Talking Points for Women of War

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• Tells the stories of four women across Nazi-occupied Italy whose dangerous work for the antifascist resistance shows the breadth of women’s involvement - and how essential they were to the movement’s success.

• Speaks to the experience of women under Fascism, and women becoming politically activated before and during the war in Italy.

• Provides the history of the antifascist movement in Italy more broadly, with the varied work by men and women raising money, providing political education, writing underground publications and more.

• Discusses the little-known history of why the resistance in Italy was different than in other occupied areas - because Italians were fighting a Civil War against their Fascism countrymen in addition to the World War. They were also fighting - and planning - for a new, democratic future.

• Examines the power of the underground publications to political education and antifascist recruitment - as well as the deadly repercussions of being found with these illegal pamphlets.

• Recounts little-known, dramatic stories of women bombing Nazis, fighting battles against Fascist armies, evading German checkpoints, and narrowly escaping death at the hands of enemies.

• Tells the story of sex and love among the resistance fighters as women were given freedom to escape conservative social norms about being alone with men.

• Illustrates the power of “le maternage” - or activist mothering: interpreting how acts of feeding and nurturing were integral to the resistance, showing ways that women were essential to the success of the armed fighters and post-war political change. This concept is linked to a main argument in my previous research about elevating “women’s work” in revolutionary contexts.

• Can provide a counterpoint to the barrage of male-centric World War II stories coming out in this 80th anniversary of the end of the war: including commentary on the documentary “M” about Mussolini; the movie 6888 about a Black female US Battalion; The Blitz, which aims to show a broader sense of women’s work in England during the war, among others.

• Connects these stories to efforts today - providing a model for present activists and historic context for issues that persist.

A clip of Suzanne Cope speaking on the radio can be found here