Review Of Gramsci 's ' Political Thought ' The Prison Notebooks '

Now, with the Italian fascist state crumbling around him, and without a direct charge from Mussolini, Gentile, who had been among those competing for Mussolini's favor in earlier periods of fascism, created the last Italian fascist theory. And that was more philosophical than the earlier attempts at creating an ideology were. Gentile's theory had its descriptive moments, but, in the large, he offered a wholly philosophical oversight into pure fascism. It had little in the way of a call to arms.

Italian Fascism is an authoritarian and nationalistic system of government and social organization, it was the political result of the relationship between socialist and nationalist rhetoric. It is a form of governance which employs intolerant views and practices, advocating traditionalism, interventionism and sameness rather than individualism. In order to promote their totalitarian ideals during the 1930s to 1945 fascist politicians such as Benito Mussolini, who had previously been a socialist newspaper editor, employed propaganda that included virtually all modes of media: the press, posters and film. The widespread dissemination of totalitarian ideals infiltrated into the school system where young Italians born from 1910 to 1935 were taught to “obey and fight.” The purpose of this paper is to analyse the diffusion of the Italian Identity through fascist propaganda from 1922-1943 and the identity that was diffused as a result of the exploitation of Mussolini’s various propaganda mediums. Did fascist propaganda contribute to the diffusion of an Italian identity? If so, what identity was diffused?

During the Second World War, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was the leader of the Italian Nationalist Fascist government. He was head of the Italian government from 1922 till 1943. The significance of Mussolini is that he played a key role acting as the Italian Prime Minister and established a totalitarian regime, during this time, as the unchallenged supreme leader, known as ‘Il Duce’. Fascism consisted of many contributors of which Mussolini with all his quirks was the key to most of its failures and successes, making him the most significant player that is worthy of being investigated. This topic is worthy of being investigated as Mussolini made a lot of decisions that lead to the death of many, but the question as to

These were pivotal times in the annals of world history in the 20th century. Mussolini and Hitler’s rise to power was clearly a threat to the freedoms of the United States and its Allies. Through God’s grace and omnipotence, the US alliance, industrialization and intellectual might, we had the resources required to overcome the fierce and mighty threat of Fascism in the Free World.

Mussolini consolidation of fascist power in Italy in the years 1922-1929 could have been mainly due to the use of force and intimidation. However this was not a straightforward process, since fascism was a new thing. In the years 1922 to January 1925 marked the transition from the liberal parliamentary system to the fascist state. Like many political transitions, it was an untidy and complicated process. Although from the start Mussolini’s intentions were quite difficult to establish, however it could be that Mussolini wanted to set up from the beginning a totalitarian one party state.

Gramsci 's approach to ideology proposes that oppressed classes condone the ideas, values and authority of the hegemonic class because they limited motive to establish their own (Strinati, 1995). Gramsci’s contribution to ideology is noted due to the lack of force and focused on intellectual power. However, Gramsci fails to acknowledge that the working class work extremely long labour hours and do not have the opportunity to discuss their oppositional views with a group. Yet, Gramsci’s commentary and introduction to hegemony are particularly pertinent to the development of Marxist ideology as hegemony delivers a way of comprehending the circumstances in which informal educators function and ability to scrutinise and alter this (Burke,

Benito Mussolini outlines several essential characteristics of his preferred political ideology, Fascism, in what has become known as the Doctrine of Fascism. In this paper, Mussolini outlines his vision of the ideology, and explains the major issues that Fascism will address once it becomes the leading political system in Italy. Mussolini’s major points as outlined in the Doctrine included an extreme emphasis on nationalism, organization and modernization of the state, persistent focus on religion, life as a struggle, and the notion that individuals exist only for the improvement of society as a whole. Wolfgang Schieder, after reviewing the Doctrine of Fascism, explains Mussolini’s success based on it and

The state of Mussolini’s Fascist Italy and Hitler’s Nazi Germany, can be highly comparable in their policies and ideologies. Fascism is a political ideology, in which the country is to be racially and culturally pure. Mussolini said himself that “Fascism desires the state to be strong and organic and to always be prepared for conflict”. Fascism includes things such as nationalism, hostility to democracy, racism, the love of symbols such as uniforms, parades and army discipline. It is a totalitarian philosophy which worships the state and nation. Fascism is an extreme right-wing that celebrates the nation or race as a pure community which exceeds all other loyalties and expectations (Downing, 2001). Most of the time it celebrates masculinity and male supremacy, rarely it will promote female solidarity (De Grand, 1995). Fascist aims are to prepare for conflict and violence and to prepare and educate the youth. Both were able to gain support from military associations,

‘By 1943, Mussolini had created a totalitarian regime in Italy’. Explain why you agree or disagree with this view. (24 marks).

Giuseppe Mazzini was instrumental in unifying the Italian nation as his ideals spread throughout Italy’s intellectual community. Although many of his attempts at rallying the common people to a revolution failed, he circulated and popularized the idea of a fully unified Italy for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. In his work “The Duties of Man,” Mazzini establishes that he is largely a romantic nationalist, since he draws heavily on history; however, he utilizes the power of certain liberal nationalist sentiments such as individuals’ rights in his own work.

Chapter 14 summary: George gets the hang of the schedule and the people that work at the hotel. He talks about what he observed, like when to cook the food etc. He also refers to cooks as insufferable bullies, but they are artists as well, good ones. Valenti tells him once how he served someone a meal over 200 francs. George says that the waiters are mainly Socialists.

The economic instability of Europe developed totalitarian goverments that began rising during the depression in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. Germany, Italy, and Japan all became countries subjected to the rule of dictated military rule leaving no room for opposition. Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922 (Calvocoressi, Wint, p 777, 1999). Mussolini had his own philosophy that his destiny was to rule over Italy as Caesar in a more modern version while re-creating the Roman Empire. In his attempts in

By the late 1960s, Italy had suffered through World War II. It had seen the Vietnam War unfold before them. Furthermore, it had experienced a dramatic urbanization from an agrarian society to an urban one. Such a shift precipitated the appeal for communism. Into this complicated political and socio-economic arena came the Red Brigades. The Red Brigades were an Italian terrorist organization with a strong emphasis on Marxism. Founded in 1969 by radical left-leaning students Renato Curcio and his wife Mara Cagol, the Red Brigades began a reign of terror that . In order to fully assess the impact of the Red Brigades in Italy, it is necessary to answer a central question: why were the Red Brigades so violent? The Red Brigades had ties to

Most people who would read this would be of the middle class or higher. This type of literature would appeal to those who were upset with the results of world war one, and those who were growing up in the Mussolini regime. In other parts of the world, Mussolini’s illustration of fascism would also appeal to individuals who

First I spent five years in an unsuitable profession (The Indian Imperial Police, in Burma), and then I underwent poverty and the sense of failure. This increased my natural hatred of authority and made me for the first time fully aware of the existence of the working classes, and the job in Burma had given me some understanding of the nature of imperialism: but these experiences were not enough to give me an accurate political orientation. Then came Hitler, the Spanish Civil War, etc. By the end of 1935 I had still failed to reach a firm decision. The Spanish war and other events in 1936-37 turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it. It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid writing of such subjects. Everyone writes of them in one guise or another. It is simply a question of which side one takes and what approach one follows. And the more one is conscious of one 's political bias, the more chance one has of acting politically without sacrificing one 's aesthetic and intellectual integrity."