Nella Giacomelli

Nella Giacomelli (d. 1949), Italian anarchist and propagandist, co-founder with Ettore Molinari of 'Il Grido della Folla' (The Cry of the Crowd) in 1902 and of 'Umanità Nova' in 1906, and in the post-war period a contributor to Errico Malatesta's anarchist daily 'Umanita Nova', born. Despite her family's dire financial straits following the suicide of her non-conformist Republican father, Nella and her sister Fede managed to graduate with her teaching diploma. Between 1892 and 1897 she taught in Lombardy, first in Maslianico and subsequently in Cocquio, and, like many teachers of her generation, joined the Partito Socialista Italiano, collaborating with the magazine 'La Vita Internazionale' and 'Sorgete!' (Arise!), the socialist newspaper in her home town Lodi, defending the causes of female emancipation and workers' rights in both. During this period she met Giuseppe Ciancabilla, who introduced her to the theories of anarchism, which appealed to Nella's restless and rebellious nature, and she soon began to abandon socialism. In 1894 at the age of twenty one, her rebellious nature also led to her abandoning the family home following a series of disagreements with her rigidly Catholic and monarchist mother. Three years later in 1898, a series of disputes with the municipal authorities in Cocquio led to her resigning her teaching position and moving to Milan, where he began to be interested in social issues. That same year saw Giacomelli attempt suicide, the reasons for which remain unknown, though it is clear that she suffered from regular periods of depression, during which she sought solitude.
In 1900, Nella met the militant anarcho-individualist, and soon-to-be director of the School of Chemistry at the Milan Società d'Incoraggiamento d'Arti e Mestieri (Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Crafts), Ettore Molinari, who needed a governess for his six children. The pair would form a partnership – initially political but later emotional – that would span twenty five years. Their 'anti-organisational' propagandist zeal resulted in the launch on April 14, 1902 of the newspaper 'Il Grido della Folla', with Nella as its editor, and it would go on to become the largest circulation anarcho-individualist publication in Italy until its closure in 1907. Giacomelli contributed to the ideological debate then raging within the ranks of anarchism initially under the pseudonym Ireos, as well as writing on topics such as free love, women's issues (she was critical of the early feminists) and on anarchist colonies. Eager to experience this form of community life, in 1905 she went to the communist commune L'Essai in Aiglemont, in the French Ardennes, which prompted a critical essay that was serialised in her and Molinari's second newspaper project 'La Protesta Umana' (1906-09), and later published as the 'Una colonia comunista' pamphlet in 1907. The launch of the weekly 'La Protesta Umana' followed a split within the 'Il Grido della Folla' editorial group, and in its pages the couple would develop their anarcho-individualist and anti-organisations theses, and face prosecution for its contents on a number of occasions. In 1908 another well-known anarchist couple, Leda Rafanelli and Guiseppe Monanni, joined the editorial staff of the newspaper. The two women would become close friends but, with the folding of 'La Protesta Umana', Giacomelli withdrew from political activity, except for contributions to the clandestine antimilitarist newspaper 'Rompete le File' (1907-13), edited by Marie Rygier and Filippo Corridoni. Her withdrawal was in large part prompted by the violent attack on her launched by Paolo Schicchi, who she and Molinari had invited to edit 'La Protesta Umana', in the pages of his pamphlet 'La degenerazione dell'anarchismo' (1909).
Depressed and suspicious of former comrades, she instead dedicated herself to the education of Molinari's children. However, with war looming and following the insurrectionary events of the Settimana Rossa (June 7-14, 1914), under the pseudonym Petit Jardin she launched a series of attacks in the libertarian press on those anarchists who had abandoned the fundamental internationalist position of anarchism in support of the War. In the pages of 'Volontà', the Ancona anarchist newspaper, she maintained her intransigent pacifist position, arguing not only against intervention in the war but also against any military defence of "la patria" in case of foreign invasion, and continued to defend her position as editor of the newspaper 'Abbasso la guerra!' She also took the 'fight' to the streets and, on April 30, 1916, she was arrested in Milan as the author of an anti-militarist manifesto inciting women to demonstrate against the war that May Day and as one of the main organisers of May 1st demonstration in that city. She was banished to her home town of Lodi with a warning to keep clear of any form of anti-war propaganda. In 1917, Giacomelli was one of the first anarchists in Italy to express solidarity with the Russian Revolution and, in agreement with Luigi Fabbri, she expressed her astonishment that some anarchists were prepared to participate in the so-called Third Zimmerwald Conference, an anti-war socialist conference planned for Stockholm (it was never held). 1917 also saw her collaborated on the 'Cronaca Libertaria' newspaper, published by Leda Rafanelli and Carlo Molaschi
After the war, she collaborated on the publication of the single issue 'Guerra e Pace' in Milan (February 22, 1919) and was thrown back into anarchist activism when she participated with Molinari (officially as his sister) in the Florence Congress (April 12-14, 1919) that saw the launch of the Unione Comunista Anarchica Italiana. She was also caught up in the planning for a new anarchist newspaper, 'Umanità Nova', which was eventually launched the following year. At the same time she began an enthusiastic correspondence with Errico Malatesta, then in exile in England and who would return to become one of the editors of the new newspaper. In the first issue of 'Umanità Nova' she announced the death of Petit Jardin, now writing under her own name. After the initial post-launch period, her involvement dwindled and she eventually quit writing in its pages altogether and gave up being managing director of the newspaper company. Despite having severed all tied with 'Umanità Nova', Giacomelli was included alongside the then editorial group of the newspaper as suspects in the "conspiracy against the powers of the state" following the bomb attack at the Teatro Diana on March 23, 1921 by a Milanese anarchist-individualist group, which caused 21 deaths and 80 wounded. In the end, she was exonerated on May 1, 1922. Following the transfer of 'Umanità Nova' to Rome, she began collaborating under the pseudonyms Inkyo and 'vice Rudel' on the Milanese magazine 'Pagine Libertarie' (1921-23), founded by Carlo Molaschi. Following the death of Ettore Molinari on November 9, 1926, she continued to care for his children and, accused of having contacts with the exiled Camillo Berneri, who at the time was suspected of complicity in Gino Lucetti's September 11th attempt to kill Mussolini, she was arrested in May 1928 along with Libero and Henry Molinari, two of Ettore's children. Following the intervention of her friend, and former editor of 'Il Grido della Folla', Oberdan Gigli, the three were released in September and Nella retired to Rivoltella del Garda on the south-western shore of Lake Garda, quitting all political activity.
Nella Giacomelli died on February 12, 1949 in Rivoltella.

Amongst her writings are: 'Una colonia comunista' (1907), 'Le degenerazioini dell'anarchismo' (1909), 'Un triste caso di libellismo anarchico' (A sad case of anarchist libellism; 1909, with Ettore Molinori in response to 'La degenerazione dell'anarchismo'), 'Fattori economici per la successione della rivoluzione sociale' (Economic factors for the success of the social revolution; 1920), 'l giudice Cappone, ovverosia: le farse della giustizia' (The judge Cappone, namely: the farces of justice; 1921), 'Meteorre rosse. Dramma en tres actos' (Red Meteors. Drama in three acts; 1922) and 'La riforma Alker nell'allevamento del baco' (The Alker system for breeding silkworms; 1927). Amongst her writings are: 'Una colonia comunista' (1907), 'Le degenerazioini dell'anarchismo' (1909), 'Un triste caso di libellismo anarchico' (A sad case of anarchist libellism; 1909, with Ettore Molinori in response to 'La degenerazione dell'anarchismo'), 'Fattori economici per la successione della rivoluzione sociale' (Economic factors for the success of the social revolution; 1920), 'l giudice Cappone, ovverosia: le farse della giustizia' (The judge Cappone, namely: the farces of justice; 1921), 'Meteorre rosse. Dramma en tres actos' (Red Meteors. Drama in three acts; 1922) and 'La riforma Alker nell'allevamento del baco' (The Alker system for breeding silkworms; 1927).

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