The Struggle for Modernity: Nationalism, Futurism, and Fascism (Italian and Italian American Studies (Praeger Hardcover))

During the 20th century, Italy experienced some regrettable political developments. It was the first European nation after World War I in which a mass militia-party of revolutionary nationalism achieved power and abolished parliamentary democracy with the goal of building a totalitarian state. It was also the first in Europe to institutionalize the sacralization of politics and to celebrate officially the cult of the leader as a demi-God. These achievements were not accidents. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Italian nationalist movements, from the national radicalism of La Voce to futurist nationalism and fascism, fostered one of the strongest waves of European right-wing radicalism. The confrontation between nationalism and modernity is one of the main keys to understanding to the permutations of Italian radical nationalism from modernist avant-gardes up to the fascist regime. This book analyzes the ideological undercurrents and cultural myths that unite all these movements. Looking at Italian nationalism from its risorgimento roots to the neo-fascist heritage, Gentile considers the relationship between myth and organization in the making of the fascist state, the role of the party, the liturgy of mass politics in Italy, the fascist organizations abroad, and the attitude of fascist culture toward the United States. Series Foreword by Spencer M. Di Scala 8 Foreword by Stanley G. Payne 10 Introduction: Italian Nationalism and Modernity 22 Chapter 1 The Struggle for Modernity: Echoes of the Dreyfus Affair in Italian Political Culture, 1898–1912 32 Chapter 2 Conflicting Modernisms: La Voce against Futurism 48 Chapter 3 The Conquest of Modernity: From Modernist Nationalism to Fascism 62 Chapter 4 Myth and Organization: The Rationale of Fascist Mass Politics 98 Chapter 5 The Problem of the Party in Italian Fascism 110 Chapter 6 The Theatre of Politics in Fascist Italy 130 Chapter 7 Mussolini’s Charisma 148 Chapter 8 I Fasci Italiani all’Estero: The “Foreign Policy” of the Fascist Party 166 Chapter 9 Impending Modernity: Fascism and the Ambivalent Image of the United States 182 Conclusion: The End of a Myth 202 Index 210 During the inter-war period, Italy saw the rapid development of ultra-nationalist & populist politics, which led to the Fascist Party's establishment of a totalitarian state, with the party leader exhaulted as an almost divine figure. This text traces the upheavals in Italian politics & society of the times