Anti-fascism

Few Canadians suspect that the Italian Foreign Office directs the lives and activities of scores of thousands of Italian-Canadians. Consuls are empowered by Mussolini to appoint officers for the Italian organizations even when these are registered under Canadian laws. Holding power of intimidation through relatives in Italy who are actually hostages, the consuls do pretty well what they please in Italian colonies of at least 50 cities and towns of Canada. They maintain the Casas d'Italia in which they have their offices so as to have an excuse for being in the buildings and under this cover, have headquarters for Fascist propaganda.

Article in NOW, antifascist newspaper, Courtesy of Windsor Community Museum

I raised my hand [to speak], but the consul did not recognize me.  I called him what he was – a coward.  On the platform one of the fascist leaders in Windsor said, ‘If you have the guts, come here and speak.’  I got up as fast as I could and in five seconds I was there. I told the consul what they were – a bunch of killers, liars, and the rest. At my shoulder was a picture of the [Italian] king. I tore it off the wall, crumpled it in my hands, and threw it in the face of the consul. That started a melee. In less than a minute the whole audience was fighting each other.  The fascists retreated into one corner. …  We could hear the police sirens coming.

Antifascist Attilio Bortolotti on visit of Italian consul to Windsor in 1926, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America
 

Fascist activities did not go unopposed in Italian and non-Italian communities across Canada. Anti-fascists – a general term that included communists, socialists, anarchists, and liberals – disrupted fascist events, exposed the teaching of fascism in local Italian-language schools, and fought battles in the street and in the press.

Within the pages of Toronto’s La Vittoria or Montreal’s Il Risveglio, anti-fascists exposed the dark realities of life in Italy and appealed to democratic Italians in Canada to form a united front against fascism.