The Murder of Giacomo Matteotti

In collaboration with
Primo Levi Center

Part of
Giorno della Memoria 2025

The Murder of Giacomo Matteotti
Dictatorships, Democracies, and the Oil Wars

On the occasion of the publication of
The Matteotti Murder and Mussolini
The Anatomy of a Fascist Crime
(2024, Palgrave Macmillan)

by Mauro Canali

The author in conversation with
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, NYU
Natalia Indrimi, Primo Levi Center

In ENGLISH

Canali’s research is based on the trial records smuggled to London by the lawyer of the Matteotti family, Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani when it became clear that he too was a target of the regime. Modigliani documented that Matteotti was investigating bribes from the American Sinclair Oil Company to the Italian government in exchange for the monopoly to drill on Italian soil and in the Italian colonies.

Matteotti’s murder in 1924 opened the way to establishing the Fascist dictatorship and to redesigning the institutions of the state. Through the lens of the trial and Modigliani’s activity, Canali addresses the history of the war over natural resources of which Matteotti remained a marginal yet highly symbolic victim.

Canali follows the parallel routes of corruption and social struggles flowing between worlds politically and ideologically apart, how they shaped different populist and democratic narratives, and the rise of an inextricable bond between ruling classes, warfare, and industrial interests.

Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani (1872-1946) was one of the founders of the Italian Socialist Party and of the first Italian union. He developed and maintained strong ties with unions and socialist activists in the US, especially with David Dubinsky, Bruce Vladek, and the Local 89 International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. His relation to Matteotti before the murder and during the trial, illuminates a complex map of alliances and conflicts between the two countries and the role of unionism in the battle against authoritarianism.