Manifesto of the fascist intellectuals

Giovanni Gentile: Philosophical founder of Italian fascism .

The Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals , published as the Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals to the Intellectuals of All Nations ( Italian Manifesto degli intellettuali del fascismo agli intellettuali di tutte le nazioni ), by Giovanni Gentile , represents a political and ideological justification of Italian fascism . It justified the Violence of the paramilitary black shirts of the National Fascist Party (PNF - Partito Nazionale Fascista ) as a revolutionary act for the realization of Italian fascism. It legitimized the authoritarian regime of Prime Minister Benito Mussolini , who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 as Il Duce ("The Leader").

overview

The Manifesto is the ideological declaration of principles of the Conference on Fascist Culture that took place in Bologna on March 29, 1925 . In support of the government of Benito Mussolini, prominent Italian academic and public intellectuals took an initiative to define the cultural meaning of Italian fascism. As chairman of the conference, the neo-idealist philosopher Gentile publicly proclaimed the alliance between culture and fascism , thereby challenging intellectual critics who questioned the cultural significance of the fascist regime.

Flag of the National Fascist Party (1930s – 1940s).

The thesis of the manifesto claims the connection between culture and fascism as the basis of the revolution. As an explanation of the political-philosophical principles, the manifesto is derived from the lecture Fascism and Culture ( Fascismo e cultura ), which Gentile gave in the session " Freedom and Liberalism " ( Libertà e liberalismo ) of the cultural conference; although officially visited by more than 400 Italian intellectuals, the document bears only 250 signatures.

The manifesto was first published in Il Mondo (The World), the PNF newspaper, then by most Italian newspapers on April 21, 1925 - the national celebration of the anniversary of the founding of Rome (circa April 21, 753 BC. ). The symbolism of the date of publication was deepened with the contemporary, legal definition of the celebrations for April 21st, the Natale di Roma (Birth of Rome), which was introduced by royal decree in early 1925 as a replacement for International Labor Day.

Meanwhile, the support of the Neapolitan poet Salvatore Di Giacomo provoked the dispute between Gentile and Benedetto Croce , his intellectual mentor, who subsequently responded to the proclamation of the fascist government with his manifesto of anti-fascist intellectuals .

Signatory

Signatories of the manifesto included:

Luigi Barzini (Senior)
Salvatore Di Giacomo (1860–1934), Italian poet, playwright and essayist
Luigi Federzoni (1878–1967), Italian politician
Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944), Italian philosopher, cultural manager and politician
Curzio Malaparte (1898–1957), Italian writer, journalist and diplomat
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876–1944), Italian writer, fascist politician and founder of Futurism
Alfredo Panzini (1863–1939), Italian writer, historian, Italianist and lexicographer
Salvatore Pincherle (1853–1936), Italian mathematician
Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936), Italian writer
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880–1968), Italian composer
Vittorio G. Rossi
Margherita Sarfatti (1880–1961), Italian writer, lover of Mussolini and founder of the Novecento artist group
Ardengo Soffici (1879–1964), Italian art critic, illustrator and painter of Futurism
Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970), Italian writer

Although not at the conference on fascist culture, the dramaturge and novelist Luigi Pirandello publicly supported the manifesto of the fascist intellectuals with a letter.

Extracts

Manifesto degli Intellettuali del Fascismo
Le origini Il Fascismo è un movimento recente ed antico dello spirito italiano, intimamente connesso alla storia della Nazione italiana, ma non privo di significato e interest per tutte le altre. Le sue origini prossime risalgono al 1919, quando intorno a Benito Mussolini si raccolse un manipolo di uomini reduci dalle trincee e risoluti a combattere energicamente la politica demosocialista allora imperante. La quale della grande guerra, da cui il popolo italiano era uscito vittorioso ma spossato, vedeva soltanto le immediate conseguenze materiali e lasciava disperdere se non lo negava apertamente il valore morale rappresentandola agli italiani da un punto di vista grettamente individualistico sacrifico come e , di cui ognuno per parte sua doveva essere compensato in proporzione del danno sofferto, donde una presuntuosa e minacciosa contrapposizione dei privati allo Stato, un disconoscimento della sua autorità, un abbassamento del prestigio del Reanti e dell'Ebrastsercella individually e all categorie particolari dei cittadini e un disfrenarsi delle passioni e degl'istinti inferiori, fomento di disgregazione sociale, di degenerazione morale, di egoistico e incosciente spirito di rivolta a ogni legge e disciplina. L'individuo contro lo stato; espressione tipica dell'aspetto politico della corruttela degli anni insofferenti di ogni superiore norma di vita umana che vigorosamente regga e contenga i sentimenti ei pensieri dei singoli. Il Fascismo pertanto alle sue origini fu un movimento politico e morale. La politica sentì e propugnò come palestra di entsegazione e sacrificio dell'individuo a un'idea in cui l'individuo possa trovare la sua ragione di vita, la sua libertà e ogni suo diritto; idea che è Patria, come ideal che si viene realizzando storicamente senza mai esaurirsi, tradizione storica determinata e individuata di civiltà ma tradizione che nella coscienza del cittadino, lungi dal restare morta memoria del passato, si fa personalità consapevole di un fineiz da attuare, perciò e missione. Il Fascismo e lo Stato Di qui il carattere religioso del Fascismo. Questo carattere religioso e perciò intransigente, spiega il metodo di lotta seguito dal Fascismo nei quattro anni dal '19 al '22. I fascisti erano minoranza, nel Paese e in Parlamento, dove entrarono, piccolo nucleo, con le elezioni del 1921. Lo Stato costituzionale era perciò, e doveva essere, antifascista, poiché era lo Stato della maggioranza, e il fascismo aveva contro di sé appunto questo stato che si diceva liberale; ed era liberale, ma del liberalismo agnostico e abdicatorio, che non conosce se non la libertà esteriore. Lo Stato che è liberale perché si ritiene estraneo alla coscienza del libero cittadino, quasi meccanico sistema di fronte all'attività dei singoli. Non era perciò, evidentemente, lo Stato vagheggiato dai socialisti, quantunque i rappresentanti dell'ibrido socialismo democratizzante e parlamentaristico, si fossero, also in Italia, venuti adattando a codesta concezione individualistica della concezione politica. Ma non era neanche lo Stato, la cui idea aveva potentemente operato nel periodo eroico italiano del nostro Risorgimento, quando lo Stato era sorto dall'opera di ristrette minoranze, forti della forza di una idea alla quale gl'individui si erano in diversi modi piegati e si era fondato col grande programma di fare gli italiani, dopo aver dato loro l'indipendenza e l'unità. Contro tale Stato il Fascismo si accampò anch'esso con la forza della sua idea la quale, grazie al fascino che esercita semper ogni idea religiosa che inviti al sacrificio, attrasse intorno a sé un numero rapidamente crescente di giovani e fu il partito dei giovani ( come dopo i moti del '31 da analogo bisogno politico e morale era sorta la "Giovane Italia" di Giuseppe Mazzini). Questo partito ebbe also il suo inno della giovinezza che venne cantato dai fascisti con gioia di cuore esultante! E cominciò a essere, come la "Giovane Italia" mazziniana, la fede di tutti gli Italiani sdegnosi del passato e bramosi del rinnovamento. Fede, come ogni fede che urti contro una realtà costituita da infrangere e special nel crogiolo delle nuove energy e riplasmare in conformità del nuovo ideal ardente e intransigente. Era la fede stessa maturatasi nelle trincee e nel ripensamento intenso del sacrificio consumatosi nei campi di battaglia pel solo fine che potesse giustificarlo: la vita e la grandezza della Patria. Fede energica, violenta, non disposta a nulla rispettare che opponesse alla vita, alla grandezza della Patria. Sorse so lo squadrismo. Giovani risoluti, armati, indossanti la camicia nera, ordinati militarmente, si misero contro la legge per instaurare una nuova legge, forza armata contro lo Stato per fondare il nuovo Stato. Lo squadrismo agì contro le forze disgregatrici antinazionali, la cui attività culminò nello sciopero generale del luglio 1922 e finalmente osò l'insurrezione del 28 ottobre 1922, quando colonne armate di fascisti, dopo avere occupato gli edifici su marciari delle province Roma. La Marcia su Roma, nei giorni in cui fu compiuta e prima, ebbe i suoi morti, soprattutto nella Valle Padana. Essa, come in tutti i fatti audaci di alto contenuto morale, si compì dapprima fra la meraviglia e poi l'ammirazione e infine il plauso universale. Onde parve che a un tratto il popolo italiano avesse ritrovato la sua unanimità entusiastica della vigilia della guerra, ma più vibrante per la coscienza della vittoria già riportata e della nuova onda di fede ristoratrice venuta a rianimare la nazosa vittorella dinosaur della sue forze finanziarie e morali. Codesta Patria è pure riconsacrazione delle tradizioni e degli istituti che sono la costanza della civiltà, nel flusso e nella perennità delle tradizioni. Ed è scintilla di subordinazione di ciò che è particolare ed inferiore a ciò che è universale ed immortale, è rispetto della legge e disciplina, è libertà ma libertà da conquistare attraverso la legge, che si instaura che con la rinunco aio tuttè ciò a arbitr e velleità irragionevole e dissipatrice. È concezione austera della vita, è serietà religiosa, che non distingue la teoria dalla pratica, il dire dal fare, e non dipinge ideali magnifici per relegarli fuori di questo mondo, dove intanto si possa continuare a vivere vilmente e miseramente for ma è duro szo di idealizzare la vita ed esprimere i propri convincimenti nella stessa azione o con parole che siano esse stesse azioni.

In German: Manifesto of the Intellectuals on Fascism
The origins Fascism is a new and yet old movement of the Italian spirit. It is closely linked to the history of the Italian nation, but it is not devoid of interest or importance for other nations. Its immediate origins can be traced back to 1919, when a handful of veterans gathered from the trenches [of World War I] around Benito Mussolini, determined to vigorously oppose the then prevailing demosocialist policies. Democratic socialism was blind to all other aspects of the First World War, except for one aspect (that of the immediate material consequences), from which the Italian people emerged both weary and victorious. He diminished the moral value of war if he did not resort to outright denial by presenting it to the Italians in a grossly individualistic and utilitarian light. He claimed that the conflict was little more than a combination of individual victims for which each party must be redeemed after an accurate assessment of their suffering. This claim led to an arrogant and threatening coexistence between individuals and the state; to neglect of state authority; to demeanor due to the king and the army - symbols of a nation that transcends individuals and individual social categories -; to unleash fundamental passions and instincts that cause social disintegration, moral degeneration, and an egocentric and mindless spirit of rebellion against all forms of discipline and law. The opposition between the individual and the state is the typical political expression of a corruption that runs so deep that it cannot accept a higher principle of life, because this would energetically inform and contain the feelings and thoughts of the individual. So in its origins fascism was a political and moral movement. He understood and championed politics as a training ground for self-denial and self-sacrifice in the name of an idea, an idea that would give the individual his raison d'etre, his freedom and all his rights. The idea at issue here is that of the fatherland. It is an ideal that is a continuous and inexhaustible process of historical updating. It represents a special and unique embodiment of the traditions of a civilization far from wither away as a dead memory of the past, but takes the form of a personality focused on the goal it aspires to. So the fatherland is a mission. Fascism and the state Hence the religious character of fascism. This uncompromising religiosity explains the fighting tactics that fascism used from 1919 to 1922. Fascists were a minority, both in the country and in parliament, where a small core of MPs sat after the 1921 elections. So the rule of law was anti-fascist, necessarily because it reflected its majority. Fascism was fought by this very state, which called itself "liberal", but whose liberalism was of the agnostic and renouncing kind that only respected external freedoms. This state regards itself as "liberal" because it is alien to the conscience of its free citizens and mechanically responds to the actions of individuals. It goes without saying that this was hardly the state the socialists had envisioned. The advocates of such a hybrid socialism, smeared with democratic values and parliamentarianism, grappled with this individualistic conception of politics. Nor was it the state that fueled the ideals of the small minority who acted in the heroic era of our Risorgimento, for those who fought for it were inspired by the power of an idea to which individuals submitted in different ways had. During this heroic period, a state was created with the grand plan of turning Italians into Italians after being granted independence and unity. This was the state against which fascism stood armed with the power of its own vision, which, thanks to the appeal made by any religious idea that invites sacrifice, attracted a growing group of young followers. It thus became the party of youth (just as Mazzini's Giovane Italia movement had risen from the unrest of 1831 to fill a similar political and moral void). The party even had its hymn to the youth, which the fascists sang with joyous, exuberant hearts! Fascism, like Mazzini's Giovane Italia, became the belief of all Italians who despised the past and longed for renewal. Like other beliefs, he was faced with a fully realized reality that had to be destroyed and fused into a melting pot of new energies and forged into a new ardent and uncompromising ideal. It was precisely the faith that had matured in the trenches and in reflection on the sacrifices made on the battlefields for the only worthy end: the strength and greatness of the fatherland. It was an energetic, violent belief that was unwilling to respect anything that would stand in the way of the strength and greatness of the fatherland. This is how squadrism came about. Determined youth, armed, dressed in black shirts, and organized in a military style, opposed the law to introduce a new law fighting the state to create the new state. The squadrism was directed against the apologists for national disintegration, whose actions culminated in the general strike of July 1922, and finally dared an uprising on October 28, 1922, when armed columns of fascists first occupied public buildings in the provinces and then marched on Rome. The march on Rome claimed some victims in the preparation and implementation phase, especially in the Po Valley. Like all courageous events inspired by the highest moral goals, it was greeted first with amazement, then with admiration, and finally with widespread recognition. For a time it seemed that the Italian people had regained the enthusiastic unanimity they had felt on the verge of war, but were doubled by the awareness of the nation's recent victory and strengthened by the conviction that the victorious nation was now upon the way to regain their financial and moral integrity. This fatherland is the renaming of those traditions and institutions which, in the midst of the constant renewal of traditions, remain constant features of civilization. It is also the occasion for the subordination of all that is particular and subordinate to that of what is universal and superior. It is respect for the law and discipline; it is the freedom that can be conquered by the law by renouncing anything that arises from individual choice and irrational, wasteful desires. This fatherland represents a strict philosophy of life shaped by religious depth; it does not distinguish between theory and practice, between speaking and doing; and it does not propose great but completely unrealistic ideals that do not change anything in the misery of everyday life. Rather, it is a daunting endeavor to idealize life and express one's beliefs through actions or words that are actions themselves.