself open to considering the proposal. Today the announcement by Fontana, who continued: "In that session, he demanded the en bloc annulment of the election of the majority deputies, denouncing the climate of intimidation and violence in which the political elections of 6 April were held. He also denounced in detail the fraud and falsifications carried out by the fascists in polling stations throughout the country. His speech was continuously interrupted by loud noises and protests, as reported in the stenographic record of the sitting. Matteotti had sat in Parliament since 1919 as a representative of his land, Polesine,' added Fontana. 'He had distinguished himself for his tireless activity in the Chamber and in committees, especially on the issues dearest to him: schools, administration, the state budget. He particularly cared about protecting the weaker classes, whom he wanted to emancipate economically and culturally. He believed that this emancipation should take place through the means of democratic political struggle, within the framework of the principles of freedom and the rule of law'.

(S-D) Il Presidente della Repubblica, Sergio Mattarella, il presidente del Senato, Ignazio La Russa e la presidente del consiglio Giorgia Meloni durante la cerimonia commemorativa per Giacomo Matteotti a 100 anni dal discorso in cui denunciò in Parlamento le violenze fasciste alle elezioni del 6 aprile del 1924, nell'aula della Camera dei Deputati, Roma, 30 maggio 2024. ANSA/FABIO FRUSTACI

On 30 May 1924 Matteotti, secretary of the Unitary Socialist Party, took the floor in the Chamber of Deputies to contest the election results, denouncing the violence, illegalities and abuses committed by the fascists in order to win the elections: 'The election in our opinion is essentially invalid,' Matteotti said on that occasion, 'and we would add that it is invalid in all constituencies. In the first place we have the declaration made explicitly by the government, repeated by all the organs of the official press, repeated by the Fascist orators in all the rallies, that the elections had only a very relative value, in that the government did not feel subject to the electoral response, but that in any case - as it declared in reply - it would have maintained power by force'. [...] By your own confirmation (of the fascist parliamentarians) therefore no Italian voter found himself free to decide by his own will. [...] No one found himself free, because each citizen knew a priori that, even if he dared to affirm by a majority the contrary, there was a force at the disposal of the government that would annul his vote and his response. [...] There is an armed militia, composed of citizens of one party, whose declared task is to support a particular government by force, even if it lacks consensus.

Matteotti was abducted and murdered on 10 June 1924 by a fascist squad led by Amerigo Dumini. The body was found about two months after the murder, on 16 August 1924. On 3 January 1925, in front of the Chamber of Deputies, Benito Mussolini publicly assumed 'political, moral and historical responsibility' for the climate in which the assassination had occurred. This speech was followed, within two years, by the approval of the so-called fascist laws and the disqualification of the deputies who had participated in the Aventine secession in protest against the Matteotti murder.