Michele Bianchi - Biography

Italian politician, born in Belmonte Calabro, Calabria, S Italy. A socialist trade unionist, he was one of the founders of the Fascist movement and its first secretary (1921–3). He was a member of the March on Rome quadrumvirate, and became minister of public works (1929–30).

Michele Bianchi (July 22, 1883—February 3, 1930) was an eminent Italian revolutionary syndicalist leader.

Biography

Socialism

Bianchi was born in Belmonte Calabro (Calabria), in southern Italy.

He studied law at the University of Rome, and dedicated himself from early on to journalism. He became a member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), and editor of the Party newspaper Avanti!, presiding over the socialist branch in Rome.

In 1905, Bianchi renounced his position at Avanti! and took over leadership of the Gioventù socialista (paper of the Federazione dei giovani socialisti - youth wing of the PSI). Bianchi adapted to his new residence, and became head of the Ligurian Labor Chamber, as well as editor of the revolutionary paper Lotta socialista.

Syndicalism

In 1906, after backing several workers' riots, he expressed his pacifism in front of the PSI leadership, and was not universally welcomed.

After being arrested several times and travelling throughout Italy, Michele Bianchi became editor of La Scintilla in 1910;

He was however forced by the tight budget to shut down La Scintilla, not before he was yet again arrested in Trieste for attacking Giovanni Giolitti as instigator of the Italo-Turkish War. Bianchi moved to Milan, becoming a major figure of the Milanese Syndical Union and the Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI).

Fascism

Michele Bianchi's attitude during World War I mirrored that of Benito Mussolini: he became an active supporter of Italy's entry into the conflict, and advocate of irredentism. With the end of the war, Bianchi joined Mussolini's Fasci italiani di combattimento, and then the National Fascist Party (PNF).

After stomping out a strike action against Fascist maneuvers, Bianchi was one of the Quattuorvirate who led the March on Rome, the coup d'état that brought Mussolini as Prime Minister (October 1922).

In 1925, he was given the position of undersecretary at the Ministry of Public Works, in 1928 the same position at the Internal Affairs one, and on September 12, 1929 he became Minister of Public Works.