FASCISM FASCISM An Informal Introduction to Its Theory and Practice Renzo de Felice First published 1976 by Transaction Publishers Published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 1976 by Taylor & Francis. First Italian-language edition, Intervista sul fascismo, Gius, Laterza and Figli, 1975. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 76-13006 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Felice, Renzo De. Fascism: an informal introduction to its theory and practice. (Issues in Contemporary Civilization) Translation of Intervista and fascismo. Bibliography: p. 1.Fascism. 2. Fascism—Italy. I. Ledeen, Michael Arthur, 1941- joint author. I. Title. JC481.F36513 320.5'33 76-13006 ISBN 0-87855-619-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-8785-5619-9 (pbk) Contents Introduction-Michael A. Ledeen 7 1 Historical and Theoretical Background of De Felice's Work 21 2 Seeking a Definition of Fascism 36 3 General Characteristics of Fascism 43 4 Italian Fascism: Historical and Comparative Analysis 61 5 Fascism, Foreign Policy, and World War II 79 6 True Examples of Fascism 89 7 Fascism Today 97 8 Fascism and Totalitarianism; Aspects for Further Research 108 Notes 116 Glossary 120 Biography/Bibliography 127 Introduction This book originally appeared in Italy at the begin ning of July 1975 entitled:lntervista sul fascismo. By the middle of the month it was the best-selling pa perback in the country, and at this writing (mid October) it is still number one on the best-seller list. It has sold over fifty thousand copies (a remarkable figure in a country with a population of sixty million, an illiteracy rate of over thirty percent, and where only one person out often reads a daily newspaper). It has been the object of long diatribes from several of the country's leading intellectuals, and the subject of front-page editorials in the official newspapers of both the Communist and N eo fascist parties. It has twice been the subject ofprimetime programs on the national television network. Renzo De Felice has been called everything from ''soft on Mussolini" to ''depraved," and has been accused of trying to "re habilitate fascism." In short, it is the most controver sial book of the year in a highly charged political atmosphere. It will not be immediately obvious to the American reader that this short volume warrants such an emo tional reaction. Fascism is not nearly as important an 7 8 FASCISM issue to us as it is for Italians, and the American intellectual world is not, happily, as sharply divided along ideological lines. For Italian intellectuals, the terms fascist and antifascist continue to be the hard currency of contemporary political debate (one might almost say that if you are not one, you are automati cally the other in the present Italian atmosphere). When De Felice suggests that fascism describes a moment in the Italian past-and only that-he is challenging the very heart of current orthodoxy. The nature of his analysis of the recent Italian past is itself at odds with the traditional version, and repre sents a radical departure from conventional wisdom. De Felice's ideas about fascism have a broad sig nificance, quite apart from their importance in the contemporary Italian scene. Perhaps no one knows as much about fascism, and no one has given the subject such rigorous historical analysis (his biography of Mussolini has progressed to 1936 in four long tomes, and will eventually run to some five thousand pages). In the course of our discussion, De Felice observed that he had been the first to consult the documents of the Fascist Regime, and had consequently had a dis tinct ~dvantage over every other analyst: He alone was able to base his studies on a careful scrutiny of Fascist records. This in itself would have been suffi cient to guarantee his importance in the scholarly community, but as his work continued, De Felice discovered that there were vast quantities of documentation that had not been turned over to the state, and remained in private hands. It is a tribute to the objectivity of his work that many of those people who held these documents came forward with them. De Felice therefore based his work on the most thorough documentation possible. As a by-product of his research, Renzo De Felice has today an important Introduction 9 archive, and anyone wishing to research the fascist period must touch base with him. Happily, he is not jealous of his private collection, and dozens of vol umes on fascism-written by both Italians and foreigners-have been made possible by De Felice's help and encouragement. . Given his preeminence, one is ine\}itably driven to wonder why he has been so intensely attacked in Italy. He is Italy's best-known historian of the con temporary period. He commands international es teem. Yet Italians give him far less credit than non Italians. In order to understand the controversial na ture of De Felice's work, we must first look at his analysis of fascism. FASCISM RECONSIDERED Fascism has been variously interpreted during the course of the past half century, and we are far from arriving at a consensus. Roughly speaking, there are two broad groupings of students of the fascist phenomenon: Those who embrace an external expla nation, and those who believe that one must study it from within. The first group propounds that fascism was a means of manipulating the masses, and that its content was inconsequential. The second group be lieves that fascism was in part a mass movement, and that one must examine the beliefs of the fascists in order to understand its success. In the first group one finds the Marxists and the cynics, like, for example, A. J. P. Taylor: Everything about Fascism was a fraud. The social peril from which it saved Italy was a fraud; the revolution by which it seized power was a fraud; the ability and policy of Mussolini was [sic] fraudulent. Fascist rule was cor-