Pier Paolo Battistelli - Italian Blackshirt 1935–45

The origins of the Camicie Nere (Blackshirts) date back to the months after the end of World War I, when Italy was riven by social and political struggle. The Squadre dAzione (action squads, their members being called Squadristi) came into being in reaction both to the mutilated victory which deprived Italy of what she considered her rightful gains, and to the rise of the socialist-communist party. Controlled by Benito Mussolini, the Squadre were made up of war veterans and young people led by charismatic local fascist leaders known as ras (ringleaders), after the Ethiopian term for chief; violence was the main instrument used to intimidate their adversaries, which led to frequent bouts of street-fighting. Their paramilitary organization had its roots both in the Arditi, the Italian assault units of World War I (see Warrior 87: Italian Arditi, Angelo L. Pirocchi, Osprey Publishing: Oxford, 2004), and in the legions of ancient Rome. The creation on 23 March 1919 of the Fasci di Combattimento (Fighting Fascists) gave a political basis to the movement, which was later transformed into the Partito Nazionale Fascista (National Fascist Party). The latter played a vital role in Mussolinis rise to power on 28 October 1922, when four columns of Blackshirts marched unopposed on Rome.

Mussolini, dressed in the uniform of Primo Caporale donore della Milizia, reviews a Blackshirt battalion, who are saluting with raised daggers in front of the MVSNs headquarters. To the right is Luogotenente Generale Enzo Galbiati, chief of staff of the MVSN from May 1941 to July 1943. (Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome)

Soon after this event, the Blackshirts somewhat haphazard organization was incorporated within the framework of the nascent Fascist state. On 1 February 1923 the Milizia Volontaria Sicurezza Nazionale (MVSN, National Security Volunteer Militia) was officially created out of the Blackshirt cadre, both the rank and file and its leadership. This provided a twofold solution to a particular problem: firstly it brought an otherwise wildly irregular force that was often exclusively in the hands of the ras under control, and secondly it turned the Fascist Partys militia into a national institution. The MVSN was a nationwide organization with a territorial basis, like a territorial army, with almost every Italian province (equivalent to a county) or large city having its own legione (legion) that was itself subdivided into coorti (cohorts) and centurie (centuries), adopting the nomenclature of the ancient Roman army. The actual organization only provided a framework of service, as the Blackshirts were only called to duty when circumstances demanded.

The first duty of the MVSN was to maintain law and order. This also included conflict with any form of opposition to Mussolini and the Fascist regime, though this was now done via cooperating with the local state authorities and the police forces, rather than directly fighting them, as had been the case before Mussolinis rise to power. By the late 1920s the MVSN had changed from being a party militia into a state organization, and despite it growing ever larger in size it had by then lost most of its original ideological coherence. Policing duties were mainly taken back by the state police forces, which were now fully controlled by the Fascist authorities; only limited and highly specialized police tasks were retained by the special branches of the MVSN. Deprived of a great deal of their original political ethos, which survived mainly in their external appearance, the Blackshirts seemed destined merely to provide a decorative element to Fascist mass meetings and celebrations. However, it was precisely at this point that Mussolini created a new role for the Blackshirts, and they began to develop as a combat force.