Stone - The Fascist Revolution in Italy

THE BEDFORD SERIES IN HISTORY AND CULTURE

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Between the world wars, Italian Fascists led Europes flight from liberal democracy to nationalist authoritarian one-party dictatorship. The Italian Fascist regime held power nearly twice as long as Germanys National Socialism whose genocidal fury would overshadow Italian Fascism in popular and historical memory. As the first of the Fascist regimes notorious for fueling the crisis of interwar Europe, the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini (19221945) served as the model and the inspiration for violent nationalist, antidemocratic, antisocialist, and anticommunist forces across the European continent. Through the study of Mussolinis Italy in this volume, students gain important insights into the collapse of European democracy between the world wars and understand the attraction of Fascism in the modern era.

World War I shook the continent and moved many Europeans toward radical solutions. In this context, Fascism emerged as the third way between the liberal capitalist status quo, which many held responsible for the war, and communism, in which others saw a divisive and bloody future as witnessed in the Bolshevik Revolution.

Attracting Europeans who sought new social and political models, Mussolini and Italys National Fascist Party transformed modern history. Inspired by Fascism in Italy (19221945), nearly every European nation, from Hungary to Britain, had either a Fascist party or a Fascist regime. As Fascism spread, it declared the death of the Enlightenment notion of a contract between the government and the governed, proposing instead that the will of the individual be expressed through submission to the state. Revolutionary in its aspiration to politicize all aspects of life and to mobilize all citizens into the Fascist project, Fascism demanded total allegiance to the state and its all-powerful leader. Indeed, the Fascists adopted the term totalitarian to describe the absolute revision of state and society that they envisioned.

Scholars have come to view Italian Fascism as a complex phenomenon that derived its power both from policies and programs that addressed real social and economic needs and from fear of its terror apparatus. Academic debate over popular support for Fascism and the extent to which Italians consented to Fascist rule has opened the door to the study of everyday life under Italian Fascism, giving rise to new scholarly work on culture, gender, social life, education, and youth, among other topics. Because Fascism collapsed the space between public and private and drew the individual into the collective national project, a full understanding of Fascist rule requires close examination of these social and cultural practices in addition to the study of politics and ideology.

The Fascist Revolution in Italy focuses on the tools used by the Fascist party to assume and maintain power in Italy and the experience of the partys rule. It examines Fascism from above that is, from the perspective of its leader, Benito Mussolini, and the government he led and from below, offering the multiple experiences of the Italian people who both suffered and benefitted under Fascist rule. The introduction gives the essential historical background to the rise of Fascism, its assumption of power, and its complex system of rule. Covering the years 19191943 and contextualizing the culture, politics, and society of the Fascist era, the introductory essay provides critical background to the documents that follow. The documents in Part Two reflect Fascisms many constituencies, from women to children, from artists to soldiers. Through documents dating from the founding of the Fascist movement in 1919 to the collapse of the regime in 1943, this collection presents Fascism as a new political, economic, social, and cultural paradigm and force. Organized chronologically within thematic groupings, the selections include official documents, such as speeches by Mussolini, Fascist party platforms, and legal decrees, as well as items that reflect the lived experience of Italians under Fascist rule, such as excerpts from middle school textbooks, songs, and personal accounts. The documents stress political, social, cultural, and gender history and include texts from Fascist youth organizations and womens groups, as well as visual artifacts. Eleven of the documents including those on Italian atrocities in Ethiopia, the Fascist Racial Laws, and Fascist propaganda in the war against the Soviet Union are available in English for the first time. Two maps, a chronology, questions for consideration, and a bibliography support the interpretive introduction and the thirty-seven documents.