National League of Cooperatives and Mutual Aid

The National League of Cooperatives and Mutual Aid is identified as the official organizer of Nicola Bombacci’s delegation to Copenhagen in March 1920. Its significance in the account lies in placing a mission to Soviet representatives under the banner of the cooperative movement, while the journey also carried political backing from a government the Italian socialists opposed.

Role in the Copenhagen Mission

The delegation that arrived in Copenhagen at the end of March 1920 was officially arranged by the National League of Cooperatives and Mutual Aid, described in the account as the National League of “red” cooperatives. The mission brought Bombacci into contact with Maksim Litvinov and Leonid Krasin, Soviet representatives responsible for foreign affairs and foreign trade. The passage establishes the League as the organizing body, but does not specify its internal structure, the resources it supplied, or how it selected the delegates.

Political Setting and Significance

The mission’s sponsorship was part of a broader political contradiction. It was promoted by Milan, whose socialist mayor was Emilio Caldara, and it also had the political endorsement of Prime Minister Francesco Saverio Nitti’s government. Nitti’s government, in turn, relied on Italian socialists for its Russia policy even as those socialists declared their intention to overthrow it. The League’s role therefore linked cooperative organization to a diplomatic initiative that crossed the divide between socialist opposition and liberal government; the evidence does not show that the League itself controlled the negotiations or determined their outcome.

Limits of the Record

The account gives the League a clear but narrowly defined place in events: it arranged the delegation officially, while the political initiative to pursue relations with Soviet Russia is described chiefly through Bombacci’s efforts. Since December 1919, he had pressed for diplomatic recognition and hoped that personal discussions with Soviet representatives would advance revolutionary aims in Italy. The League’s appearance thus marks the institutional channel for the journey, rather than a separately narrated program or independent political intervention.