Fascist Doctrine and the Cult of the Romanità

Bibliographic Data

ID10074314
AuthorsRomke Visser (corresponding author)
Year1992
Volume27
Issue1
Pages5-22
Publication date1992-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/002200949202700101
OpenAlexW2085253395
LanguageEN
Citations received42

In a recent article published in this journal, Emilio Gentile briefly mentioned the cult of the romanita to illustrate his thesis about fascism as a political religion.' Gentile's observations on the (semi-) religious connotations of fascist doctrine are relevant to the debate concerning the ideological character of fascism. His thesis offers an adequate terminology for the description of fascism as a flexible type of doctrine, without leading to a nihilistic stance about the relevance of the study of fascist ideology. Although fascism hardly qualifies as an 'established' and consistent ideology of the Marxist type, a reconstruction of the doctrinal development of fascism (and its roots) is vital for our understanding of the relative success of the regime during the years of consensus. From a historiographical point of view, there is another important aspect of Gentile's article: he is one of the first scholars of fascist history to acknowledge the relevance of the cult of classical Roman history for fascist propaganda during the 1930s. In fact, he seems to support the thesis that the romanita was of major importance for the propaganda of fascist political doctrine during that decade. This was noted by various Italian scholars of antiquity such as Luciano Canfora and Mariella Cagnetta.2 Up until now, most historians of fascist ideology have dealt with the cult of the romanita as being of merely rhetorical and symbolic value for fascism, especially in propaganda concerning the Italian imperialism of the 1930s. Following this interpretation we are compelled to consider the use of the romanita within fascist 'imperial' propaganda as an opportunistic choice of 'Roman' catchwords and symbols, lacking any substantial ideological coherence and with no intellectual background of any standing.3 We are compelled to believe that fascist propaganda only emphasized the 'Roman' roots of the ducismo and the 'Roman

Art · Cult · Doctrine · Historiography · Ideology · Interpretation (philosophy · Literature · Marxist philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Terminology · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law · Philosophy

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