Machiavelli and Italian fascism

History of Political Thought

Volumn 25, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 1-15

  Femia, Joseph ^a,b  

^a Roxby Building   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 1442280865     PISSN: 0143781X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (73)

1. N. Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, trans. H.C. Mansfield and N. Tarcov (Chicago, 1996), Book III, ch. 41, p. 301.
2. Ibid., I, ch. 17, p. 48.
3. E. Nolte, Three Faces of Fascism (New York, 1969).
4. Z. Sternhell, The Birth of Fascist Ideology (Princeton, 1994).
5. B. Mussolini, 'The Doctrine of Fascism' (1932), in Italian Fascisms: From Pareto to Gentile, ed. A. Lyttelton (London, 1973), pp. 39-57; G. Gentile, Origini e dottrina del fascismo (Rome, 1934).
6. B. Mussolini, 'The Doctrine of Fascism' (1932), in Italian Fascisms: From Pareto to Gentile, ed. A. Lyttelton (London, 1973), pp. 39-57; G. Gentile, Origini e dottrina del fascismo (Rome, 1934).
7. Gentile, Origini e dottrina del fascismo, pp. 39, 65.
8. Ibid., p. 39.
9. Machiavelli, Discourses, I, ch. 18, p. 49.
10. See J.G.A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (Princeton, 1975), Part 3, chs. X-XI.
11. J.J. Rousseau, The Social Contract and Discourses, trans. G.D.H. Cole (London, 1966), p. 59.
12. A Gramsci, Quaderni del carcere, Vol. III, ed. V. Gerratana (Turin, 1975), pp. 1555, 1572, 1600-1.
13. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment, pp. 40, 184.
14. M. Viroli, 'Machiavelli and the Republican Idea of Politics', in Machiavelli and Republicanism, ed. G. Bock, Q. Skinner and M. Viroli (Cambridge, 1990), p. 144.
15. M. Viroli, Machiavelli (Oxford, 1998), pp. 5, 129.
16. B. Fontana, Hegemony and Power: On the Relation Between Gramsci and Machiavelli (Minneapolis, 1993), pp. 72, 75, 106, 114, 125, 161, 162.
17. Machiavelli, Discourses, I, ch. 2.
18. For a criticism along these lines, see V.B. Sullivan, 'Machiavelli's Momentary "Machiavellian Moment": a Reconsideration of Pocock's Treatment of the Discourses', Political Theory, 20 (1992), pp. 309-18. Neither I nor - if I understand her correctly Sullivan would deny that words on a page can be ambiguous in their meaning and that some kind of contextual analysis may be helpful in adjudicating between possible meanings. But this is very far from allowing the text to disappear, so to speak, into some vaguely defined context or 'paradigm' of political language and discourse.
19. I. Berlin, 'The Originality of Machiavelli', in Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas (London, 1979), p. 37.
20. Machiavelli, Discourses, I, ch. 58, p. 117; N. Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. G. Bull (Harmondsworth, 1975), ch. XII, p. 78.
21. Machiavelli, Discourses, I, ch. 58, p. 117; N. Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. G. Bull (Harmondsworth, 1975), ch. XII, p. 78.
22. Machiavelli, Discourses, I, ch. 12, p. 36; Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. XI, p. 74.
23. Machiavelli, Discourses, I, ch. 12, p. 36; Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. XI, p. 74.
24. Machiavelli, Discourses, II, ch. 2, pp. 131-2.
25. Berlin, 'The Originality of Machiavelli', pp. 67-8.
26. A point made by Edmund Jacobitti in his masterful study of Italian idealism: 'hostility to abstract Enlightenment natural laws as well as to the transcendent Christian religion, marks the uniqueness and prescience of modern Italian thought'. Jacobitti identifies Machiavelli as a pivotal figure because of his reversal of the Christian ideas of 'sin' and 'virtue'. The medieval era had as its theological basis the notion that sin lay in attaching oneself to this life, whereas virtue lay in the negation of the worldly life. Reality for the Christian was 'what ought to be', not 'what is', and therefore its true content was the afterlife - the 'heavenly city' of Truth and Justice. Machiavelli, on the other hand, saw virtue in man's active spirit, creating and appropriating his own world here on earth. Edmund Jacobitti, Revolutionary Humanism and Historicism in Modern Italy (New Haven and London, 1981), pp. 6, 52. I have myself tried to extend Jacobitti's thesis by demonstrating how Machiavelli's rejection of transcendence has influenced Italian thinkers on both the left and right of the political spectrum. See J. V. Femia, The Machiavellian Legacy: Essays in Italian Political Thought (Basingstoke, 1998), ch. 1.
27. A point made by Edmund Jacobitti in his masterful study of Italian idealism: 'hostility to abstract Enlightenment natural laws as well as to the transcendent Christian religion, marks the uniqueness and prescience of modern Italian thought'. Jacobitti identifies Machiavelli as a pivotal figure because of his reversal of the Christian ideas of 'sin' and 'virtue'. The medieval era had as its theological basis the notion that sin lay in attaching oneself to this life, whereas virtue lay in the negation of the worldly life. Reality for the Christian was 'what ought to be', not 'what is', and therefore its true content was the afterlife - the 'heavenly city' of Truth and Justice. Machiavelli, on the other hand, saw virtue in man's active spirit, creating and appropriating his own world here on earth. Edmund Jacobitti, Revolutionary Humanism and Historicism in Modern Italy (New Haven and London, 1981), pp. 6, 52. I have myself tried to extend Jacobitti's thesis by demonstrating how Machiavelli's rejection of transcendence has influenced Italian thinkers on both the left and right of the political spectrum. See J. V. Femia, The Machiavellian Legacy: Essays in Italian Political Thought (Basingstoke, 1998), ch. 1.
28. Mussolini, 'The Doctrine of Fascism', p. 41.
29. G. Gentile, 'II metodo dell' immanenza' (1912), in La riforma della dialettica hegeliana (Florence, 1975), p. 232. For an interesting discussion of Gentile's unification of theory and practice, philosophy and politics, see M. Cicalese, La formazione del pensiero politico di Giovanni Gentile (1896-1919) (Milan, 1972), especially pp. 215-34.
30. G. Gentile, 'II metodo dell' immanenza' (1912), in La riforma della dialettica hegeliana (Florence, 1975), p. 232. For an interesting discussion of Gentile's unification of theory and practice, philosophy and politics, see M. Cicalese, La formazione del pensiero politico di Giovanni Gentile (1896-1919) (Milan, 1972), especially pp. 215-34.
31. Mussolini, 'The Doctrine of Fascism', p. 54.
32. Ibid., p. 42.
33. Gentile, Origini e dottrina del fascismo, p. 52.
34. Ibid., p. 54.
35. Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. XVII, p. 96.
36. Machiavelli, Discourses, I. ch. 3, p. 15.
37. Ibid., I, ch. 37, p. 78.
38. Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. XV, pp. 90-1.
39. Machiavelli, Discourses, II, ch. 25, p. 190.
40. Ibid., I, ch. 34, p. 75.
41. Ibid., I, ch. 20, p. 54; II, ch. 2, pp. 130-3; III, ch. 9, p. 240.
42. Ibid., I, ch. 20, p. 54; II, ch. 2, pp. 130-3; III, ch. 9, p. 240.
43. Ibid., I, ch. 20, p. 54; II, ch. 2, pp. 130-3; III, ch. 9, p. 240.
44. Ibid., I, ch. 16, p. 46.
45. Ibid., I, ch. 44, p. 92.
46. Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. XV, p. 90.
47. Machiavelli, Discourses, I, ch. 9, p. 29.
48. B. Croce, Elementi di politica (Bari, 1925), pp. 59-67.
49. Machiavelli, Discourses, I, ch. 9, p. 29.
50. Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. XVII, p. 95.
51. Viroli, Machiavelli, p. 135.
52. Machiavelli, Discourses, III, ch. 41, p. 301.
53. Viroli, Machiavelli, p. 139.
54. Machiavelli, Discourses, II, ch. 23, p. 182.
55. Ibid., II, ch. 25, p. 190.
56. Ibid., II, ch. 19, p. 173.
57. Ibid., II, ch. 17, p. 165.
58. Note Machiavelli's belief that the best way to unite a divided city is 'to kill the heads of the tumults' - a practice followed by the Romans. While 'such executions have in them something of the great and the generous', according to Machiavelli, 'men at present', because of their 'weak' Christian upbringing, find them 'inhuman' or even 'impossible' (Machiavelli, Discourses, III, ch. 27, pp. 274-5).
59. V. Pareto, The Mind and Society, trans. A. Bongiorno and A. Livingstone (London, 1935), para. 2459. Originally published in 1916 under the title Trattato di sociologia generale.
60. B. Mussolini, 'Preludio al Machiavelli', Gerarchia, April 1924.
61. Mussolini, 'The Doctrine of Fascism', pp. 40, 47.
62. Gentile, Origini e dottrina del fascismo, p. 40.
63. Ibid., p. 54. Although he did not explicitly associate Machiavelli with fascism, Gentile acknowledged, in an article on Gioberti (a leading Italian liberal during the Risorgimento), that the tradition of political realism was inaugurated by Machiavelli; he even drew a distinction between 'false Machiavellianism', or crude empiricism, and proper political realism, which pays heed to the moral and spiritual needs of the people. But, he hastened to add, while morality cannot be ignored, neither should it take the form of an abstract design, disconnected from the necessities of actual life. G. Gentile, 'II realismo politico di Gioberti', Politica, I (24 April 1919), pp. 20-36.
64. Ibid., p. 54. Although he did not explicitly associate Machiavelli with fascism, Gentile acknowledged, in an article on Gioberti (a leading Italian liberal during the Risorgimento), that the tradition of political realism was inaugurated by Machiavelli; he even drew a distinction between 'false Machiavellianism', or crude empiricism, and proper political realism, which pays heed to the moral and spiritual needs of the people. But, he hastened to add, while morality cannot be ignored, neither should it take the form of an abstract design, disconnected from the necessities of actual life. G. Gentile, 'II realismo politico di Gioberti', Politica, I (24 April 1919), pp. 20-36.
65. B. Mussolini, 'Which Way is the World Going' (article published in the review Gerarchia in February 1922), in Italian Fascisms, ed. Lyttelton, p. 66.
66. Mussolini, The Doctrine of Fascism', p. 42.
67. Gentile, Origini e dottrina del fascismo, pp. 44-9.
68. Mussolini, 'The Doctrine of Fascism', p. 56.
69. Fascism, ed. R. Griffin (Oxford, 1995), pp. 3-4 of General Introduction.
70. Mussolini, The Doctrine of Fascism', pp. 48, 40, 50, 44, 57.
71. Machiavelli was clear that the Florentine emphasis on private good had led to social and political strife: '... there are two ways for Citizens to advance themselves to Reputation among their Neighbours, and they are, either publickly or privately. The publick way is, by gaining some Battle, surprising and distressing some Town, performing some Embassy carefully and prudently, or counselling their State wisely and with success; the private way is, by being kind to their Fellow-Citizens, by defending them from the Magistrates, supplying them with Money, promoting them to Honours, and with Plays and publick Exhibitions to ingratiate with the People. This last way produces Parties and Factions, and as the Reputation acquired that way is dangerous and fatal, so the other way it is beneficial (if it sides with no Party) as extending to the Publick. And although among Citizens of such qualification there must needs be Emulations and Jealousies . . . they are rather a convenience than otherwise to a Government; for to make themselves more eminent and conspicuous than their Competitors they employ all their Faculties for its Advancement... The Emulations in Florence were always with Faction, and for that reason always were dangerous'. N. Machiavelli, The History of Florence, ed. H. Morley (London, 1891), pp. 326-7.
72. See the Introduction to Book III of The History of Florence, where Machiavelli attributes Roman unity to the right of the people 'to share and communicate with the Nobility in the great Offices of the City' (by 'people' he meant citizens, not all residents, many of whom were slaves). The Florentine people, instead of settling for this 'primitive equality' of access, sought to exclude the nobility, thus causing the kind of conflict that could only be resolved 'in banishment and blood'. Ibid., pp. 138-9.
73. See the Introduction to Book III of The History of Florence, where Machiavelli attributes Roman unity to the right of the people 'to share and communicate with the Nobility in the great Offices of the City' (by 'people' he meant citizens, not all residents, many of whom were slaves). The Florentine people, instead of settling for this 'primitive equality' of access, sought to exclude the nobility, thus causing the kind of conflict that could only be resolved 'in banishment and blood'. Ibid., pp. 138-9.