The Problem of the Party in Italian Fascism

Dados Bibliográficos

ID10076435
AutoresEmilio Gentile (autor correspondente)
Ano1984
Volume19
Fascículo2
Páginas251-274
Data de publicação1984-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/002200948401900205
OpenAlexW1968021079
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas6
Referências citadas1

From its foundation until the fall of the 'regime', the party posed a problem for fascism that gave rise to continual discussion, polemics, and at times head-on collisions between the supporters of different ideologies within the movement. In 1921, the proposal to turn the Fasci di combattimento 'movement' into a 'party' had already provoked a serious rupture between the fascist groups, a rupture that was healed only superficially by the Rome Congress (November 1921), when the proposal was almost unanimously accepted. The first years of the PNF were in fact dominated by internal conflict. These disputes were due both to a lack of effective unity in the organization at national level, and to the precariousness of the agreement on ideas and political outlook of people who differed both in terms of their social and regional backgrounds, and who were united only temporarily in acts of terrorism against socialist and catholic organizations and in the struggle for power. After the march on Rome, the internal disputes of the PNF exploded violently and the very existence of the party was endangered. After the crisis of 1925 had been overcome, the PNF lived in a kind of institutional uncertainty during the period of the construction of the fascist 'regime', until the law on the constitutionalization of the Gran Consiglio of 1928 legally subordinated the party to the state. Internal stability and the legal provisions concerning the state did not put an end to the discussions and arguments on the 'problem of the party', especially on its function and duties in the political system that fascism was gradually constructing, and on its role in the development of the 'fascist revolution'. Even in the last years and months of the 'regime', the 'problem of the party' was still dealt with as a fundamental question for the uncertain future of fascism

Political economy · Political science · Sociology · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society