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Italian Fascism: Its Origins and Development
On October 29, 1922, when Benito Mussolini completed the March on Rome and was appointed prime minister of Italy, the Fascist regime began in triumph. It ended some twenty-two years later with the execution of Mussolini and the collapse of the German-inspired Italian Social Republic. In this third edition of Italian Fascism Alexander De Grand maintains his disagreement with recent interpretations of the movement and regime as “revolutionary” and “leftist.” While not ignoring the importance of ideology, he sees Fascism in Italy as a bourgeois response to the challenge of proletarian revolution and an approach to the problem of conservative control in an era of mass politics.For the third edition, De Grand has substantially revised the discussion of culture and ideology, the conclusion, and the bibliography. Incorporating the most recent interpretations and research, this introduction to Italian Fascism reinterprets an important development in modern history.
208 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1982
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About the author
Alexander J. De Grand
11 books6 followersAlexander De Grand is Professor Emeritus of History at North Carolina State University.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 28, 2023
It's an excellent small in size but big in meaning book. It depicts in the most simple and understandable way the origins and development of Italian Fascism.
March 18, 2025
nice, short (but maybe too short) lefty book on fascism. the progression of ideas didn’t always feel coherent and a lot of details are handled pretty perfunctorily BUT i think still a really well-reasoned argument about the inherently reactionary nature of fascism (as in reaction to revolutionary currents). also thought De Grand’s minor argument about hyphenated fascism was an interesting approach to the fact of fascism’s fundamental incoherence and maybe a useful tool for thinking about the zoomers’ love of subscribing to over hyphenated ideologies and the political implications/potential trajectory of that phenomenon 😛(shoutout Citarella 😘😳)—which aspects of their ideology do people ultimately choose to dispose of or remain faithful to when the untenability of their politics becomes apparent? and why? maybe zoomers are ok with having impractical politics because we’re nihilists or whatever? idk. overall just so nice to read leftist historical analysis of fascism so yayy thx De Grand.
December 29, 2021
Italian fascism by Alexander de Grand.
How does the fascism develop out? A good book that describes the origins of the fascism as well as the political culture and the influence of policies during Mussolini’s ascent to the power. Also, more interesting for me -since I am an economist-, the author mentions the economic policies during the Great Depression. The regime is known for being statist, authoritarian and nationalist.
Fascism started with a legacy of scattered middle-class organizations that struggle to compete against socialist and communist movements. Those organizations (students, veterans, young professionals) saw the party as a vehicle of social ascent through the status quo. However, as they gained power, they found themselves very disperse or segmented in their own versions of fascism, for instance, technocratic, populist or squadrist. Fascism was a totalitarian regime until the emergence of Nazis in 1933. The proto-fascism started in socialist and indicates politics and populist rhetorics with the left. Then fascism moved to conservatism by using the mass politics in order to save the social and economics status quo.
Regarding the interventionism during the Great Depression. The party implemented a rescue financial package; it setup the “Istituto per la Riconstruzione Industriale” (IRI) which took over the large stockholdings of the banks as well as companies hovering over the brink of the bankruptcy. As a consequence, the state became a stockholder. Here a clear feature of a fascist regime: there was always a marked trend towards further state intervention in the economy. Bottai, Mussolini’s sub secretary in 1929 proclaimed that state determined the policies and set the parameters within which the workers and employers would act. More interesting, Alexander de Grand mentions the two alternatives to cope with the effects stemming from the Great Recession: a) corporative structure (bailout with interventionism) and conservative opinion (without interventionism). Unsurprisingly, Mussolini chose the latter. As the author portrays fascism always leaned on political and economic interest groups that sought to preserve the economic and social status quo in difficult times. Also, the author emphasized that fascism found impossible to come back to its (radical) origins in most of the periods under analysis (consolidation 1922-1935; disintegration 1936-1943).
Propaganda was taken from Nazis. Fascist propagandist constantly referred to corporatism as a third way between communism and capitalist regimes. Despite of the fact that fascists had used the tools for totalitarian rules and paramilitary squad with success, the use of propaganda to mobilize the masses by the regime always found itself snarled in its compromises with the conservative order.
There are interesting moments/lines in the book. For instance, at the end of the chapter nine, the author mentions how Mussolini was captured onto his way fleeing to Milan. The race policy always was influenced by Nazi Germany; in the manifesto of fascist racism, the regime limited the rights of the Jews and forbid the land ownership. However, Mussolini reluctantly tolerated some zionist activity in Italy. Also, there were labor limitations to women because of the birthrate drop (page 112); ironically fascist offered women the vote and promised social equality. As said earlier, the regime constantly was confronted by the economic and social status quo. Also there is a subsection about fascist racial policies (page 113).
This is my third book I read about fascism. I believe this is a good book about origins and influence of the regime (and pre-war era) on culture and economic policy in Italy.
How does the fascism develop out? A good book that describes the origins of the fascism as well as the political culture and the influence of policies during Mussolini’s ascent to the power. Also, more interesting for me -since I am an economist-, the author mentions the economic policies during the Great Depression. The regime is known for being statist, authoritarian and nationalist.
Fascism started with a legacy of scattered middle-class organizations that struggle to compete against socialist and communist movements. Those organizations (students, veterans, young professionals) saw the party as a vehicle of social ascent through the status quo. However, as they gained power, they found themselves very disperse or segmented in their own versions of fascism, for instance, technocratic, populist or squadrist. Fascism was a totalitarian regime until the emergence of Nazis in 1933. The proto-fascism started in socialist and indicates politics and populist rhetorics with the left. Then fascism moved to conservatism by using the mass politics in order to save the social and economics status quo.
Regarding the interventionism during the Great Depression. The party implemented a rescue financial package; it setup the “Istituto per la Riconstruzione Industriale” (IRI) which took over the large stockholdings of the banks as well as companies hovering over the brink of the bankruptcy. As a consequence, the state became a stockholder. Here a clear feature of a fascist regime: there was always a marked trend towards further state intervention in the economy. Bottai, Mussolini’s sub secretary in 1929 proclaimed that state determined the policies and set the parameters within which the workers and employers would act. More interesting, Alexander de Grand mentions the two alternatives to cope with the effects stemming from the Great Recession: a) corporative structure (bailout with interventionism) and conservative opinion (without interventionism). Unsurprisingly, Mussolini chose the latter. As the author portrays fascism always leaned on political and economic interest groups that sought to preserve the economic and social status quo in difficult times. Also, the author emphasized that fascism found impossible to come back to its (radical) origins in most of the periods under analysis (consolidation 1922-1935; disintegration 1936-1943).
Propaganda was taken from Nazis. Fascist propagandist constantly referred to corporatism as a third way between communism and capitalist regimes. Despite of the fact that fascists had used the tools for totalitarian rules and paramilitary squad with success, the use of propaganda to mobilize the masses by the regime always found itself snarled in its compromises with the conservative order.
There are interesting moments/lines in the book. For instance, at the end of the chapter nine, the author mentions how Mussolini was captured onto his way fleeing to Milan. The race policy always was influenced by Nazi Germany; in the manifesto of fascist racism, the regime limited the rights of the Jews and forbid the land ownership. However, Mussolini reluctantly tolerated some zionist activity in Italy. Also, there were labor limitations to women because of the birthrate drop (page 112); ironically fascist offered women the vote and promised social equality. As said earlier, the regime constantly was confronted by the economic and social status quo. Also there is a subsection about fascist racial policies (page 113).
This is my third book I read about fascism. I believe this is a good book about origins and influence of the regime (and pre-war era) on culture and economic policy in Italy.
November 3, 2019
A very interesting and quick read though I wish he had given more detail on particular topics.
I don’t think he really proved his thesis though. His contention is that fascism was inherently “conservative” or “right-wing.” One major problem is that he does not properly define his terms, as such the terms become empty jars with which the reader fills in with their own preconceived notions or prejudices. He tries to demonstrate that it was conservative because the regime had the backing of several industrial firms, but he does not demonstrate why industrialists or the owners of companies are inherently conservative.
Further the contention is undermined when the author himself points out that Mussolini’s “conservative” base betrayed him in 1943. It seems that a more accurate thesis might be that Fascism was birthed from the left, that certain conservative elements used it to fight against Marxists and communists but did not do so for any particular ideological kinship with Fascism. If anything the “conservatives” in Italy went along to get along but ultimately when the regime became too burdensome they turned against the Fascists.
Overall an interesting read but his central contention is faulty.
I don’t think he really proved his thesis though. His contention is that fascism was inherently “conservative” or “right-wing.” One major problem is that he does not properly define his terms, as such the terms become empty jars with which the reader fills in with their own preconceived notions or prejudices. He tries to demonstrate that it was conservative because the regime had the backing of several industrial firms, but he does not demonstrate why industrialists or the owners of companies are inherently conservative.
Further the contention is undermined when the author himself points out that Mussolini’s “conservative” base betrayed him in 1943. It seems that a more accurate thesis might be that Fascism was birthed from the left, that certain conservative elements used it to fight against Marxists and communists but did not do so for any particular ideological kinship with Fascism. If anything the “conservatives” in Italy went along to get along but ultimately when the regime became too burdensome they turned against the Fascists.
Overall an interesting read but his central contention is faulty.
October 1, 2025
I read this for class. This was an excellent and short read on Italian Fascism. I found it very easy to read and digestable which is always nice for non-fiction, historical books. I definitely learned a lot about the various dimensions of Italian fascism.
On another note: This book is mostly focused on Italian Fascism at home and does not go as much into its policies in Ethiopia, which I would be interested to learn more about as it was only briefly mentioned in the text. A look on how settler-colonialism functions within fascism would be worthwhile to read, especially given our current administration.
Still a great, easy to read, entry point to learn about Italian fascism and fascist regimes in general.
On another note: This book is mostly focused on Italian Fascism at home and does not go as much into its policies in Ethiopia, which I would be interested to learn more about as it was only briefly mentioned in the text. A look on how settler-colonialism functions within fascism would be worthwhile to read, especially given our current administration.
Still a great, easy to read, entry point to learn about Italian fascism and fascist regimes in general.
March 25, 2019
Decent overview of the history of Fascist Italy, though at times it felt like I was reading a book treatment that someone just decided to ship. Part of me wanted more details, though I'll admit that I might not have read it if it was longer. (Disclosure: the author taught a class I took in college on this subject; I don't remember exactly how I did, but I don't believe it was well.) The book book does do an excellent job of showing what happens when conservatism and nationalism are united by an impulsive authoritarian.
September 17, 2025
For a small page count it covers a lot of ground. I was not familiar at all with modern Italian history beyond the cliff notes and this was a great way to familiarise myself with how fascism took root in Italy and the various ways it successfully appealed and then took power from the peasants, the papal state, the industrialists etc.
July 3, 2019
A well written, thorough examination of the birth of Fascism.
March 12, 2021
A very comprehensive study of Italian Fascism. Talks about social, political, and cultural strife that led to Mussolini's ascent to power. Well written and very engaging!
February 4, 2023
I read some of the chapters of this book in order to write an undergraduate university paper.
Read
January 18, 2025Very cursory.
May 20, 2025
not super in depth but pretty good summary of the tenets of fascism.
December 17, 2025
A book that does what it's supposed to.
Not much more to say.
Not much more to say.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews