Catholic Neutralism and the Peasant Protest against War, 1914-1918

This chapter analyses the nature of Catholic hostility to the First World War from a political, intellectual and theological point of view. In particular, it focuses on Italy’s most uncompromising case of Catholic neutralism, led by Guido Miglioli in areas of the Po Valley, and rooted in the peasant opposition to war and in a close commitment to the Gospel. After a discussion of the historiography on Italian neutralism, it sheds light on the ways in which the peasant ‘White leagues’ sought to prevent war in 1914-15, and continued to express their opposition throughout the war years. It concentrates particularly on their propaganda during the months of the neutrality, on the effects of the defeat at Caporetto, and on the radicalization of politics during the last year of war, showing how pacifism and the social question became intertwined. It also explains how Catholic anti-militarism influenced the White leagues’ relationship with both the Italian Socialist Party and the Catholic Church.