GIOVANNI GENTILE & ITALIAN FASCISM.   Term Paper ID:28616 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Analyzes Gentile's elitist philosophy of Actualism. His views of history, nationalism, role of state, educational reforms. His role & influence in Mussolini's regime.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analyzes Gentile's elitist philosophy of Actualism. His views of history, nationalism, role of state, educational reforms. His role & influence in Mussolini's regime. Paper Introduction: GIOVANNI GENTILE AND ITALIAN FASCISM This research paper critically analyzes the philosophy of Giovanni Gentile (1875-1944) and discusses its relevance to Italian fascism and its leader Benito Mussolini. From roughly 1925 to 1932 Gentile and his philosophy played a central role in the evolution of Italian fascism while at other times his and its influence were more marginal. In the two decades which preceded Mussolini's takeover of the Italian state in 1922, Gentile became widely known for his philosophy of actualism, a neo-Hegelian, anti-Marxist, idealistic, elitist and nationalist view of reality, society and history, one of many currents in Italian intellectual thought and popular writing which rejected the status quo and called for Italy's spiritual, political, economic and social regeneration under a strong, Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. His emphasis on thehumanities and improving the quality of instruction in secondary liceosreflected his elitist view of education, but, according to Clark, as aresult of his reforms, "Italy produced fewer engineers, scientists anddoctors in the late 193 s than in the early 192 s."[xxxvii] The tougher andmore uniform examinations benefited Catholic-run schools, which isinteresting in view of Gentile's anti-clerical sentiments. "The Political Doctrine of Fascism." (1925). Clark said "the Germans ranpractically everything."[lxix] Gentile was assassinated on April 15, 1944 by young Communistpartisans in Florence, members of the urban guerrilla Gruppi di AzionePatriotica, many of whom had been university students. . . . "The true resolutions of theDuce are always those which he has both formulated and put intoeffect."[li] Finally, private property rights would be respected within theframework of a corporative state in which all individual and groupinterests would be submerged in the collective interest and the state wouldprovide a framework within which "the synthesis and integration of theenergies of individuals" and groups would serve the nation.[lii] Rocco andothers were the originators of the concept of corporativism but Gentilegave it new twists. After Nazi glidertroops rescued him from the Gran Sasso, Mussolini in September, 1943 set uphis Italian Social Republic or Salo Republic near Lake Garda. . . . After repeating those charges in the Chamber ofDeputies, Socialist Deputy Giacomo Matteotti disappeared on June 1 , 1924,and was later determined to have been stabbed to death by Fascist thugs.Rightly or wrongly, Mussolini was blamed for Matteotti's murder. Endnotes BibliographyBobbio, Norberto. . Industrializationin the north led to the development of a burgeoning middle class and anurban proletariat, whose first attempts at unionization were also blockedby the government. . He also led the partially-successful early effort to rallyItalian intellectuals behind the regime. However, criticism of Gentile by dissidentItalian intellectuals or emigres was not the cause of his downfall. Universal Fascism The Theory and Practice of the Fascist International, 1928-1936 (New York: Howard Fertig, 1972, 45.[lxiii] Ibid.[lxiv] Ibid., 46.[lxv] Gregor, "The Mind As Pure Act," 1 8.[lxvi] Ibid., 11 .[lxvii] De Grand, 147.[lxviii] Gregor, "The Mind As Pure Act," 113.[lxix] Clark, 3 9.[lxx] De Grand, 147.[lxxi] De Grand, 157. . Ultranationalist Gabriele D'Annunzio spoke inthe early 19 s against Italy's "passivity, servility, its lack of energy,its agrarian economy and its . Gentile defined the state in spiritual and ethicalterms. Press freedom wascurtailed after 1925. The State is a spiritual and moral fact in itself [and] a manifestation of the spirit . 'real freedom.'"[xxii] In 1919, Gentile said:"liberalism . must necessarily besubordinated to the law and authority of the state, and be indissolublyabsorbed into them."[xlii] The Fascist state is more liberal than the Liberal State which isbased on obsolete and divisive concepts of individual free choice, becauseonly it can unleash man's full freedom and humanity. Gentile's Actualism offered theprospects of a unifying doctrinal unity that might accommodate all thedisparate forces that originally contributed to the success ofFascism."[xxxv] However, his first task was to undertake a comprehensivereform of Italy's faltering public school system, which suffered, accordingto Mussolini, "because of lack of means, and . and there are no limits to stateaction."[xlvii] Totalitarianism meant to Gentile "the identification of theindividual . felt that . He edited, or significantly influenced, a number of professional and popular journals--and, as President of the Istituto nazionale fascista di cultura had ultimate control over much of the literature devote to Fascist doctrine.[lx] Gentile never had the powers over the media that, for example,Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels had in Nazi Germany nor was hischarter as broad as that of the Italian Ministry of Popular Culture whichassumed many of Gentile's former functions in 1937. "In the Fascist state, individuals deliberate in all theirformal and informal associations that make up the fabric of political life,and respect is to be shown to dissent, but once a course has been chosen,all dissent must cease."[xlix] Gentile's elite now was identified as the Fascist Party which is"that part of the nation which has a clear consciousness of nationalpurpose."[l] Gentile's metaphysical conception of thought as action nowfound expression in the person of Mussolini. to coerce."[xlv]In Gentile's view, "political violence is justified primarily inrevolutionary crises-when radically different moral conceptions of lifestruggle for political dimensions," then it can be used as moral force tocontrol political dissidence but "was to be used only with the utmostgravity and only after the most careful deliberation" because "human lifewas sacred."[xlvi] Gentile was a totalitarian in the sense that he believed that "thereis nothing really private . Italy remained a predominantly an agricultural society,with deep poverty in most of central Italy, including the Romagna whereMussolini grew up and in the south, the Mezzogiorno, where peasantuprisings in the 189 s were repressed by the government. Such thinkers on the revolutionaryleft as Sergio Pannunzio, Filippo Corridini and Roberto Michels argued thatthe collaboration of all classes in Italian society was needed if Italy wasto overcome its economic backwardness and assume its rightful place amongthe nations. . The Fascist Grand Council passed resolutions which effectively deposedMussolini as its leader. Like Michel who spoke of the need for avanguard elite to energize the will of the masses, Gentile "argued thatsystemic social change was often . . . De Grand argues that the ideas expressed inhis and Mussolini's Doctrines of Fascism "never won wide acceptance."[lxx] There is something sterile and fundamentally un-Italian aboutGentile's aesthetically pure and but highly abstract rationalization ofFascism as a holy mission, the true heir of Mazzini's humane and romantichopes for the future. In1936 Gentile was forced to relinquish his last government post as directorof the Reale Scuola Normale Superior in Pisa. Lydia D. Fascistthugs intimidated thinkers who opposed the regime. In the two decades which preceded Mussolini'stakeover of the Italian state in 1922, Gentile became widely known for hisphilosophy of actualism, a neo-Hegelian, anti-Marxist, idealistic, elitistand nationalist view of reality, society and history, one of many currentsin Italian intellectual thought and popular writing which rejected thestatus quo and called for Italy's spiritual, political, economic and socialregeneration under a strong, authoritarian state and a more vigorousassertion of Italian interests abroad. . In his works,he used Karl Marx's own concept of praxis or conscious human activity toshow that Marx himself believed in the importance of moral choice and humanconsciousness. However, bourgeois nationalists such as Corradini rejected classstruggle as the defining mission of the Italian nation. Gregor said a consensus of their views was that "the nationwould be the vehicle of redemption, production would be its instrument, andthe state would be its articulate political will."[xiii] According toGregor, World War I "convinced many revolutionary syndicalists that onlynations that were united in purpose, effectively governed, and supported byan expanding and efficient economic system could expect to survive andobtain justice in the modern world."[xiv] Their leading convert was aformer Socialist, Mussolini. How important Gentile's accomplishments really were depends in parton one's assessment of the degree to which the Mussolini regime everachieved even a reasonable degree of ideological coherence and consistency.Gregor in his revisionist view of Italian fascism argues that it did somuch more than previously recognized but he stands almost alone amonghistorians in that assessment. In 1923-1924, Gentile served asMussolini's first Education Minister, but his reform of the public schoolsystem achieved only limited results. "The Mind As Pure Act." Unpublished manuscript in progress, 2 .Ledeen, Michael Arthur. . New York: Rinehart & Company, 1947.Rocco, Alfredo. Overall Assessment and Conclusion Gentile played an important, even an indispensable role, as the courtphilosopher or ideological theoretician for the Italian Fascist movementwhich otherwise was highly heterogenous and whose leaders were prone moreto take action than to think in conceptual terms. has been a conception of the state as liberty and ofliberty as state . In the meantime, Mussolini had finally after four years ofnegotiations reached in 1929 the Lateran Accords with the Vatican. In Italian Fascism from Pareto to Gentile, ed. . Gentile also rejected the concept of class struggle.According to Gregor, "proletarians represented only component elements of alarger organic community: the nation. . . lack of an entrepreneurial class."[vii]Enrico Corradini "called for a strong state that would regenerate an 'inertand passive' Italy, rendering it fully capable once again of supporting thegrandeur of Roman antiquity," largely through rapid industrialdevelopment.[viii] Giovanni Papini was an "advocate of a revolutionaryideology of national regeneration" of the masses to be led by "a talented,self-possessed, energetic, and exiguous aristocracy."[ix] Alfredo Rocco,later Fascist Minister of Justice, decried liberalism's pursuit ofindividual and class interests and the distribution of benefits amongsocial groups. James. The reaction of the Vatican was eventuallyto place all of Gentile's works on its index of writings which Catholicswere forbidden to read. with the state as the manifest political expression of thenation."[xlviii] However, in his view, there was limited room fordiscussion. Modern Italy 1871-1982. Church and its allies, than have to dealwith the Vatican themselves in a major domestic politicalconfrontation."[lxv] Other Catholic Fascists such as Carlo Costamagna andthe English Fascist John Barnes "attempted to keep the substance of Fascistdoctrine while surrendering Actualism."[lxvi] 3. The Fascist Experience Italian Society and Culture, 1922-1945. In the modern world, only the nationcould provide the material, intellectual, political and moral environmentin which the individual might find fulfillment."[xxv] "The nation, however,was not an end in itself; it was of instrumental value in the progressivemoral fulfillment of self."[xxvi] Gregor said "he found biological racismand anti-Semitism abhorrent."[xxvii] Role of the State. Some leftwing scholarswere placed in detention camps, such as the communist Antonio Gramsci whodied from tuberculosis there. After all,a certain virtuosity or intellectual acrobatics were required to state witha straight face that Fascism was a superior political system for Italiansthan liberalism and democracy and at the same time incorporated the bestfeatures of both. Phoenix Fascism In Our Time. It is also "a popularstate, and, in this sense, the democratic state par excellence."[xliii] Thestate is entitled to demand from its citizens the duty of absoluteobedience, self-sacrifice and even the ultimate sacrifice of one's life inwar "which provides the ambiance for the human being's final and ultimatedischarge of moral duty."[xliv] As Gregor summarizes the state's power, itis unlimited, including "the obligation not only to impose discipline orsanction, but . In 1923Mussolini sought to strengthen his fragile coalition by causing a law to bepassed which eliminated proportional representation in national elections.As a result of the April 1924 elections, the Fascists went from being aminority party to controlling 66 percent of the votes for Parliament;however, the still free press alleged fraud and violence by the Fasciststainted their victory. . Clark said that Gentile was one of manyintellectuals and popular writers in the pre-war period who opposed thecultural values of Liberal Italy and despised both parliamentary democracyand socialism --"young, excitable men who wrote essays in cultural reviewswith a frenetic message of urgent change. Nevertheless, there were abuses. The liberalidea that man achieved his highest degree of freedom when he lived as anindividual in the state of nature was in Gentile's view fallacious, becausethere man lived in a state of anarchy, "a state of abject dependence,"where he lost his humanity.[xxi] Gentile believed that it was "only in alaw-governed society shaped by history, tradition and thought-that theindividual can achieve . Gentile's usefulness to the regime was at its peak whenit was consolidating its power and, as we have seen, declined thereafter,as his initial successes were followed by doctrinal squabbles from which heemerged a bureaucratic loser. class war."[liv] In short, Gregor argues that without Gentile's Actualism, "Fascismwould have [had] no sustaining intellectual rationale" or doctrinal unity.[lv] Gentile's Efforts to Promote Fascism Among Italian Intellectuals Gentile joined the Fascist Party in 1923 and thereafter held a numberof prestigious academic and government positions relating to the arts. According to Gregor, Italy was "a late developing nation, recentlyreunited after centuries of dismemberment."[iii] The new state whichemerged from the complex maneuverings of Camillo Cavour, the conservativePrime Minister of Piedmont with the aid of the republican forces ofGiuseppe Garibaldi in the south, fell far short of the expectations arousedby the spirit of Risorgimento or national rebirth which inspired the hopesof many Italians. A similar split occurredduring the early stages of World War I. lack of spiritualvision."[xxxvi] Some of Gentile's reforms, including his elimination ofmany secondary technical schools, and the introduction of rigorous stateexaminations at all secondary schools, public and private, before studentscould go on to universities, solved temporarily the huge glut of studentsfor whom no post-university employment was available. It was followed in 1926 by the Royal Academyof Italy in which Gentile was prominent and which De Grand said "wasdesigned . New York: Howard Fertig, 1972.Lyttleton, Adrian, ed. Bobbio said Gentilewas then "an intellectually vigorous and morally generous man of quickreactions, and idealistic impulses."[xxxiv] According to Gregor, hisselection "was anything but casual. Man And The State. Hewas attacked on the left by young fascists led by Vittorio Spinetti whoorganized in 1933 a movement called Novismo dedicated to 'universalfascism,' and which organized an 'Anti-Idealist' convention in Rome. it is . Cochrane. . Ideological Profile of Twentieth-Century Italy. at variance with, if not diametrically opposed, to theindividual's unthinking desire."[xx] (This aspect of Gentile's thought wassimilar to Jean Jacques Rousseau's concept of the General Will to which mensubjected themselves by entering into the Social Contract). . As the leading theoretician of the regime, Gentile formulated andsynthesized into a coherent doctrine the diverse and often conflictingelements of Italian fascism and provided much of its ethical and moralraison d'etre. . To hold their own in thatstruggle, "developmental elites required the support of the masses,infilled with a sense of mission, and committed to an ethic of sacrificeand obedience."[xii] An important element of the working class left, the revolutionarysyndicalists, split from the Socialist Party and supported the broadlypopular Italian colonial war in Libya in 1911 against the Ottoman Turks andlater Senussi tribesmen opposed to Italian rule. . Intheir view Gentile's view were too abstract or too tame to serve as thebasis for the spread of fascism within Italy and abroad. In the mid-193 s, Armando Carlini, a CatholicFascist, wrote that Mussolini did not fully subscribe to Gentile'sphilosophy of Actualism. Fascism in fact took on a more radical form after 1936 than evenGentile had imagined, including its anti-Semitic laws, (which were neverfully implemented until after the German takeover in 1943), the growingpropaganda effort to mobilize and indoctrinate the masses, the cult of theleader and the expansion of Mussolini's dreams of imperial conquest. . Mussolinisurvived this crisis due primarily to right-wing support. The defeat of the Italian armyby Abyssinian irregulars at Adowa in 1896 was a national humiliation.Bourgeois intellectuals and popular writers called for a spiritualregeneration of the nation. After 1932, Gentile's influencewithin the government and the fascist movement declined, because hisstridently expressed anti-clericalism was at odds with Mussolini's effortsto reach an accommodation with the Catholic Church, and because a newgeneration of young fascists came to the fore whose members found Gentile'sphilosophy of actualism too abstract or too moderate. . The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism. According to Cassels, "as a means of reconciling themasses to the united state of Italy, the parliamentary regime was provingan almost total failure."[vi] The legitimacy of the liberal parliamentary regime was alsoundermined by its ineffectiveness in foreign affairs. It was incensed by his articlespre-empting all institutions but the state from a role in the moral andspiritual life of the nation. . The overridingconflict was between proletarian or have-not nations such as Italy and moreadvanced capitalist or predominant great powers. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.Mussolini, Benito. He admired thediscipline in the Church schools and for that reason, allowed the teachingof the Catholic religion to be reintroduced into the public schools. Roots of Italian Fascism According to Gregor, "Mussolini's fascism was a . New York: Rinehart & Company, 1947.Tannenbaum, Edward R. Fascist Italy. . morality and religion . The King had him arrested. William Ebenstein, 3 9-315. GIOVANNI GENTILE AND ITALIAN FASCISM This research paper critically analyzes the philosophy of GiovanniGentile (1875-1944) and discusses its relevance to Italian fascism and itsleader Benito Mussolini. Universal Fascism The Theory and Practice of the Fascist International, 1928-1936. . Italian Fascism from Pareto to Gentile. politicalideology committed to the redemption of a humiliated and retrogradepeople." [i] Gregor said the essential pre-condition for its appearance was"an intense period of real or perceived collective humiliation . In Man And The State, ed. New York: Rinehart & Company, 1947.Gentile, Giovanni. . . A loyal fascist untilthe end, Gentile came out of semi-retirement in 1943 to join the ill-fatedpuppet Salo Republic which he served in a senior cultural capacity until hewas assassinated in Florence by young communist partisans on April 15,1944. . (1932). . James. . . . .associated with retarded economic and industrial development in a worldincreasingly dominated by the technologically advanced democratic'plutocracies.'"[ii] All these factors were prevalent during the periodwhich followed Italy's unification in the 186 s and were greatly aggravatedby Italy's circumstances during the period of civil disorder, economicdistress and nationalist frustration which followed World War I and usheredin Mussolini's rise to power in 1922. . The Fascist state is itself conscious, and has itself a will and a personality-thus it may be called the 'ethic' state. . The Origins and Doctrines of Fascism. His skills as atheoretician and polemicist were of inestimable value to the regime as itsought after 1924 to consolidate its one party (dictatorial) rule. (1934). . William Ebenstein, 3 3-3 9. Gentile brought to thesetasks remarkable verve, consistency and intellectual dexterity. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1999.Gregor, A. was relegated topurely academic posts and had no further influence on governmentpolicy."[lix] For nearly a decade prior to that, Gentile had, in effect,been Mussolini's cultural czar. James Gregor, "The Theory of Mind As Pure Act," (Unpublished manuscript in progress, 2 ), 5 .[xviii] Ibid.[xix] Adrian Lyttleton (ed.), Italian Fascism from Pareto to Gentile (New York: Harper & Row, 1973), 34.[xx] Gregor, Phoenix Fascism In Our Time, 95.[xxi] Ibid., 95.[xxii] Ibid., 96.[xxiii] Bobbio, 126.[xxiv] Lyttleton, 34.[xxv] Gregor, Phoenix Fascism In Our Time, 1 .[xxvi] Ibid., 1 1.[xxvii] Gregor, "The Theory of Mind As Pure Act," 154.[xxviii] Gregor, Phoenix Fascism In Our Time, 1 3.[xxix] Bobbio, 127.[xxx] Gregor, Phoenix Fascism In Our Time, 1 3.[xxxi] Ibid.[xxxii] Gregor, "The Theory of Mind As Pure Act," 55.[xxxiii] Gregor, Phoenix Fascism In Our Time, 1 .[xxxiv] Bobbio, 124.[xxxv] Gregor, "The Theory of Mind As Pure Act," 57.[xxxvi] Benito Mussolini, My Autobiography (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928), 283.[xxxvii] Clark, 277.[xxxviii] Edward R. Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1985.Clark, Martin. Most of Mussolini's most ablesupporters had either deserted him or, as in the case of his son-in-law andForeign Minister Galeazzo Ciano, had been shot. New York: Basic Books, 1972.-----------------------[i] A. In doing so, he lent his considerableintellectual luster and prestige to the Fascist cause. that must realize itself (as a value), as something that represents alaw, something of the absolute, the divine."[xxix] Its necessary componentswere "faith, commitment and sacrifice" and disciplined obedience from itscitizens which it had a right to demand.[xxx] In return, the state owed itscitizens a tutelary responsibility "of creating a moral environment inwhich the individual, surrounded by distraction and afflicted by self-serving passions, might be able to imbue the narrowness of self with thefullness of humanity."[xxxi] According to Gregor, "by the end of the First World War, Gentile haddecided that the times required a fundamental change in the moralconsciousness of Italians if they were to overcome the afflictions thatrendered Italy of no account in the modern world," including a renewal "ofnew ideas and a new spirit."[xxxii] Role of Revolutionary Elites. My Autobiography. his ideas lacked . . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.Cassels, Alan. reactive,antidemocratic, developmental nationalism [that] featured a . Ledeensaid that "during a period when Mussolini was attempting to smooth out therelations between the Vatican and his own regime, Gentile was busily goingabout Italy, incurring the collective wrath of the Italian clergy, evenattacking the Pope himself."[lxiv] Gentile's difficulties with the Church made it easier for otherFascists to criticize him. . . Mussolinirequested Gentile to join it as President of the Italian Royal Academy. It was garbo, an untranslatable word in Italian thatessentially means the kind of nonsense Italians accept when they have noother alternative but to which they are basically apathetic. His philosophy ofactualism was also reflected (and echoed) in the writings of other Fascistleaders, such as Rocco, who said in 1925: "for Fascism, society hashistorical and immanent ends of preservation, expansion, improvement, quitedistinct from those of the individuals which at a given moment compose it;so distinct in fact they may even be in opposition."[xl] Gentile's most direct contributions were contained in his ownwritings and in the state-sponsored Enciclopedia italiana which wasprepared under his direction by number of intellectuals, including some non-Fascists, and whose first chapter, the Political and Social Doctrine ofFascism (Doctrine), appeared under Mussolini's name but is believed to havebeen drafted by Gentile himself, subject to Mussolini's editing. According to Gregor, "by the mid-193 s, it wasreasonably evident that Mussolini and the Party would rather have Gentilesuffer the abuse from the . Gregor makes the point thatItalian fascism did not treat intellectuals as harshly as did othertotalitarian regimes. . He said corporativism "did not operate within thelimits of productive activity alone, but rather comprehended andencompassed the entire life of the nation."[liii] In volume XIV of theEncyclopedia jointly authored by Gentile and Mussolini, corporativism "wasput forward as an alternative 'third way' between capitalism and socialism,which were held to be divisive forces in modern society-the former becauseit sanctified the pursuit of self-interest, the latter because itstimulated . . According to Gregor, "as Fascism's intentionsbecame more and more totalitarian, the Church recognized that its doctrinaland corporate interests were threatened."[lxi] As the harshness of itsattacks on Gentile intensified, Gentile responded in kind. . Neither [is] the state conceivably outside theindividual, nor the individual an abstract particularity outside theimmanent ethical community of the state in which it [man] realizes itseffective freedom."[xxiii] According to Lyttleton, "Gentile saw Italianhistory as a struggle by those who possessed faith, ideals, or a 'religioussense of life," to overcome the passive resistance of skepticalindividualism."[xxiv] Gentile disagreed with the Marxist dogma of economic determinism, thebelief that man's economic circumstances shaped his behavior. . In Man And The State, ed. .. . social and economic concreteness [and] the very elitism and abstractness of the theory bothered Fascist extremists who believed, as Gentile did not, that consent had to be coerced from the intellectuals.[lxvii] That same year, Guido Cavalucci attacked Gentile from the rightarguing that "Actualism was a deviant form of Fascism that sought to leadthe Regime into a system of economic 'Bolshevism' that saw the individualswallowed up into the state and to ride roughshod over privateproperty."[lxviii] 4. According to Gregor, Gentile's philosophyof Actualism "conceived the reality in which individuals operated not assomething external to, but as a product of, consciousness, -the product ofwilled collective moral choices."[xvii] This fusion of spirit and matter inGentile's philosophy he referred to as immanent reality. According to Gregor, He was charged with the responsibility of directing some of the nation's most prestigious academic institutions. the custodian and transmitter of the spirit of the people, as it has grown up through the centuries in language, in custom, and in faith.[xli] In Gentile's view, the Fascist state replaced all morality andreligion. . Italy's lateunification meant that it fell behind the more dynamic economic andindustrial growth of the more advanced European powers and was constantlyfrustrated in the race for colonies abroad. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.Ebenstein, William, ed. He said in his 1934 reformulation of The Origins and Doctrines ofFascism "the authority of the state refuses to compromise or to come toterms or share its sphere of influence with any other moral or religiousprinciple . This we shall give her, by love if possible, byforce if need be."[xxxix] In the mid to late 192 s, Gentile produced a series of articlesproviding a theoretical justification for Fascism. . . Italians were to achieve all this through "afraternity of faith [and] consciousness of a common ideal" and commondevotion to "duty to the fatherland" which would evoke the "virtue of self-sacrifice" by all Italians.[iv] By the turn of the century, De Grand said it was clear that thepolitical class which ruled Italy after unification through theconstitutional monarchy and liberal parliamentary system"represented the dominant economic and social position of agriculture," thelanded elite.[v] Governing coalitions were shaped by the distribution offavors and corrupt influence-peddling to various groups and regions knownas trasformismo. Tannenbaum opined that Gentile's 1923 reformsactually delayed the 'Fascization' of Italian education by shoring up 19thcentury bourgeois elitist values.[xxxviii] Overall, he had a mixed recordas Education Minister. He controlled his own publishing house, Sansoni, in Florence-- and had direct or indirect control over others. the product of the activities of a'guiding minority' leading a 'guided majority'," which might be led by"political geniuses, or "privileged and providential spirits," who could"intuit the collective psychology of the masses" and be theirspokesman.[xxxiii] Gentile's Educational Reforms Gentile joined Mussolini's first cabinet as Minister of Education,one of ten non-Fascists out of 14. . William Ebenstein (New York: Rinehart & Company, 1947), 312.[xli] Benito Mussolini, The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism (1932), in Man and The State, ed. William Ebenstein (New York: Rinehart & Company, 1947, 3 6.[xlii] Giovanni Gentile, The Origins and Doctrines of Fascism (1934), in Lyttleton, 314.[xliii] Ibid., 311.[xliv] Gregor, Phoenix Fascism In Our Time, 1 4.[xlv] Ibid., 1 5.[xlvi] Ibid., 1 6.[xlvii] Ibid., 1 9.[xlviii] Ibid.[xlix] Ibid.[l] Lyttleton, 35.[li] Ibid., 34.[lii] Ibid., 11 .[liii] Bobbio, 129.[liv] Cassels, 56.[lv] Gregor, "The Mind As Pure Act," 154.[lvi] De Grand, 143.[lvii] Ibid., 144.[lviii] Ibid.[lix] Tannenbaum, 76.[lx] Gregor, "The Mind As Pure Act," 98-99.[lxi] Gregor, "The Mind As Pure Act," 1 2.[lxii] Michael Arthur Ledeen. Under his theoryof the mind or thought as pure act, "God and external nature are reallypart of the act of thinking," hence the term Actualism.[xviii] Gentile's View of History and Society. Tannenbaum, The Fascist Experience Italian Society and Culture, 1922-1945 (New York: Basic Books, 1972), 151.[xxxix] Cassels, 5 .[xl] Alfred Rocco, "The Political Doctrine of Fascism," in Man And The State, ed. Even though it gained influence from them, the Catholic Churchopposed Gentile's 1923 educational reforms. In theDoctrine, Gentile/Mussolini said: Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individual groups are relative, only to be conceived of in relation to the State. From roughly 1925 to 1932 Gentile and his philosophy played a centralrole in the evolution of Italian fascism while at other times his and itsinfluence were more marginal. . According to DeGrand, the younger generation . Gentile's World View and Political Philosophy According to Bobbio, Gentile first established his credentials as aphilosopher through his studies on the thought of two mid-19th centuryCatholic spiritual thinkers, Antonio Rosmini and Vincenzo Gioberti, and hiscritiques of Marxism.[xv] He enhanced his standing as a philosophicalidealist by his contributions to the journal, La Critica, which he co-edited with Bernadetto Croce, later a fierce critic of the Fascists, and byhis 1916 book which summed up his philosophy of actualism and otherwritings which established him as a critic of post-unification culture andan educational reformer and increasingly linked him with authoritarian andultranationalist points of view. trans. . . Liberal democracy, he said, led to "the erosion oftraditional values of labor, frugality, and sacrifice."[x] In his view,"political liberalism might be tolerable for economically establishedcommunities, [but] it was fatal for those whose industrialization waseither thwarted or retarded."[xi] Italian nationalism and Marxist socialism soon came into conflict.According to standard Marxist analysis, the class struggle between theworking class and the capitalist order for political power was a universalone. TheSalo Republic was essentially a farce. However, in orderto maintain Fascist party unity, and to placate domestic and foreignopinion, he needed a more sophisticated and persuasive justification forhis rule than the blunt warning he delivered to the Chamber of Deputies onJanuary 3, 1925 whose members he told, "Italy wants peace and quiet, andcalm in which to work. London: Longman, 1984.De Grand, Alexander. to co-opt the better-known intellectuals by honors andspecial privileges."[lvii] Some intellectuals became Fascists, some retiredor fled the country, but most "accepted the regime because they could seeno alternative."[lviii] Gentile's Declining Influence After 1932 According to Tannenbaum, after 1932 "Gentile . He then became dispensable. According to Ledeen, arrogant and indiscreet, he had let it be known for years that he considered opponents of his Idealist doctrines to be unreceptive to rational argument and therefore adherents of outmoded philosophical positions.[lxii] In an lecture at the University of Bologna in March 1931, Gentileissued a diatribe "not only against philosophical and cultural doctrinedifferent from his own, but also against the Pope himself."[lxiii] At aboutthe same time, he engaged in harsh polemics with Father Genelli, the rectorof Catholic University in Milan. Academic freedom, long respected in Italy, had lesserscope than before. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.Gregor, A. Nevertheless, he hadpower over the nation's cultural establishment and in that capacity becamea focal point of controversy and criticism. Mostof Gentile's reforms did little to indoctrinate Italy's youth in fascistdoctrine which came later. a mission, a purpose,something that [had] to be realized-an action."[xxviii] In 19 7 Gentilesaid: "the state is a reality, a real ethical activity, which does notdiscourse about itself, but affirms itself, realizes itself perennially . According to Lyttleton,Gentile agreed with Hegel that "there is a single collective will, which isalso the true, rational or universal will of the individual," and whichevidenced itself throughout human history.[xix] Like Karl Marx, Gentileargued that the essence of man is that he is a "social animal," and heachieves his humanity and liberty only through life lived in community" andby conforming his or her behavior to the "real" or "universal" will, which"is . . . . Other fascists questioned the ascendancy of Gentile's theories. Adrian Lyttleton, 3 1-315. Romantic nationalist Giuseppi Mazzini portrayed areunified Italy which would become a 'third Rome' with a civilizing missionand restored national grandeur and respect abroad and democracy, libertyand social justice at home. Italian Fascism Its Origins and Development. Gentile and the Salo Republic By 1943, the Italian public had grown weary of both Fascism and thewar. . New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928.Mussolini, Benito. James Gregor, Phoenix Fascism In Our Time (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1999), 2 .[ii] Ibid.[iii] Ibid.[iv] Ibid., 29.[v] Alexander De Grand, Italian Fascism Its Origins and Development (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982), 4.[vi] Alan Cassels, Fascist Italy (Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1985), 8.[vii] Gregor, 31.[viii] Ibid., 3 .[ix] Ibid., 31.[x] Ibid., 34.[xi] Ibid., 35.[xii] Ibid., 32.[xiii] Ibid., 44.[xiv] Ibid., 43-44.[xv] Norberto Bobbio, Ideological Profile of Twentieth-Century Italy, trans. Lydia D. Gentile was loyal to the Fascist cause, but his mystical andidealized view of Fascism never corresponded much to reality. Gentile as Fascist Theologian During the period 1925-1932, Gentile adapted his Actualist philosophyto formulate a coherent set of Fascist doctrines. Cochrane (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), 125.[xvi] Martin Clark, Modern Italy 1871-1982 (London: Longman, 1984), 173.[xvii] A. ItalianFascism never came close to realizing its promise and, as De Grand put it,"if fascism is to be seen as a route to modernity, it was for Italy apainful and costly road."[lxxi] Intellectuals always take a risk when they leave the safe confines ofthe academic ivory tower for the real world of rough and tumble politicalcombat. The 11 university scholars who refused to sign a loyaltyoath to the regime were hounded into exile or early retirement. They gave Italians a new image ofthemselves: active, passionate, and war like."[xvi] Gentile's View of Reality. . It "was the product of conscious, moral choice, that gives thenation its concrete expression" and Italy, as a nation, was not "somethingin nature, but a great spiritual reality . Hedrafted the 1925 Manifesto of Fascist Intellectuals that, according to DeGrand, "asserted that fascism was a vindication of the rights of the nationand the state against the excesses of liberalism and that fascism was a newsocial liberalism that aimed at the creation of a higher nationalconsciousness than had been achieved by the liberal parliamentaryregime."[lvi] It was signed by some non-Fascist intellectuals, but wasvigorously opposed by Croce. . If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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