Diacronie. Studi di Storia Contemporanea (Dec 2012)

La repressione del movimento contadino in Sicilia (1944-1950)

  • Gabriele Montalbano è studente del Master in “Histoire des sociétés occidentales contemporaines” all’Università di Parigi 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne e all’École Normale Supérieure di Parigi, dove sta svolgendo ricerche sulla storia politica e culturale del Mediterraneo sotto la tutela di Gilles Pécout e di Pascal Ory.

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 4
pp. 1 – 19

Abstract

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After the World War, Sicilian rural areas were still under the control of big farmers. Peasant movements opposed to them through land reclamation and occupation of latifundia. ‘Gullo’ decree, granted on 19th October 1944, propelled these movements by conceding uncultivated lands to peasant cooperatives. Landowners replied to this dynamic not only through legal means: this article focuses on the coalition between landowners and local mafia in order to repress this mobilization. It analyzes in particular the killings of Placido Rizzotto and Giuseppe Maniaci to enlighten the collaboration among some representatives of national armed forces and mafia.

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