The Rise and Fall of Italian Fascism as a Generational Revolt

Bibliographic Data

ID10074175
AuthorsBruno P F Wanrooij (corresponding author), Bruno Wanrooij
Year1987
Volume22
Issue3
Pages401-418
Publication date1987-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/002200948702200303
OpenAlexW2013868146
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited1

Many observers have noticed the great interest with which, during the 1930s, the leaders of the Soviet Union, nazi Germany and fascist Italy followed the political development of young people. Youth had made a major contribution to the rise to power of new regimes in these countries, and the preservation of the preferential relationship between youth and the political leadership was considered essential to the success of the revolutions that had taken place. In Italy this relationship was invested with particular importance; whereas the concept of class had been at the centre of the ideological framework of the October Revolution, and race was the key element in nazi ideology, the fascists had come to power 'raising the banner of youth'.' Modern revolutions have often used the image of youth as a symbol of change. In the nineteenth century, however, the concept of youth referred to all people of a certain age; it did not indicate the existence of youth as an autonomous social group.2 It was only at the beginning of this century that the concept arose of youth as a group of people bound by identical experiences and similar interests. The importance of the family and of local communities had diminished as a result of the development of the industrial society. The generation constituted a new unity and a baseline from which to measure social success.3

Banner · Economic history · Element (criminal law · Ideology · Nazism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Symbol (formal · Upper class · Gender Studies · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law

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