Cooperative e partiti di massa nell' esperienza di Francesco Marino

This paper examines the question of the formation of the governing classes in the South of Italy during the 20th century. We study the case of Francesco Marino, a communist who was active in the agricultural village of Lentini in the province of Siracusa in the period following the World War One until just after WW2. Marino was an organiser of co-operatives who managed to direct a large mass movement during the twenties, starting the process of splitting large land holdings into quotas and into citrus orchards. With the advent of fascism, he was able to keep his organisation active despite great difficulties. In the aftermath of the second War, the agricultural worker and peasants movement in Lentini found its political expression in the Communist Party. This paper poses the question of the relationship between the local and national dimensions in the formation of governing classes: in the case under consideration, this process was not interrupted by the advent of fascism and this fact helps us read the processes of the nationalisation of politics in a larger timescale.