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Benedetto Croce S Cultural and Political Contribution to the Struggle Against Fascism*

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Benedetto Croce S Cultural and Political Contribution to the Struggle Against Fascism* CONTRIBUTI LA FAMIGLIA ITALIANA : BENEDETTO CROCE S CULTURAL AND POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FASCISM* FABIO F. RIZI Toronto, Ontario Abstract: The essay deals with Croce s cultural and political activities against the fascist regime, from 1925 to 1943. It stresses the anti-fascist value of his historical books and the political importance of his periodical. It also pays close attention to Croce s personal relations with the anti-fascist leaders and his co-operation with the underground movements, both in Italy and abroad. Key-words: Croce, Liberalism, Fascism, Anti-fascism, Resistance. he aim of this paper, like the book on which it is based, is to show that Croce s anti-fascism was not passive, as his critics have claimed, but rather active, and it was not only cultural but also political, and not without danger for himself and his family. In the struggle against fascism, Croce s most important contribution was his intellectual activity. In this respect he assumed a position of leadership, and his influence was unmatched, affecting in different ways the old and new generations and the cultural and political movements of the time. His books were Croce s way of defending liberal and democratic ideals, and their wide readership gave him the moral leadership of the anti-fascist resistance, as well as assuring his personal security against the dictatorship. It is now evident that, given the nature of fascism, Croce s refusal to go into exile or to join the underground was an inspired and fruitful choice. He chose the field and assumed the position in which he could be most effective and where his contribution could be most productive and influential. That choice allowed him to continue his mission in Italy and to remain part of the cultural discourse. It compelled the political powers to tolerate his activity and to accept the presence of his books and the influence of his ideas in the country, and even inside the schools. From 1925 to 1943, under the pressure of political events, Croce shifted his cultural interests, devoting much of his intellectual energy to works of an historical and political nature. The critical aim was still to defend the concept of freedom, to oppose dogmatism, and to show the fruits of a democratic society, animated by liberal ideals. Whereas the regime employed the mass media and the education system to promote the cult of Mussolini and to inculcate submission to authority, demanding from the new generations, in a 58 LA FAMIGLIA ITALIANA : BENEDETTO CROCE S CULTURAL AND POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FASCISM* mystical union with the Duce, without asking questions, to believe, to obey, to fight , Croce instead offered a set of liberal values, preached freedom, defended the dignity of man, as a free agent, and urged individual decision and personal responsibility. Croce decided to devote most of his energy to cultural activities, and in particular to promote the philosophical ideas underlying a liberal society, because this was my best opposition, the one more suitable to my nature and in which I could produce the best results . Croce thought that this theoretical activity had become more necessary and acquired a new urgency because, during the liberal age, the concept of freedom had not received an adequate philosophical justification, and in fact had been disarmed . With his cultural activity, then, Croce wanted to offer to political action the support of philosophical theory, inviting, at the same time, the politicians involved in the struggle against dictatorship and especially the new generation to rethink the problems of freedom . He also hoped to light anew in their minds and in their souls the central fire of the Risorgimento . In a speech of 1946, Croce expressed with more precision the purpose of his resistance to the Fascist regime and the aims he had hoped to achieve with his cultural activities. First of all, with his historical essays he tried to defend the liberal ideals of the Risorgimento and to keep immaculate for the future the most precious heritage of our fathers . Similarly, with his philosophical and political writings, Croce endeavoured to give a better expression to the concept of political freedom, because this concept had not received an adequate elaboration in the thought of the nineteenth century , had been treated empirically by the English theorists , and had been sacrificed to the state by the Germans , while the positivists had stressed the utilitarian aspects but neglected its spiritual dimensions. As a result of the new elaboration the concept of political freedom was fully identified with conscience and with moral life in all its comprehension and extension . For Croce, then, liberalism was more than a political program; instead it coincided with a total conception of life and reality; it had its foundation in immanent philosophy, and it was centred on the idea of dialectic and becoming, that through diversity and opposition of spiritual and material forces increases and continually ennobles life, and gives to human activity its full and true meaning . Freedom is the spring of life; it defines the essence of man; it is a method of solving economic and political problems; it coincides with morality, and thus it also becomes the creating agent of justice. One of the consequences of this new conception of liberalism, in Croce s view, was the separation of political freedom from economic organization, which made it possible to break the ties that had been established in the nineteenth century between political liberalism and laissez-faire, or liberismo as he called it. The political consequences of Croce s distinction between 59 FABIO F. RIZI liberalism and laissez-faire were far reaching. The distinction made possible, in the present and in the future, an alliance or at least a cooperation between Liberals and Democrats and Social Democrats; it allowed the new generation of Socialists, like Carlo Rosselli and Giuseppe Saragat, to introduce elements of liberalism into their vision or revision of socialism. At the same time, it compelled some young liberals to look towards socialism with more sympathy. But Croce s assertion was also directed at those liberals of his time who identified liberalism with the capitalist economy and applauded the free-market policies of fascism. Croce reminded them, and the fellow travelers , enamored of Stalin, that the litmus test for true liberals was political freedom, not economic policy, and one could not be bartered for the other. Under the impact of fascism Croce also underwent a political and philosophical evolution. As a result he now offered a new view of politics, one better attuned to the needs of the times, and in fuller harmony with his philosophical system. In previous years, against positivist democrats and humanitarian socialists, he had stressed the concept of force and the importance of power in the political action. Now Croce recognized that force cannot be materialistically understood, and politics cannot be separated from ethics. The dialectic between force and consensus remained, but freedom had to be the result of the struggle, giving value to political action. Thus the good and able politician becomes: vir bonus agendi peritus. In the name of this new or revised conception, Croce criticized the idolatry of the State , and with direct reference to Gentile s philosophy, he rejected with scorn the idea that the State is Duty and it is God . Against nationalism and the imperial aspirations of fascism he stressed the common heritage of European nations and the need of a European union. Also, during the fascist regime, facing a new and more dangerous adversary, Croce abandoned the strident polemics against Democrats; even more importantly his liberalism became more inclusive and more progressive, embracing democratic ideas, so much so that from this point on Croce could be regarded as a liberal democrat. In the end, Croce s works constituted a block of ideas opposed to fascism, and other authoritarian regimes, and have to be regarded as one of the most important contributions to the Italian anti-Fascist Resistance. Those works usually had a wide readership among the general public; they were often discussed at university classes, and sometimes they were even used as course manuals. The readers debated their contents and were compelled to compare and to contrast different positions, assuring the circulation of Croce s ideas. Croce s writings were also popular among Democratic and Communist militants who were in jail, and this greatly influenced their future intellectual development. A few of Croce s books generated political enthusiasm and inspired action against tyranny, creating or reviving opposition to the regime. All in all, Croce s historical essays were effective tools in preserving the heritage of the Risorgimento and in undermining the moral authority and the 60 LA FAMIGLIA ITALIANA : BENEDETTO CROCE S CULTURAL AND POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FASCISM* national claims of the Fascist regime. And, similarly, his philosophical and political writings offered young people the essential elements of a critical education and provided them with an alternative to fascist ideology, thus breaking the corrupting influence of the rhetoric and propaganda of the Fascist Party. Even Gaetano Salvemini, despite political differences, had to recognize that from 1925 to 1943 the teaching and the example of Croce had a powerful effect , created an invincible opposition , and encouraged many young people to believe in freedom and to join the resistance to fascism. In the fifties, in a letter to Salvemini, Michele Giua, a friend of Rosselli and a man who had suffered persecution under fascism, added more precise qualifications. Keep in mind that from 1930 to 1936, Croce was beside Giustizia e Libertà and had a direct and great influence on Leone Ginzburg and several other young men from Turin, who later went to fight and die in the Spanish Civil War and in the Italian Resistance .
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