Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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100 years ago – why was Giacomo Matteotti murdered by Mussolini’s secret police?
ALFIO BERNABEI presents evidence that it was the Italian Socialist MP’s attempt – weeks before his death – to build an anti-fascist platform in Britain that cost him his life, as he vainly sought to prevent Italy from falling into dictatorship
DOOMED: Matteotti (centre) with fellow supporters during the early 1920s
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
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NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
AT THE end of his four-day clandestine visit to London in April 1924, Giacomo Matteotti, the Italian secretary of the Socialist Party and a prominent MP, was asked by the Daily Herald if he was not afraid to return to his country.
“My life is always in danger,” he replied. “This is what I want you to understand.” He had every reason to fear for his life. Regarded as the arch-enemy of Mussolini, who was head of government and foreign minister, he had been denied a passport to prevent him from meeting representatives of foreign organisations. It wouldn’t be long before someone would let him know that he had gone a step too far.
Less than two months later, the search for his body was continuing in and around Rome.
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