Italian Fascism, Mussolini, Mussolinismo

Questo articolo è stato pubblicato originariamente in olandese nel periodico Roma Aeterna 7.1 (2019) ed è stato tradotto da Marcella Mul a cui sono molto grata. Le immagini dell'articolo originale si trovano nel seguente link: httpsOgni tanto si accende una disputa sul destino del patrimonio culturale fascista in Italia. Generalmente, la discussione si ravviva grazie a un'influenza dall'estero. Ad esempio, i Giochi olimpici svoltisi a Roma nel 1960 portarono a discussioni politiche sul futuro dei mosaici in bianco e nero, costruiti nel 1937 da Mussolini nel Viale del Foro Italico, precedentemente noto come Forum Imperii sul Foro Mussolini. Il risultato finale di queste discussioni è stato l'eliminazione della formula del giuramento al fascismo. Ciononostante, i tifosi della SS Lazio e dell'AS Roma vedono ogni settimana i mosaici che formano la scritta 'Molti nemici molto onore' e 'Duce la nostra giovinezza vi dedichiamo'.

A few slides put together surrounding Mussolini, the main parts of his rule, and public imaginaries on the man. “Mussolini was further to the Left in his political opinions than any of his socialist rivals.” - George Bernard Shaw quoted in Socialism and Superior Brains.

In the political and social doctrine “The Ideology of Twentieth Century” the fascist leader Benito Mussolini expresses his view about the aims of the Fascist government with impressive but indirect way: “The Fascist State express the will to exercise power and command. Here the Roman tradition is embodied in a conception of strength. Imperial power, as understood by the fascist doctrine, is not only territorial, or military, or commercial; it is also spiritual and ethical. An imperial nation, that is to say, a nation which directly or indirectly is the leader of others can exist without the need of
conquering a single mile of territory…” (Griffin, 1998, p. 256). It is very difficult to define clearly what were the exact aims of the Mussolini’s fascist government, and it is difficult to speak about all these aims in one paper, but based on the Mussolini’s thought where we examine in the sources and historical facts we should argue that the substantial aims of the Fascist government were to establish common imperialistic thought which would ensure the militaristic, popularly supported, centralized, and internationally recognized Hegemon State. In order to fulfill these objectives, the Fascist state implemented complex internal and external strategy which we will examine below.

. Non un semplice iscritto al Partito Fascista, ma
un fanatico militante disposto a fare il “becchino” per spazzare via i cadaveri
ingombranti dei nemici del fascismo. Questo il ritratto di Luigi Pirandello,
fascista convinto, alla luce di nuovi documenti inediti apparsi sul quotidiano
fascista “L’Impero” e pubblicati in appendice a questo articolo. Un Pirandello “scandaloso” nell’adulare sfrontatamente Mussolini come condottiero
che non ha paragoni nella storia. Ma anche un Pirandello che rifiuta con
forza l’appellativo di scrittore fascista, rivendicando anche pubblicamente la
propria libertà artistica in dissenso con le direttive del Duce che propugnava
un’arte al servizio del regime. / Not just a member of the Fascist Party, but a
fanatical activist ready to turn into a gravedigger to wipe away all the bulky
corpses of the fascism enemies. Here is a portrait of Luigi Pirandello, a committed Fascist, after the new unknown documents appeared on the fascist daily
“L’Impero” and published in the Appendix of this article. They reveal a shocking
Pirandello making flattering impudent comments about Mussolini seen as the
best leader of all time as well as a Pirandello who strongly refuses the title of a
fascist writer and publically claims his artistic freedom against the Duce’s policy
who supported a kind of art at the fascist regime service.

Les dures années de crise que nous traversons entraînent une relance des mouvements d'extrême droite dans tous les pays européens. Cette augmentation est également due au consensus que ces partis réussissent à obtenir dans les quartiers populaires. Le succès de ces partis n'est pas seulement électoral ou lié exclusivement au vote de protestation, mais est attesté par la diffusion du soutien à cette idéologie dans de vastes couches sociales des pays européens : sur les réseaux sociaux, on observe périodiquement la réapparition généralisée de textes qui revendiquent et rappellent les succès des deux décennies (il Ventennio) de fascisme en Italie, faits de grands investissements et d'institutions sociales en faveur de la population. Essentiellement, le fascisme est décrit comme un régime bonapartiste qui, sous la direction charismatique de Mussolini, a subjugué la bourgeoisie italienne, a contribué à la renaissance et au succès économique du pays et en a réparti les bénéfices sur l'ensemble de la population. Ces résultats sont encore améliorés en affrontant les échecs politiques et économiques de la démocratie républicaine. Est-ce que tout cela est vrai? Est-il vrai que le fascisme a amélioré la situation de toute la population? At -elle donné de meilleurs résultats que la démocratie républicaine?

""Can we refer to Rationalism talking about Italian colonial architecture in Libya? The architectural style proposed in Libya offers an answer to the State request of being “Colonial”, “Italian”, “Modern”, “Fascist” and “Monumental”. The text aims at analysing which are the stylistic solutions adopted in the colony, concluding with a definition of Libyan Rationalism, as an innovative combination of local influences and functional elements used for the new rural centres.

Si può parlare di architettura coloniale italiana in Libia? Lo stile effettivamente proposto in colonia offre una risposta alle richieste da parte dello Stato di realizzare una architettura “Coloniale”, “Italiana”, “Moderna”, “Fascista” e “Monumentale”. Il testo analizza le soluzioni stilistiche adottate in Libia, concludendo con la definizione di “Razionalismo libico” per le forme dei nuovi centri rurali, inteso come una combinazione innovativa tra influenze locali e elementi funzionali fusi.""

. Per più di mezzo secolo la critica pirandelliana
ha sostenuto l’inconciliabilità tra la biografia e l’opera di Pirandello. Quasi
che lo scrittore avesse una doppia identità: in pubblico fascista dichiarato
e ben altro nel segreto della creazione artistica. L’articolo demolisce questa
presunta contraddizione sulla base delle convinzioni artistiche dello stesso
commediografo. Politica e arte furono per lui due cose ben distinte. Tanto
da dichiararsi contrario a un’arte fascista, in aperto dissenso con Mussolini.
Questa clamorosa difesa della libertà dell’arte, contenuta in una ignorata
intervista del 1927, restituisce dignità al ritratto consegnato da Sciascia di
un Pirandello debole e opportunista. In appendice all’articolo, uno scritto
inedito di Pirandello sulla milizia fascista. / Pirandello’s criticism claimed
the irreconcilability between the author’s life and his works, for more than half
a century. It seems almost that he had a double life: he was an open fascist in
public, while a complete different person emerges from his writing. The article
destroys this alleged contradiction on the basis of Pirandello’s artistic beliefs.
Despite Mussolini’s ideas, he was against a Fascist art. He, indeed, believed
that art and politics were two different things. This clamours defence of art’s
freedom, which is contained in an ignored interview in 1927, restores dignity
to Sciascia’s portrait of Pirandello, who depicted him as a weak and opportunist man. In appendix to the article, there is an unpublished Pirandello’s work
on the Fascist Militia.

The idea of a heritage from ancient Rome, or romanità, was central to Italian fascism. This article analyzes, in the 44 volumes of his Opera Omnia, Il Duce Mussolini’s discourse on romanità, focusing on key themes such as empire, historical characters and the grandeur of archaeological remains. It links Mussolini’s discourse of romanità to his discourse on the future, and to the idea of fascism as a political religion. It shows that Mussolini’s historical knowledge was largely overstated and that it was mainly the omnipresence of romanità, rather than its specific features, which can be defined as central to this notion.

Questo progetto si propone di descrivere principalmente l’ambiente del ventennio fascista italiano. Non si darà una visione generale sulla quotidianità politica e sociale del governo, ma si concentrerà su specifici temi, non meno importanti di quelli tradizionalmente trattati. In particolare, i temi sui quali il lavoro si concentra sono essenzialmente due: in primis si analizzerà qual era il ruolo e l’importanza della figura femminile nel sistema/ideologia politico fascista italiano, nonché in quello spagnolo, principalmente dentro la Falange Española e il suo mutamento prima, durante e dopo la Guerra Civile Spagnola (soprattutto per quanto concerne la religione); In secondo luogo, si tratteranno i metodi e le finalità sui quali si basava l’educazione imposta dal regime fascista, tramite le diverse riforme del sistema scolastico realizzate dai primi anni di governo del Duce fino agli anni quaranta. Inoltre, si tratterà il tema dell’importanza delle associazioni giovanili per l’educazione (o indottrinamento) dei più piccoli al di fuori della scuola.

The Futurist movement presents a perfect example of the way politics come into play in a work of art and how those ideas can influence the style and content. In the present day Futurism is unequivocally associated with Benito Mussolini’s fascist rule due to the marrying of Marinetti’s ambition to spread his views with Mussolini’s recognition of the Futurists as allies and their ability to produce propaganda in his favour. However, Futurism is not explicitly a right-wing, fascist movement as it contained many left-wing artists also – as shown significantly by the emergence of Futurism in Russia in relation to Lenin.

Este artículo revela la petición formal de creación y futuro uso de la base aérea italiana en Mallorca que firmó en agosto de 1936 el agregado militar de la Embajada de España en Roma, Manuel Villegas Gardoqui. Asimismo, explora el alcance de este militar como emisario de Franco ante Mussolini. El documento firmado por Villegas da libertad a los italianos para atacar objetivos “de carácter moral” del Levante republicano. Este hecho trascendental, la creación de la base de la Aviación Legionaria de Baleares, no se había abordado en profundidad. Las principales fuentes utilizadas son los archivos del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores italiano, el Archivo General Militar de Ávila, el Public Record Office (Foreign Office), prensa de la época y los trabajos científicos previos sobre la guerra civil en Mallorca y la intervención italiana en el conflicto: Coverdale, Heiberg, Rovighi/Stefani, Mattioli, Quartararo, Saz, Rizo, Vaquero, Moradiellos, Rodrigo, Viñas, Massot i Muntaner y Martínez Bande, entre otros.
Abstract

This article reveals the formal request for the creation and future use of the Italian airbase in Mallorca signed in August 1936 by the military attaché of the Embassy of Spain in Rome, Manuel Villegas Gardoqui, as well as explores the scope of this figure as emissary of Franco to Mussolini. This document signed by Villegas allowed the Italians to attack objectives “of moral character” in the Republican side. This transcendental fact, that is, the creation of the base of the Balearic Legionary Aviation, had not been deeply explored before. The main sources used are the archives of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Military Archive of Ávila, the Public Record Office (Foreign Office) and the scientific works published about the Civil War in Mallorca and the Italian intervention in the Spanish Civil War: Coverdale, Heiberg, Rovighi/Stefani, Mattioli, Quartararo, Saz, Rizo, Vaquero, Moradiellos, Rodrigo, Viñas, Massot i Muntaner and Martínez Bande, among others.

In this assignment I will present the topic about Mussolini and Fascism in Italy and how Mussolini affected the Italian Football. Initially I will outline the underlying political developments in Italy during the interwar era describing Mussolini’s road to power and giving the reasons for the rise of fascism in Italy as reserachers and historians have submitted them. Moreover I will present the criticism about the “success” of Mussolini’s dictatorship which is an object of vivid debate amongst historians because this research aspect could give a deeper understang of the fascist regime in Italy. Following that I will focus on the politicization of Italian football during Mussolini’s time but also nowadays. How and why did Mussolini use the Italian foootball as a propaganda tool and why are the football stadia places for political representation in modern Italy? These research dimensions will make clearer the causes of politicized Italian football over the decades. In addition to this, I will make special references to the World Cups of 1934 and 1938 when Italy won the cup for two following times under the dark cloud of fascism. To this point, many reserachers and scholars proved that Mussolini’s “contribution” was determining to the result in both occasions! Therefore giving details for the underlying political spread during the both World Cups and describing the both big finals and the aftermath of both tournaments will be more understandable how Mussolini affected the Italian Football using it to grow the prestige of his fascist regime.To sum up we could say that the popularity of football, coupled with a climate of social tension that brought Fascism to power, ensured that football would come to the attention of the ruling regime and it was the most practical choice for communicating with the masses as fascists recognised football for what it is: a sport enjoyed by the masses. It was the only way really that they could effectively reach mass society, be it through people actually watching the game, or by reading papers, or listening to other people reading the newspapers. Subsequently the 1934s World Cup was a perfect opportunity for Mussolini and the rest fascists to have political gain. They wanted to win. They weren’t too worried about how they did it, or with whom. Ultimately what they wanted was to win, to provide the propoganda opportunity to say 1) how well organised the fascist State was,and 2) how they were regenerating not only Italy, but also Italians, and victory was evidence of it. They repeated their victory during the 1938s World Cup and then they believed that Italian fascist regime grew internationally its prestige.

L'imperativo di Mussolini a un gruppo di neo prefetti non era equivocabile: sparare su chi protesta. Costasse anche vite umane andava eseguito. Era il dicembre 1926, la dittatura agli esordi, la lira svalutata, la battaglia del grano ormai lanciata, la stampa d'opposizione silenziata, le leggi fascistissime da poco in vigore, tribunali speciali e commissioni provinciali per il confino pronti all'opera per colpire ogni dissenso al neonato regime. "Vi devo dire parole chiare e precise", aveva iniziato il Duce: "L'ordine pubblico deve essere mantenuto a qualunque costo, anche a costo di far fuoco sopra chi lo turbasse". Trattamento duro doveva essere riservato pure alle gesta dello squadrismo in ritardo. Per il Capo del fascismo e del Governo, infatti, andavano represse senza alcun tentennamento. Già nella riunione del Gran Consiglio del Fascismo del 5 ottobre 1925, Mussolini aveva ordinato al ras di Cremona Roberto Farinacci, leader dell'ala intransigente e violenta del primo fascismo, di farla finita con lo squadrismo e il 30 aprile 1926 lo aveva anche estromesso dalla segreteria del Pnf, allo scopo di sottomettere in via definitiva il partito. Stessa perentoria raccomandazione il Duce fece ai nuovi prefetti: "Chi si rendesse colpevole -spiegò -deve essere arrestato e dovete pregare le autorità giudiziarie di procedere per direttissima e di condannare al massimo della pena". Il regime fascista è un regime autoritario, affermò Mussolini, e si regge solo dando il senso della fermezza, della giustizia e dell'equità. Oltre che "della inviolabilità del pubblico danaro". Fuoco sugli oppositori, dunque, e condanne esemplari per gli squadristi in ritardo.

Biography of the librarian Pietro Zorzanello, director of the Marciana Library, by Stefano Trovato, published in "Dizionario biografico dei soprintendenti bibliografici (1919-1972)", Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2011, pp. 622-627 [ISBN 978-88-7395-659-4]

Ottant’anni fa, il Mahatma Gandhi visitò Roma con il desiderio di incontrare il Papa. Era Mussolini, però, che desiderava incontrarlo. Voleva cogliere l’occasione per rafforzare la sua immagine e per promuovere se stesso? Qualunque siano state le sue intenzioni, la storia testimonia gli effetti negativi di quell’incontro per Gandhi e per la marcia dell’India verso la libertà. In questo articolo l’autore ricostruisce questa vicenda intrigante basandosi sugli scritti dei principali soggetti coinvolti, in particolare i diari di Romain Rolland, Mahadev Desai e Gandhi stesso.

Thoughts on Kadare, Borges, Mandel'štam and the Italian culture and literature and its influence outside Italy. Draft of the paper "Universalismo spirituale e nazionalismi tra letteratura d’Italia e d’Albania", published in "La scrittura obliqua di Ismail Kadare. L'écriture oblique d'Ismaïl Kadaré. Balcanistica e comparatistica", a cura di Alessandro Scarsella e Giuseppina Turano, Venezia, Granviale Editori, 2012 [ISBN 978-88-95991-26-9], pp. 47-58.

"""""During Mussolini’s fascist regime, the Atlante internazionale del Touring Club Italiano – produced in Milan (1927-1938) and widely recognised far beyond the borders of Italy – included among its plates two maps of European ethnic groups. The makers of the TCI’s atlas passed on to us a specific approach to determine the kind of collective that ought to be considered an ethnic group.
The enigmatic second reprint of the fifth edition (1938) was inexplicably not accompanied by the symbolic features required by the fascist authorities, but, after World War II started, the new version of the “Europa etnografica” map – on a 1:12.000.000 scale – clearly showed the changes that occurred in the political context.
Link:
http://www.j-reading.org/index.php/geography/article/view/57/50"""""

Si tratta della voce "Fascismo" redatta per il "Dizionario del Liberalismo Italiano" (Tomo I, Rubbettino 2011). Il fascismo, come movimento e come regime, ma soprattutto come ideologia politica allo stato embrionale, è osservato e analizzato dal punto di vista del liberalismo, inteso anch'esso sia come ideologia politica sia come classe dirigente di uno Stato-nazione appena uscito dal primo conflitto mondiale.

Meu sábio dentro do volume 1 ("Políticas Educacionais e Regimes Autoritários: intelectuais, projetos e instituições"), org. Leandro Pereira Gonçalves e Maurício Parada,  pp. 20-51 de "Políticas educacionais ensino e traumas coletivos",  Rio de Janeiro; Porto Alegre: Autografia: EDUPE: EDIPUCRS, 2017.
Este livro apresenta as várias facetas da complexa relação entre Ditaduras, sistemas educativos e repressão. Se as ditaduras do século XX têm na repressão um seu elemento universal, os elementos de intervenção são mais diversos. Em menor ou maior grau as Ditaduras da chamada época do fascismo e as socialistas tiveram mais aspectos em comum do que seria de esperar para os analistas da época: Culto do chefe, organizações paramilitares de juventude, controle ideológico dos conteúdos escolares e dos professores e, finalmente, a repressão sistemática, foram universais. Mesmos que os modelos de juventude e de sociedade fossem diversos, a tentativa de criação de um homem (e de uma mulher) novo foi muito marcante. Nesta perspectiva as ditaduras de direita da segunda metade do século XX, na maior parte dos casos, não atingiram graus de ideologização tão elevados, utilizando a repressão de forma mais sistemática, sem um elemento de mobilização comparável com as da "Época do Fascismo". Acresce que esta dinâmica também tem que responder quer aos processos de mudança social e de atores políticos que marcam o mundo no Século XX. Os textos recolhidos neste livro contribuem de forma exemplar para o estudo das diversas facetas desta relação entre Ditadura e aparelhos escolares, permitindo observar alguns elementos de continuidade e de mudança.

Nous nous proposons d’approfondir ici le portrait psychologique et idéologique, dessiné notamment dans Kaputt, du comte Agustín de Foxá, intellectuel espagnol phalangiste, ami de Malaparte et, comme celui-ci, romancier, journaliste, dramaturge et diplomate. Cette étude est, à nos yeux, importante pour comprendre quelques aspects Fondamentaux de l’oeuvre et de la personnalité de l’écrivain de Prato. Par exemple :
1. La valeur et le sens de notions clés de son oeuvre telles que la dichotomie cruauté-pitié.
2. La fonction importante exercée par le catholicisme dogmatique et “rhétorique” de l’écrivain espagnol dans l’itinéraire de Malaparte qui débouche sur son attitude particulière face à la souffrance réelle de l’homme.
3. La caractérisation du christianisme “anarchiste” de Malaparte par rapport au catholicisme “théologique” du comte de Foxá.

This article explores the portrayal of Mussolini in film and television drama. It considers the contexts in which films and mini-series were made from the 1970s and the problems faced in bringing the Duce to the screen, mostly in dramas that stressed the final phase of his rule. Despite efforts to ensure authenticity in the reconstruction of locations, events and people, there was a notable emphasis on the private and personal dimensions of the dictator’s life, a sphere in which screenplays had to indulge in invention in keeping with the practices of all ‘biopics’. The resulting ‘screen Mussolini’ is more human and potentially more sympathetic than the Mussolini of historiography. In a situation in which the legacies of Fascism and anti-fascism are still debated, this media construction has been controversial. The article assesses, using textual analysis, the meanings of the different representational solutions deployed in the films and considers some of the issues involved in playing Mussolini. 
Published in Modern Italy, 18:2, 2013, pp.177-95

Resumen. Tener el mayor presupuesto del cine italiano en su momento y ser considerado como uno de los mayores esfuerzos culturales de la Italia fascista son dos de las muchas razones por las que Escipión el Africano (Scipione l’Africano, 1937) puede considerarse una producción de gran interés. Esta espectacular recreación de la Segunda Guerra Púnica fue apoyada expresamente por Mussolini, que reconoció su gran valor como medio propagandístico para rememorar un glorioso episodio de la antigua Roma, enlazándolo con la misión imperialista italiana en África durante la Guerra de Abisinia, mientras que el general y político romano Escipión el Africano cumple en la película como trasunto del propio Duce.
Palabras clave. Cine e historia, Fascismo, Cine italiano, Cine histórico, Segunda Guerra Púnica, Escipión el Africano.

Abstract.Having the biggest budget in the Italian cinema of its time and being considered as one of the greatest cultural efforts of fascist Italy are two main reasons to consider Scipio Africanus (Scipione l’Africano, 1937) a very interesting production. This spectacular recreation of the Second Punic War was expressly backed by Mussolini, who recognized its great value as a propaganda mean to recall a glorious episode of Ancient Rome, connecting it with the imperialistic Italian mission in Africa during the Abyssinia War and using the Ancient Roman general and politician Scipio Africanus’ as a transcript of the Duce himself.
Keywords. Cinema and history, Fascism, Italian cinema, Historical epic film, Second Punic War, Scipio Africanus.

During Mussolini’s fascist regime, the Atlante internazionale del Touring Club Italiano published in Milan (1927-1938) and too in Barcelona (1930-1935), and widely recognised far beyond the borders of Italy, included among its plates two maps of European ethnic groups. The makers of the TCI’s atlas passed on to us a specific approach to determine the kind of collective that ought to be considered an ethnic group. The enigmatic second reprint of the fifth edition (1938) was inexplicably not accompanied by the symbolic features required by the Italian fascist authorities, but, after World War II started, the new version of the “Europa etnografica” map – on a 1:12.000.000 scale –  clearly showed the changes that occurred in the political context.
http://puv.uv.es/product_info.php?products_id=25124&osCsid=154183166308210077f639b8f4d603a2

Published in 1938, Guide to Kulchur encapsulates Ezra Pound’s chief concerns: his cultural, historiographic, philosophical, and epistemological theories; his aesthetics and poetics; and his economic and political thought. In its fifty-eight chapters and postscript, it constitutes an interdisciplinary and transhistorical cultural anthropology that exemplifies his slogan for the renovation of ancient wisdom for current use—“Make It New.” Guide to Kulchur is paramount among Pound’s prose works. This is also to say that it is inescapable in any serious study of Pound, even if it is likely more often cited than read in its entirety. Wildly encyclopedic, allusive and recursive, the book is notoriously difficult. The Cantos’s prose twin, Guide can be as abstruse and mystifying as anything in Pound’s monumental poetic experiment.

A Companion to Ezra Pound’s Guide to Kulchur addresses the formidable interpretive challenges his most far-reaching prose tract presents to the reader. Providing page-by-page glosses on key terms and passages in Guide, the Companion also situates Pound’s allusions and references in relation to other texts in his vast body of work, especially The Cantos. Striking a balance between rigorous scholarly standards and readerly accessibility, the book is designed to meet the needs of the specialist while keeping the critical apparatus unobtrusive so as also to appeal to students and the general public. A long-needed resource, A Companion to Ezra Pound’s Guide to Kulchur joins Carroll Terrell’s landmark A Companion to The Cantos of Ezra Pound with the aim to make a lasting contribution to the growing number of editorial and critical studies on the work of one of the most influential and controversial literary figures of the twentieth century.

The problem of «precursors», the forerunners of the ideals of the Fascist «revolution», was debated by historians of the regime, who, especially at the beginning, seemed divided between those who underlined the innovative nature of Fascism and those who, on the contrary, sought to draw an ideal way - along which moved people of different ages and different nature (Dante, Machiavelli, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Foscolo, d'Azeglio, Garibaldi and many others) -, which reached its clima with the coming to power of Mussolini. On the military, and then imperial, background of the ancient Roman exploits, a group of mythographers of Fascism engaged in celebrating the regime as an expression of an evocative notion, bound to triumph - the famous «Italian genius» - which had already been embodied in some solitary spirits of the past, before finding a extremely fruitful ground in the season of Risorgimento. In the present article, this matter is mainly dealt with from a literary point of view, without neglecting one of the focal points of the historiography of the Fascist era, the interpretation of the meaning of the Great War.

Benito Mussolini, ruler and “Duce” of Italy from 1922 to 1945, underwent a series of swift and sudden political and philosophical changes during the early years of his life: born and grown up as an anarchist, he soon became a Socialist in his adolescent years, then turned from pacifism to stark interventionism in the eve of WWI. This article investigates the true motives behind the many sharp U-turns in Mussolini’s breakneck early political career. Were they all genuine and wholehearted conversions? Or was it just skillful machiavellism? Was he just a public mood-rider or was he rather a true leader, a forward-thinking, visionary path-beater?

Die erstmalige Publikation von Zeitzeugenaussagen über italienische Ausschreitungen gegenüber Südtirolern unmittelbar nach Kriegsende zeigt in Verbindung mit enttäuschender politischer Leisetreterei in Bozen und Wien sowie unerfüllter Hoffnung auf Selbstbestimmung verdeutlicht, warum es zu dem verzweifelten Auflehnungsampf von Idealisten des BAS gegen das neokolonialistische Vorgehen des "demokratischen Italien" in den 1950er bis 1970er Jahren kam.

Connecting post-imperial studies to ruin studies, The Conquest of Ruins reconstructs and analyzes the Roman Empire’s afterlife as Western Europe’s history of neo-Roman mimesis. Each moment in the long European history of imitating Rome, from Charles V to the Nazi empire, generated its own mimetic practices as well as a vast body of texts reflecting on the history and theory of Roman and neo-Roman empires. The Romans’ monumentalizing empire-making and theatricality of politics pre-structured later imitations. These moments of neo-Roman mimesis created the ancient empire as the ultimate expression of imperial power. At the same time, they also produced a never-ending series of scenes about Roman ruins. The first of these ruin scenarios originated with the Romans’ conquest of Carthage. Constructing the ancient Roman metropole as a ruined stage, these scenes thematize the enigma of Rome’s fall. They also define empire’s time as eschaton or endtime and raise the question about how to ward off the end. Operating in this endtime, political leaders, imperial theorists, and artists went in search of strategies to fortify their empires. The book traces this obsession with the Roman empire’s ruinous end from Augustus to Hitler, Polybios to Carl Schmitt, Virgil to Riefenstahl, and Roman to Nazi architecture. The author combines intellectual history with literary/visual and psychoanalytic methods of analysis concerning identification as Besetzung/occupation and the nexus of visuality, power and desire. She proposes a model of imperial mimesis and the neo-Roman imaginary and analyzes the theatrical form of ruin scenarios across different textual and visual media. She also develops a notion of realism proper to the political aesthetics of neo-Roman empires. This notion is based on the ruin’s absent presence and mimesis as a mode of representation that demands both recognition and imitation.

A propos du livre de Francesco Germinario «Fascisme et antisémitisme. Projet racial et idéologie totalitaire» (Fascismo e antisemitismo. Progetto razziale e ideologia totalitaria, Laterza, 2009) [Cet article fait partie d'une série de comptes rendus qui porteront sur «L'antisémitisme et le négationnisme vu d'Italie». Ces articles tenteront de présenter succinctement les résultats de quelques travaux menés par des historiens dont les ouvrages n'ont pas été traduits en français, notamment ceux de Francesco Germinario, Alessandra Tarquini et Claudio Vercelli, parce qu'ils apportent de nouveaux éclairages.]

Il fascismo fu moderno o anti-moderno? La sua ideologia, così come le sue decisioni politiche, furono una combinazione di modernità e di anti-modernità, oppure no? E se lo fu, quella ambivalenza va letta come il risultato di una consapevole strategia o piuttosto la conseguenza non voluta di scelte politiche adottate secondo circostanze casuali e necessità contingenti? Un'analisi del rapporto fra città e campagna durante il fascismo può dire qualcosa di più preciso sulla natura di quel particolare regime che fu il fascismo, se cioè si possa definire autoritario oppure totalitario? A queste e ad altre domande risponde il volume di Danilo Breschi, frutto di una ricerca vasta e accurata. In sostanza, al centro del libro vi è il controverso rapporto fra il fascismo e la modernizzazione, letto attraverso il fenomeno dell'urbanesimo in Italia tra le due guerre mondiali, un processo di trasformazione che coinvolge e travolge costume, economia, cultura politica, antropologia e che segna, di fatto, il passaggio, spesso ancora contraddittorio e incerto, dalle comunità agricole tradizionali alla moderna società industriale.

Winner of the Maltby Exhibition Prize for Best Dissertation.

Using a marriage of archaeological, ancient, and modern sources, this dissertation aims to explore the relationship between urban space and identity in Mussolini’s Rome. The idea of ancient Rome was not invoked as a mere prop, but innovated and made relevant to create a coherent aesthetic message expressing what it meant to be Roman. This was Fascist Romanità; the aesthetic cultural identity created from language and space. I am reluctant to brand Mussolini’s urban scheme a form of propaganda, given the largely negative connotations of the term in modern day. However, if we consider the original latin, propagare, to spread or propagate, it is clear the term can be used neutrally, or even positively, to indicate the communication of some meaningful message. Language was a didactic means of introducing the new terms of Fascist identity into the cultural sphere, creating a mode of self perception and mass understanding. Mussolini’s oratory acted as a means of emphasizing these ideals within the spatial context of the city. Space created a physical expression of new Roman values. The city therefore immersed its inhabitants in what it meant to be Roman. Romans lived within the experience of Romanità. Mussolini, like none before, made ancient Rome an integrated part of his urban plan. This bridged the divide between ancient and modern and made monumentality newly relevant. Monuments acted as reiterations of speech, tangibly expressed within the fabric of the city. In the Piazza Augusto Imperatore, Mussolini used the new ideology he had created fom language and speech to alter the identities of already ideologically charged monuments. Reconstructing the ‘ancient image’ of monuments, Mussolini irreversibly imposed new Fascist aesthetics, and Fascist identity, upon ancient discourse.

Mussolini's Fascists staged their "March on Rome" in 1922 and bluffed their way to power.

GERMAN / DEUTSCH Mit dem inszenierten „Marsch auf Rom“ tricksten sich Mussolinis Faschisten 1922 an die Macht.

KEYWORDS / SCHLAGWÖRTER
Ästhetisierung, Bewegung, Demokratie, Duce, fascismo, Faschismus, Film, Frankreich, Gewalt, Gewerkschaften, Großbritannien, Hitlerputsch, Italien, Journalismus, Marsch auf Rom, Medien, Mostra della Rivoluzione fascista, Mussolinismo, Nationalismus, Nationalsozialismus, Öffentliche Meinung, Personenkult, Presse, Propaganda, Propagandaministerium, Rechtsextremismus, Risorgimento, Ritual, Sozialismus, Straßenterror, Symbolik, Syndikalismus, Terrorismus, Vereinigtes Königreich, Volksempfänger, Zeitungen

ORGANISATIONEN: Fasci d’azione rivoluzionaria, fasci di combattimento, Faschistische Partei, Istituto Luce, Partito Nazionale Fascista, Schwarzhemden, Sozialistische Partei Italiens (PSI), Squadrismo, Squadristen, Squadristi

PERSONEN: Italo Balbo, Gustave Le Bon, Gabriele D’Annunzio, Cesare Maria De Vecchi, Emilio De Bono, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Adolf Hitler, Giacomo Matteotti, Benito Mussolini, Friedrich Nietzsche, Georges Sorel, Viktor Emanuel III (Vittori Emanuelle III)

PUBLIKATIONEN: Avanti, Il Popolo d’Italia
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Velikosrpska ideologija, talijanski iredentizam i nesposobna hrvatska politika, nametnule su Hrvatskoj sustav provedbe prava manjina, koji kao takav ne postoji u svijetu Takav sustav opasan je po suverenitet i integritet Republike Hrvatske Na pisanje ove analize potaklo me inzistiranje zastupnika manjina u Hrvatskom Saboru Milorada Pupovca i Furia Radina, da i predstavnici manjina sudjeluju u popisu stanovništva, kao popisivači , što poznavajući manjinsku problematiku i političko djelovanje njihovih zastupnika smatram veoma opasnim po suverenitet i integritet Republike Hrvatske. Uvod Ustavom je Republika Hrvatska definirana kao nacionalna država hrvatskog naroda i država pripadnika autohtonih nacionalnih manjina: Srba, Čeha, Slovaka, Talijana, Madžara, Židova, Nijemaca, Austrijanaca, Ukrajinaca, Rusina i drugih, koji su njezini državljani, kojima se jamči ravnopravnost s građanima hrvatske narodnosti i ostvarivanje nacionalnih prava u skladu s demokratskim normama OUN i zemalja slobodnog svijeta. Nacionalne manjine koje stalno traže veće i veća prava od hrvatskog naroda su srpska i talijanska. Romi imaju poseban tretman kao manjina s obzirom na njihov

This article delves into the stories of two foreign queer spies in Fascist Italy, the Swiss Roberto Hodel and the German Gerhard Dobbert. The Fascist regime cultivated a dual relationship with homosexuals: it exploited them for their contacts, but persecuted them as " enemies of the new man " who undermined the Fascist understanding of morality. This article aims at illustrating this relationship, by focusing on these two cases and ultimately proving that the Fascist surveillance— like any other—is doomed to fail, because these double agents are " imperfect " tools. Spies live in a gray zone of blurred agencies and conflicting incentives. As in fiction, where characters play a deceitful role, the archival documents analyzed in this essay replicate that deception in three layers of ambiguity. Just as spy novels become open-ended trajectories of several stages of suspicion, these layers of ambiguity are multiplied in the spies' surveillance reports, where the distrust of the foreign alien is combined with the rejection of homosexuality to designate an extremely ambiguous " other " that the Fascists both reject and exploit.

See http://scalar.usc.edu/works/the-space-between-literature-and-culture-1914-1945/vol13_2017_carnaghi