The destruction of Freemasonry in Italy by the Fascist regime began between the end of December 1923 and January 1924. When the reasons for this are analyzed, the usual conclusion reached is that it was a political action – that Freemasonry was seen as one of many ‘internal enemies’ with whom Fascism had to battle in order to rise to power.
     Certainly, this is a valid interpretation but there is an additional reason for the persecution, one arising from the conflict between Fascism and Freemasonry that was born in the claim of both to being ‘lay religions’ from which a new type of ‘Italian’ was born. In this particular sense, the conflict between Fascism and Freemasonry can be viewed as a ‘religious’ war.
     Looking back in history, it cannot be said that Italian Freemasonry was an obstacle to the birth of Fascism. In fact, quite a number of historians have claimed that it had a crucial role in the Fascists’ rise to power.
     When, in June 1919, the leaders of Grande Oriente d’Italia (Grand Orient of Italy) met at the Palazzo Giustiniani in Rome for the installation of the Grand Master, Domizio Torrigiani, those present showed clear signs of sympathy for the Fascist movement. At this early stage, there was no conflict between Fascism and Freemasonry. It was only afterwards, during the transformation from a Fascism movement to the Fascist regime that the inevitable deterioration of this relationship occurred and it was soon followed by the methodical persecution of Freemasonry by the Fascists.
     During early Fascism, there were no signs of hostility toward Freemasons. All changed, however, as a new phase emerged, one characterized by political leadership, mobilization of the masses, the cult of Il Duce, the development of a totalitarian state and the education of the ‘New Italian’.
     This new phase also saw the creation of a ‘myth of the new civilization’ together with the rites and symbols of a new political and lay religion. So it was inevitable that Freemasonry, which also offered a code of conduct for the individual and had its own values, symbols and rituals, would become, to the Fascists, an intolerable antagonist.

A Clash of Beliefs

On what basis then can the Fascist persecution of Freemasonry be referred to as a ‘religious’war? To begin with, World War I had produced ‘modern’ problems that, according to Fascists, had to be resolved with a ‘modern’ mentality.
     Fascism claimed this modern mentality as well as a modern cultural background, which placed it at odds with the traditional mentality and cultural background of Freemasonry. Fascists, even though they came from various backgrounds, found their unity in the cult of nation and the cult of war from which originated the so-called ‘Fascist Religion’: a lay religion centred on the cult of la Patria.
     This Fascist religion became the creed of a political elite determined to impose its cult on all Italians and intolerant of the existence of what were considered rival cults such as Freemasonry. Freemasons, unwilling to be converted, were treated as reprobates who consequently had to be punished, persecuted and banned.

Rituals and Symbols

The pursuit of ethical aims in Freemasonry occurs according to initiatory procedures using rituals and symbols; it is an initiatic society. The origins of Freemasonry are that of construction, building and edification: symbolically, to build a temple.
     It can be seen as an alchemical work of character development: the slow, progressive transformation of the secular individual into the ‘higher self’ – a living spirit bestowed with full self-awareness. It is an initiatic path that leads the individual to perfection and complete emancipation.
     It is obvious that all this would clash with the will to power of Fascism which was bent on shaping the masses in a way that would have resulted in the annihilation of the individual. It was, without a doubt, the importance and the role assigned to the individual that placed Fascism and Freemasonry in diametrically opposed position. In contrast with Freemasonry, which founded itself on the principles of ‘liberty and fraternity’, Mussolini loved to compare politics to an art and defined the politician as an artist who moulded human material.
     The plan of these ‘founders of civilization’ - as Fascists considered themselves - was inevitably filled with symbols and rituals. Mussolini was certainly conscious of the important lesson of Gustav Le Bon, an author he admired greatly:

A religious or political belief is founded on faith, but a faith cannot last without rituals.

     This was a fundamentalist ideology which, while rejecting the supremacy of reason and of the rational culture, did not reject a rational use of the irrational. The new lay religion of Fascism manifested itself after the model proposed by the French historian Albert Mathiez who had defined the religious character of the cults of the French Revolution:

The religious phenomenon, during its period of formation, is always accompanied by a state of excitement and a deep yearning for happiness. Almost immediately thereafter, religious belief becomes concrete in material objects, in symbols … they do not tolerate these object to be scorned or ignored. Quite often believers, especially neophytes, are filled with a destructive rage against the symbols of other cults.

     The assault on the masonic lodges, the destruction of symbols and everything pertaining to rituals confirms the validity of such theories. A daily newspaper of the era reads,

…the Masonic banner and the sacred furnishings of the lodges were carried in a procession and burned in the plazas and many leaders of Freemasonry suffered personal persecution.

The Destruction of Symbols

It becomes evident that the use of punitive and destructive raids by Fascist squads was, at heart, of a symbolic nature. Their aggression can be seen as a real ‘war of symbols’ in which the enemy’s symbols must be imposed upon the adversary.
     In fact, at the end of each destructive and ‘purifying’ operation, there was a ceremony involving the display and veneration of the national flag or the banner of the particular Fascist squad. In a strange parallel with Freemasonry, Fascist viewed participation in these punitive expeditions as a ‘rite of initiation’, in which one had to prove oneself to have all the qualities that a squad member should possess. The passing of this test was an act that represented total dedication.
     At the time, Freemasonry viewed Fascism as an instrument in the hands of the Church, or the Nationalists, rather than as an ideology in its own right. This was the same error of judgement that many historians made, and it brought Freemasons to the point of actually denying the responsibility of the Fascists for the first onslaught against the masonic lodges. When it became clear what Fascism really was, it was already too late to mount an opposition.
     In twenty years of Fascism, Italian Freemasonry lost a great opportunity. Its undue involvement in politics and its delayed comprehension of the Fascist phenomenon prevented it from being a last defence of civil society against totalitarianism.


Dr. Fabio Venzi is the Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy (GLRI) and author of The Influence of Neoplatonic Thought on Freemasonry, reviewed in Freemasonry Today, Issue 1.