Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals

The Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals, written by Benedetto Croce in response to the Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals by Giovanni Gentile, sanctioned the unreconcilable split between the philosopher and the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini, to which he had previously given a vote of confidence on October 31, 1922. The idea of an anti-Fascist manifesto came to Giovanni Amendola, who wrote to Croce, a proclaimed anti-Fascist, for his opinions on April 20, 1925:

Dear Croce, have you read the Fascist manifesto to foreign intellectuals? ... today, I have met several people who feel that, following the publication of the Fascists' document, we have the right to speak and the duty to respond. What is your opinion? Would you be willing to sign such a document, or even write it yourself?

Croce replied a day later, saying that he would be more than willing to, but that the document ought to be short, "so as not to alienate the common folk."

The manifesto was published by Il Mondo on May 1, 1925, which was Workers' Day, symbolically responding to the publication of the Fascist manifesto on the Natale di Roma, the founding of Rome (celebrated on April 21). The Fascist press claimed that the Crocian manifesto was "more authoritarian" than its Fascist counterpart.

Il Mondo published three lists of prominent supporters of the manifesto, first on May 1 and then longer lists on May 10 and May 22. Among the supporters were Luigi Albertini, Sibilla Aleramo, Corrado Alvaro, Giovanni Amendola, Giovanni Ansaldo, Vincenzo Arangio-Ruiz, Antonio Banfi, Sem Benelli, Piero Calamandrei, Emilio Cecchi, Cesare de Lollis, Floriano del Secolo, Guido de Ruggiero, Gaetano de Sanctis, Francesco de Sarlo, Luigi Einaudi, Giorgio Errera, Giustino Fortunato, Eustachio Paolo Lamanna, Giorgio Levi della Vida, Carlo Linati, Attilio Momigliano, Rodolfo Mondolfo, Eugenio Montale, Gaetano Mosca, Ugo Enrico Paoli, Giorgio Pasquali, Giuseppe Rensi, Francesco Ruffini, Gaetano Salvemini, Matilde Serao, Adriano Tilgher, Umberto Zanotti Bianco.

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