"Putin Will Escape Or Be Shot By His Guards."
- 28.05.2026, 9:33
An Italian lesson for Russia.
Italy's past may become Russia's future. In 1946, Italy lay in ruins. And it became quite obvious to everyone - the past model was no longer working: "Is it possible after Mussolini to continue living as before?" And then it was decided to hold a referendum. Formally, the question was: "Republic or monarchy?" But in fact Italians had to vote for or against the Savoy dynasty.
Yes, the Savoy dynasty united Italy. BUT it was King Victor Emmanuel III who appointed Mussolini prime minister in 1922, tolerated fascism for 20 years, signed racial laws, didn't stop the dictatorship, and fled Rome in 1943 when the Germans occupied the city. Abandoned the army and the capital. To many, it was a betrayal.
In the spring of 1946, the king realized he was losing and made a desperate PR move a month before the referendum. He abdicated in favor of his son Umberto II. Let's not rake up the past and start from scratch. Who will remember the old. But it was too late. Humberto ruled for only 34 days and went down in history as the "May King".
The result of the referendum on June 2: 54.3% for a republic against 45.7% for a monarchy. About 12 million versus 10 million votes. The gap is less than 2 million in a population of 45 million. It was the first national vote in Italy in which women participated.
Factually, the referendum split Italy: the industrial, leftist north voted for a republic, while the conservative, agrarian south voted for a monarchy. It was the North that organized the Resistance, survived the civil war and the German occupation. There, the monarchy was seen as complicit in fascism. In the South, the king was seen as the father of the nation, the guarantor of order and protection from chaos. People were especially afraid of the Communists. The Vatican of course did not want a communist revolution, but it was also afraid of too close association with the failed monarchy.
Monarchists immediately decided to challenge the results and claimed that there had been fraud, that some of the ballots had been spoiled and that the votes of the soldiers had not been counted correctly. There were clashes and fatalities in the streets of Rome. Riots broke out in some southern cities. But the High Court of Justice confirmed the victory of the Republic.
Even before the official announcement of the results, when preliminary data showed a victory for the Republic, Umberto left Italy and flew to Portugal. The 1948 constitution banned male descendants of the Savoy dynasty from entering Italy. This ban was lifted only in 2002, 56 years after the referendum.
p.s.
When the pakhanate collapses, and it will, Putin will run away or be shot by his guards. And it will become clear to everyone that we can no longer live like this. And then, too, a referendum will have to be held - how to live on? I don't know about you, but I would offer everyone who wants to leave Russia the right of free exit. I would return all the captured territories to Ukraine and help to restore everything destroyed by the war. I would declare the FSB a criminal organization and dissolve it. I would hold an open trial of all the organizers of the war - from parliamentarians and military officers to Chekists and propagandists. I would dissolve the Russian Orthodox Church and conduct lustration.
What issues would you put to a referendum?
Dmitry Chernyshev, Telegram.