Fascismo

By: Ale/M

Italian Fascism, 1922 – 1943

Fascism is probably the theme in the political history of Italy has given rise to the greater amount of study, a huge production with a variety of disciplinary approaches and multiple implications. According to the field of historiography, it has given rise to various rules of interpretation, which were characterized by giving its attention on this or that – historical, economic, social or moral – or predominant constituent of the phenomenon. As is well known Renzo De Felice, one of the greatest scholars of fascism, was confronted with the various historical interpretations. Fascism, for him, is one of the great phenomena of the twentieth century, however, it is not expandable beyond Europe and the period between the wars. So would be entirely misleading generalizations that tend to cover with the word fascist variants and all types of authoritarian regimes and reactionary. The roots of fascism in Europe and are typically linked to the crisis-induced transition into mass society, and in particular are characteristic of those societies that have experienced the profound transformations of the period influenced by delays and political and economic weaknesses inherited from their history. Without going into detail on all variants of these canons of interpretation, to understand the uniqueness and complexity of the reading of Gramsci, I think it is useful to pause briefly and preliminary, the three fundamental interpretations of the phenomenon in relation to the history of Italy.

1) “Fascism as a moral disease of Europe”: this is the interpretive key for De Felice has had better luck in the high European culture. It has been in Italy and Germany, the most fertile soil in its conceptual development. In Italy the formulation found in Benedetto Croce his main inspiration. Specifically, the first references to this key you have in an article for the “New York Times” of November 1943, in his speech at the first congress of the CLN held in Bari, January 28, 1944 and finally in the interview in March 1947. According to Cross, Fascism is not the product of a single social class, nor is resting on the support of a specific class, it is rather the result of loss of consciousness, moral decadence and together dell’ubriacatura produced by the war. These effects were not simply a fact riguardarono Italian but most of the countries that had participated in the First World War. Fascism has paid the lowering in the consciousness of freedom which marked all over the world after the war.

2) “Fascism as a logical and inevitable product of historical development of some countries” according to this interpretation, fascism was the result of the fragility and contradictions of the processes of economic development, independence and national unification. Because of these contradictions, the bourgeoisie would be developed with perverse and pathological forms of backwardness and weakness on account of which it has had to seek alliances conservative and illiberal forms of political rule, aimed at the exclusion of the masses from the process of national unification and government of the country.

3) “Fascism as a product of capitalist society and as a reaction-proletarian”: it interprets fascism on the basis of social relations of capitalist production. Fascism carries the history function to disperse the workers’ organizations in the interests of big business, but beyond that organized the nation spiritually by intense radical demagogic propaganda, military readiness, the creation of a mass social base, the a centralized organization. When fascism came to power, however, produces only a palace revolution for which only the masses are regimented with violence, while no particular type of regime is imposed on capital and systems of appropriation of surplus value. So the corporate state, ultimately proves to be as a means to abolish the class struggle of workers and provide all the support the state organization of monopolistic capital. Fascism is really the son of the crisis of capitalism monopolitisco found the road blocked for extensive development, and for a more intensive development in the internal relations of exploitation.

In this tripartite division among the many historical theme became very important, that the social base of fascism.

De Felice believes the true statement of the Cross that fascism was not an expression of any social class, but has found supporters and adversaries in all social classes, however, is among the leaders of the petty bourgeoisie that fascism has found the his most ardent soccer hooligan. The ratio of fascism-middle class is central to understanding the historical problem of fascism, finding a lowest common denominator between the German and Italian, able to distinguish them from other movements, parties and regimes that despite often being called fascists were only marginally or were not at all. The ratio of the middle class Fascism is the element that allows to capture the news and the differences between this and the events preceding and following the political realities of conservative and authoritarian. If no account is taken of this report does not even include the issue of consent that the Italian and German fascism were able to exercise, getting to the simple conclusion that they could only develop with state police, the terror, the monopoly of mass propaganda

While the traditional conservative regimes tend to demobilitare the masses and to exclude them from active participation, giving them values and social models have experienced historically, fascism, De Felice has always sought the mobilization (albeit unanimous sense) the idea of creating a direct and unmediated relationship between the masses of red tape and the head, and especially the idea of providing not only preservation of the values and models of the past, but engenders the idea of a revolution and a new order that was to build better the existing one. This report therefore sought the reason was the consensus enjoyed by the fascist regime.

[from resistenze.org. tranlsated with google tr. I will try to correct any errors in translation]

f.y.c : this user is antifascist since he was a kid