Sammarinese Fascist Party
Sammarinese Fascist Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Giuliano Gozi |
| Founded | 10 August 1922 |
| Dissolved | 16 November 1944 |
| Headquarters | City of San Marino |
| Newspaper | Il Popolo Sammarinese |
| Ideology | Fascism (Italian) |
| Political position | Far-right |
The Sammarinese Fascist Party (Italian: Partito Fascista Sammarinese) or PFS was a fascist political party that ruled San Marino from 1923 to 1943.
It was founded and led by Giuliano Gozi, a Sammarinese World War I veteran who volunteered in the Royal Italian Army, on 10 August 1922, and was modelled directly from the National Fascist Party of surrounding Italy. Gozi came from a distinguished family and held the posts of foreign minister (in San Marino, the foreign minister leads the cabinet) and interior minister; these two offices gave him control of the military and police. From the beginning, the party used violence and intimidation against opponents such as the Socialists. Its party newspaper was the Il Popolo Sammarinese, modelled after the Il Popolo d'Italia. In terms of policy and ideology, the party was not innovative and stuck closely to Italian Fascism. They pursued industrialization which turned a country of mostly farmers into one of factory workers. They did not adopt Anti-Jewish laws as Italy did in 1938 as the tiny country did not have any visible Jewish community.
In April 1923, Gozi was elected as the first Fascist Captain-Regent. After the October elections, both Captains-Regent were Fascists and would remain so in subsequent elections for the next two decades as all other political parties were banned in 1926 effectively making San Marino a one-party state. However independent politicians continued to form a majority in the Grand and General Council until 1932. In addition, the party was split between Gozi's faction and Ezio Balducci's faction forcing them to look to the Italian party for guidance and mediation.
In 1932, Balducci's faction started a rival newspaper, La Voce del Titano. The next year he was accused of plotting a coup and arrested by Italian authorities after fleeing to Rome. Balducci and other alleged conspirators were purged from the party and tried and sentenced to hard labor in 1934 by a special court but the punishment was never carried out.