Argentina Altobelli, who is the trade unionist quoted by Meloni who said no to Mussolini – Corriere.it

Today on March 17, when the statutory birth of our nation is celebrated and I think this may be the occasion to celebrate it. The opposition has an educational role for the communities, but unity marks the common destiny. We work starting from different conditions, but the fundamental comparison. Argentina Altobelli, one of the founders of the CGIL, he said: My life has been guided by thought and consciousness. A nonconformist woman who emphasized the values ​​of freedom and love. The presence of Giorgia Meloni at the CGIL National Congress in Rimini was not appreciated by many and with these that the premier responded to the boos that welcomed her on stage.

The approach to politics

Argentina Altobelli, indeed, an example for women who want to pursue a career in politics or trade union activism. Born in Imola in 1866, from a liberal family with patriotic principles, her career began at the beginning of the twentieth century, when women still did not have the right to vote. After an initial influence by Mazzini, she through the knowledge of a group from Parma who often invited her to hold conferences on women’s emancipation, approached socialism. In 1889 she moved to Bologna, where she moved to complete her studies, and married Abdon Altobelli, an elementary school teacher 17 years older and a militant socialist. During the marriage, an atypical case for the time, the man took care of the children so as to allow his wife to devote herself to a political and trade union career.

Support for women and workers

In 1901 Argentina Altobelli contributed to the foundation of the National Federation of Land Workers (Federterra), born in Bologna with the intention of standardizing and disciplining the entire movement of agricultural workers. Only five years later she was elected national secretary, holding the position for the following 20 years, until the dissolution of the trade union organization ordered by the fascist regime. Over the years, the manager has defended many battles for women’s emancipation, including that for divorce, but also for the improvement of the conditions of the humblest, such as male and female workers in the fields. He fought for the rights, regulations and salary terms they deserved. In fact, in 1904 she was a delegate of the Italian women’s alliance at the international women’s congress in Amsterdam, in 1908, during the socialist congress in Florence, she was nominated a member of the national leadership of the Italian socialist party (PSI) and in 1912 for the following two years she had the role of labor adviser and farmers’ representative within the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce.

The clash with fascism

In 1920, as Federterra’s secretary, she participated in the International Congress of Land Workers, held in Amsterdam. Two years later, for her, Argentina Altobelli was forced to leave Bologna due to fascist pressure, but before the definitive closure of Federterra she addressed a direct affront to Benito Mussolini, defining him in the newspaper of the organization “La Terra” a proletarian fascist, hit man paid by the landowners […] tyrant of reaction, scourger of the weak […] murderer of your brothers. Shortly after Mussolini, with the intention of getting closer to reformists and socialists, invited the woman to Palazzo Chigi to offer her the role of undersecretary of agriculture. Argentina Altobelli refused, thus expressing his opposition to fascism. died in Rome in 1942. As a tribute to her career, her socialist comrades brought a wreath of red flowers to her funeral, immediately destroyed by the fascist police. Only four years later universal suffrage arrived, a goal for which she often fought.