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Fascism and Ideology: Italy, Britain and Norway, by Salvatore Garau, by Carlos Manuel Martins

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Fascism and Ideology: Italy, Britain and Norway, by Salvatore Garau, by Carlos Manuel Martins RECENSÃO Fascism and Ideology: Italy, Britain and Norway, by Salvatore Garau, by Carlos Manuel Martins Análise Social, 225, lii (4.º), 2017 issn online 2182-2999 edição e propriedade Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa. Av. Professor Aníbal de Bettencourt, 9 1600-189 Lisboa Portugal — [email protected] garau, Salvatore Fascism and Ideology: Italy, Britain and Norway, New York and London, Routledge, 2015, 298 pp. isbn 9780415732192 Carlos Manuel Martins This book by Salvatore Garau is a very were developed and negotiated” (p. 11), useful work for those interested in know- the result of a complex process of syn- ing more about the dynamics of fascist thetization and redefinition of different ideology. It is the result of a doctoral dis- concepts and elements drawn from most sertation supervised by David Cesarini, varied political traditions. the recently deceased historian whose These three perspectives, so Garau field of expertise was the Holocaust and argues, are useful to understand fas- other aspects of Jewish history. cism’s ideological dynamism (that is, With 298 pages, the book is divided the contradictory drives that could lead into two main parts, each of them with the movements to either radicalism or three chapters, plus an introduction and to compromise with existing institu- a conclusion. The first part deals with tions, either to totalitarianism or to an Italian Fascism (which is seen as a case authoritarianism more similar to the one of success, that is, a case in which the fas- espoused by its conservative conflicting cist movement actually attained political allies), and its “aggregative power” (its power) in both its movement and regime capacity to aggregate different elements phases, while the second part deals with from several political traditions). In order the British and Norwegian cases (seen to fully grasp these two aspects, the author as examples of failure, for these fascist introduces three further concepts: a) fas- movements were unable to conquer cist maximum, which refers to the full political power on their own). ideological extent of fascist movements As Garau states in his introduction, he and the different factions that existed agrees with the idea that ideology is one within them; b) totalitarian inclusiveness, important key to grasp the phenomenon that is, the ability of fascist movements of fascism, even though he does not reject to incorporate elements of different ide- paying attention to its political practices. ologies while claiming that they were the Thus, he adopts three perspectives of only ones able to rightly interpret them looking at ideologies, including the one and put them into practice; c) ideolog- that sees fascism as run through by meta- ical ubiquity, the ability to apparently political drives, and the one that sees it occupy different positions in the polit- as a question of mentality and ethos. The ical spectrum (in both its left and right third perspective is the one that sees ide- sides), and due to that gain support from ology as “a space where political concepts the most disparate groups. It is with the 898 RECENSÕES help of these concepts that Garau intends that favored direct action. As to the ideo- to grasp a better understanding of fascist logical morphology (the doctrine), it was movements in Italy, Britain, and Norway, first influenced by concepts coming from their dynamism and ideological fluidity. National Syndicalism and later by more The first chapter in Part i, “At the roots conservative tendencies that started to of Fascism’s Ideological Fluidity”, deals grow from 1920 onwards. with the process of ideological transfor- Continuing the analysis of the com- mation and conceptual redefinition that plexity of Fascist ideology, the chapter preceded the origins of Fascism and took “The Laborious Search for a Balance: Ital- place in a period of profound changes in ian Fascism as a Regime, 1923-1939” dis- several political traditions. Here, Garau tinguishes the main ideological factions mentions the elitist, radical, and organ- that were part of the dynamism of fas- icist type of nationalism espoused by the cist ideology: Radical Fascism (with its Associazione Nazionalista Italiana (ani) violent war-like mentality), the Normal- and the producers-focused revolution- izers (who thought that Fascism should ary ideology of National Syndicalism, accommodate existing liberal elites and whose main goal was to fuse socialism institutions), and National Syndicalists and nationalism. Garau’s main argu- (who advocated a non-statistic corpo- ment is that, even though these ideolo- ratism and the fusion of workers and gies evolved in a post-liberal direction, employers in the same corporations). their main themes and political concepts However, the faction that contributed the had roots in the Italian liberal tradition, most to form the ideological morphol- which represents a departure from Stern- ogy of the regime was the one espoused hell’s (1994) thesis that these new forms by Nationalists like Alfredo Rocco who of nationalism advocated an utter revolt came from ani and favored a statistic against liberalism. form of corporatism. The process of find- The next chapter, “Totalitarian Inclu- ing a balance between all these contra- siveness: Italian Fascism from Margin- dictory visions is therefore fundamental ality to Mass Movement, 1919-1922”, to grasp the complexity of Fascist ide- focuses on the movement phase of Ital- ology and the totalitarian inclusiveness ian Fascism. Making use of the con- that was at its core. cept of totalitarian inclusiveness, Garau Having dealt with one example of fas- argues that the Fascist movement set up cist success, Garau then proceeds in Part its ideology in a dynamic process that II to the analysis of two fascist movements included contradictory tendencies. In that were unsuccessful: the British Union this movement phase, Fascism was first of Fascists (buf), led by Oswald Mosley, influenced by the Futurist artistic move- and the Norwegian Nasjonal Samling ment and the ex-soldiers known as arditi, (ns), led by Vidkun Quisling. The chapter who gave it a metapolitical drive prone to “Into the Arms of Fascism: Left, Right and advocate radical change and a mentality New Combinations of Political Concepts RECENSÕES 899 in Britain and Norway, 1923-1933” points a key to understand Fascism, it does not to the existence of an ideological fluidity stick to a static view that tries to sum- in these countries that was similar to the marize fascism in a few fixed concepts one experienced in Italy prior to the com- or ideal-types. On the contrary, when ing of the fascist movement. Thus, Garau pointing to its metapolitical drives, mentions radical nationalist right-wing ethos, inclusiveness, and ubiquity, Garau organizations like the British Fascisti and shows us a dynamic and fluid process Fedrelandslaget. Likewise, it is possible to of constant ideological redefinition. He find some people with a leftist past that thus avoids falling into arguments like followed a path close to that of Italian the ones espoused by Sternhell (1994), National Syndicalists. who defended that the movements were The next chapter, “Building an Inclu- somehow purer than regimes in which sive Political Platform: The British Union compromise was necessary: according to of Fascists and the Nasjonal Samling, Garau, both compromise and adaptabil- 1932-1934” studies the initial evolution ity were at the core of Fascism in all of of the ideology of these movements, its phases. Likewise, he does not separate pointing to their obsession with national between “real” revolutionary fascists and crisis and decline, their violent mental- conservative road-travelers (as Griffin ity, and the ideological inclusiveness the (1993) is sometimes prone to do): con- main goal of which was to attract peo- servatives and radicals were both a part ple coming from all sides of the polit- of the fascist dynamics and the contra- ical spectrum. Garau also argues that dictions, and balancing between these their programmatic incorporation of and other factions is a fundamental com- the most successful aspects of the Italian ponent of movements and regimes. regime resulted paradoxically in a factor We can say that in Garau’s study Fas- that helps explain how their failure for it cism becomes a “living” phenomenon, deprived the movements of the flexibility one that evolved and changed according and adaptability that was fundamental to to different influences and internal con- aid Mussolini’s conquest of power. Finally, tradictions, a phenomenon led by a meta- the last chapter, “Between Authoritarian- political drive and a specific mentality to ism and Totalitarianism: From Expan- which could be added doctrines coming sion to Implosion, 1934-1939”, deals with from different groups and individuals. the internal dialects that characterized While not rejecting the concept of a “fas- both of these movements, distinguishing cist minimum” he goes further and uses between authoritarian/conservative and the notion of “fascist maximum,” and it radical/totalitarian factions that were is exactly here that the main contribution predominant in different phases. of Garau’s work to fascist studies resides, One of the strengths in Garau’s work for in this way he can have a clearer grasp is that while accepting the currently of the totality of the ideological visions generalized standpoint that ideology is that were contained within a movement. 900 RECENSÕES Future studies could test this methodol- sternhell, Z. (1994), The Birth of Fas- ogy further and use it, for example, in cist Ideology, Princeton, Princeton Uni- an important case, the absence of which versity Press. can be seen as one of the weaknesses of this book: we refer to the case of German National Socialism. martins, C. M. (2017), Recensão “Fascism and references Ideology: Italy, Britain and Norway, New York e London, Routledge, 2015”. Análise Social, 225, lii garau, S. (2015), Fascism and Ideology: (4.º), pp.
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