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'Usocchi', Fiumian pirate, Italian Regency of Carnaro, Fiume 1919-20

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The immediate years following the carnage and upheaval of the Great War saw a collapse of the old political, social and moral orders. All over the World men & women broken and reforged by the horrors of the war attempted to make sense of their experiences by experimenting with forms of government and social organization. In the small Adriatic port city of Fiume (modern day Rijeka) it all got pretty weird.

One of the main routes for supplies to the city of Fiume during the Italian & Yugoslavian governments' blockade of the rebel city was piracy. The Fiuman government's 'Colpi di Mano', (office of armed coups) had a maritime section known as the 'Usocchi', named after the Medieval pirates of the Adriatic. Using fast naval torpedo boats and motor launches the 'Usocchi', raided shipping and coastal towns for supplies. The most famous Fiuman naval coup however didn't involve the 'Usocchi', instead it came from rebellious members of Italy's maritime workers union. On 10 October 1919 the cargo ship Persia carrying at least 13 tons of military supplies from Italy to White Russian forces fighting the Bolsheviks was hijacked by the crew and sailed into Fiume, providing D'Annunzio and his men with ammunition and 30,000 new rifles.

'The means that were to be used to strive for the freedom and redemption of the Russian people will be used to fight for the freedom and redemption of the people of Fiume...We are not working for any particular man in government, but for an idea of human justice that makes us love our neighbours as we love ourselves, without distinctions of nationality and class. To the revolutionaries in name only, to sectarians on all sides, and those sad individuals who have been stupidly attacking our action in newspapers of a different bias, we show the steamship Persia moored in the port of Fiume, flying the maritime federal flag'.

Giuseppe Giulietti.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_…

Unfortunately there aren't a great number of secondary sources available on Fiume in English. Below are a few that I would personally recommend.

History-   Michael A. Ledeen. The First Duce D'Annunzio At Fiume. (1977)
Biography-   Lucy Hughes-Hallett. The Pike, Gabriele D'Annunzio. (2013)

Fiction-   Bruce Sterling. Pirate Utopia. (2016)
Graphic novel- David B. Black Paths. (2011)

Description

'Usocchi', Fiumian pirate, Italian Regency of Carnaro, Fiume 1919-20

---

The immediate years following the carnage and upheaval of the Great War saw a collapse of the old political, social and moral orders. All over the World men & women broken and reforged by the horrors of the war attempted to make sense of their experiences by experimenting with forms of government and social organization. In the small Adriatic port city of Fiume (modern day Rijeka) it all got pretty weird.

One of the main routes for supplies to the city of Fiume during the Italian & Yugoslavian governments' blockade of the rebel city was piracy. The Fiuman government's 'Colpi di Mano', (office of armed coups) had a maritime section known as the 'Usocchi', named after the Medieval pirates of the Adriatic. Using fast naval torpedo boats and motor launches the 'Usocchi', raided shipping and coastal towns for supplies. The most famous Fiuman naval coup however didn't involve the 'Usocchi', instead it came from rebellious members of Italy's maritime workers union. On 10 October 1919 the cargo ship Persia carrying at least 13 tons of military supplies from Italy to White Russian forces fighting the Bolsheviks was hijacked by the crew and sailed into Fiume, providing D'Annunzio and his men with ammunition and 30,000 new rifles.

'The means that were to be used to strive for the freedom and redemption of the Russian people will be used to fight for the freedom and redemption of the people of Fiume...We are not working for any particular man in government, but for an idea of human justice that makes us love our neighbours as we love ourselves, without distinctions of nationality and class. To the revolutionaries in name only, to sectarians on all sides, and those sad individuals who have been stupidly attacking our action in newspapers of a different bias, we show the steamship Persia moored in the port of Fiume, flying the maritime federal flag'.

Giuseppe Giulietti.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_…

Unfortunately there aren't a great number of secondary sources available on Fiume in English. Below are a few that I would personally recommend.

History-   Michael A. Ledeen. The First Duce D'Annunzio At Fiume. (1977)
Biography-   Lucy Hughes-Hallett. The Pike, Gabriele D'Annunzio. (2013)

Fiction-   Bruce Sterling. Pirate Utopia. (2016)
Graphic novel- David B. Black Paths. (2011)