ABSTRACT
Based on a systematic analysis of new records, this chapter examines the experience of squadristi at the confino, and particularly the opposite perceptions about the meaning of violence that they and police authorities had. The confino severed the old bonds of loyalty and established new ones, so as to make the old Blackshirts disciplined and docile without thereby depriving the dictatorship of a competent and useful force willing to engage in violence. The Blackshirts’ own perspective brings out the rootedness and endurance of a specific squadrista subculture that sprung from opportunism and necessity. But it also sheds light on the motivations, beliefs and actions of the chief actors behind Fascist violence. The multifaceted image that emerges helps us to rethink – from an innovative perspective – the process of fascistisation and the creation of the cult of the Duce, while outlining the convoluted relationship between the private and the public sphere in a totalitarian regime. Ultimately, the confino of Blackshirts aimed to create a restricted yet loyal group of professional men of violence directly connected to the dynamics of power, while those considered useless were condemned to a life of deprivation and social marginalization.
