racism. It is a myth to think that racism was only developed by the Italian fascists
at the insistence of the Nazis. The invasion of Ethiopia was presented as the salvation
of the Italian race, and even before the alliance with Hitler, Mussolini had spoken
of the danger that the (so-called) ‘coloured races’ posed to the ‘white race’ with
their fertility and rate of multiplication. Miccari (1898–1989), one of the key fascist
intellectuals, warned against the kind of modernity that is a racket manipulated by
‘Jewish bankers, war-profiteers, pederasts, brothel keepers’, and Volpe (1876–1971),
official historian of fascism, argued that the voice of anti-Semitism was not entirely
new in Italy (Griffin, 1995: 60, 80). It is true that a much more systematic racism
developed as a result of Nazi pressure (many Jews had actually been recruited to
the party and were now expelled), but we can certainly say that fascism built upon
a racist culture that is integral to fascism.
Intellectual roots
Although fascist intellectuals drew upon Machiavelli, Nietzsche and Hegel, there
was an important tradition of elitism in Italian political thought that was more
recent and more influential.
Mosca (1858–1941) had taught constitutional law at the University of Palermo
between 1858 and 1888, and the universities of Rome and Turin. In 1884 he
published Theory of Governments and Parliamentary Government, but is best
known for his The Ruling Class, that appeared in 1896. All societies, he argued,
are governed by minorities whether these are military, hereditary, priestly or based
on merit or wealth. He accepted that ownership of property could be a factor in
accounting for elite rule, but he rejected the Marxist account that sought to privilege
this particular factor. The ruling class or elite owes its superiority to organisational
factors, he argued, and its skills alter according to circumstance. What he called
the ‘political formula’ or the ideological mechanisms of rule varied, but whatever
the form, all states are necessarily elitist in character, whether their legitimating
myth is the divine right of kings, popular sovereignty or the dictatorship of the
proletariat.
Democracy, in his view, is simply a more subtle form of manipulation, and the
parties offered inducements for people to vote for them. The ‘political class’ need
to be distinguished from other sections of the elite, like industrialists, but in 1923
Mosca introduced in his work the argument that elites could compete through rival
political parties. People of lower socio-economic origin can be recruited in order to
renew elites. Unlike other elitists, he was, however, fiercely critical of Mussolini,
and his theory is best described as conservative rather than fascist.
Rather more hawkish was Pareto (1848–1923). Pareto had taken the chair in
political economy at the University of Lausanne in 1894, publishing his Cours
d’économie politique(1896, 1897). In 1900 he declared himself an anti-democrat,
arguing that the political movements in Italy and France were simply seeking to
replace one elite with another. While he approved of Marx’s emphasis upon struggle,
he rejected completely the notion that a classless society was possible. In 1906,
Pareto published his Manual of Political Economy, where he presented pure
economics in mathematical form.
Chapter 13 Fascism 287