BOMBACCI, NICOLA

(1879–1945)

   One of the leading figures of the Fascist regime, Nicola Bombacci began his career as a political activist in the Partito Socialista Italiano/Italian Socialist Party (PSI). He was one of the leaders of the party’s “maximalist” wing and won notoriety after the revolution in Russia in 1917 by appealing to Italians to follow the Bolshevik example. In 1918, he was arrested and condemned to over two years’imprisonment for antiwar activities but was soon released and was elected to Parliament in 1919. In 1921, he was among the founders of the Partito Comunista Italiano/ Italian Communist Party (PCI), but was expelled in 1924 and drew ever closer to his former PSI comrade, Benito Mussolini. From 1927 onward, Bombacci was an open Fascist, playing an important role as the regime’s spokesman to the working class. He remained faithful to Mussolini even after the dictator’s fall in July 1943 and became one of the most influential figures in the Republic of Salo. Together with Mussolini, Bombacci drew up the so-called Manifesto of Verona, which outlined a confused program that incorporated socialist ideals such as the nationalization of public services with anti-Semitic rhetoric. He was with Mussolini in the desperate flight to Dongo near the Swiss border in April 1945 and shared the dictator’s gruesome end.