Old and New Fascism: Race, Citizenship, and the Historical and Intellectual Context of CasaPound Italia by Caitlin Hewitt-White A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Social Justice Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Caitlin Hewitt-White 2015 Old and New Fascism: Race, Citizenship, and the Historical and Intellectual Context of CasaPound Italia Caitlin Hewitt-White Masters of Arts Social Justice Education University of Toronto 2015 Abstract CasaPound Italia is a contemporary fascist movement in Italy. An anti-capitalist movement, CasaPound has emerged under neoliberal conditions of youth unemployment and privatization of education. Although CasaPound uses tactics not typically associated with the extreme right, it shares several features with traditional Italian fascism. Like past fascist movements, CasaPound claims to offer an alternative to capitalism, communism, and the limits of a corrupt political spectrum. It also shares with past fascist movements a populist opportunism that feeds on the middle class's real frustrations, and rearticulates these in anti-immigrant racism. Despite these similarities, CasaPound denies that it is racist. This thesis argues that CasaPound's conscious inheritance of the legacies of Ezra Pound, Giovanni Gentile, and Julius Evola undermines its claims to be non-racist. Its activism further undermines these claims. This thesis also argues that CasaPound's emergence has been made possible by exclusionary and racialized citizenship practices central to hegemonic liberal democracy. ii Acknowledgments Thank you to the administrative staff at OISE for helping me navigate the institution's various policies, forms, and deadlines. Thank you to my classmates and instructors at OISE for feedback on earlier versions of chapters of this thesis, and for lively discussions we had in class. My supervisor Dr. Abigail Bakan provided me with invaluable guidance, encouragement, and knowledge throughout this project. Her commitment to me as a student, and to the academic growth of students in general, is exceptional. Dr. John Portelli provided me with the initial inspiration to explore the relationship between exclusion, democratic education, and neoliberalism. Dr. Portelli graciously acted as a second reader of this thesis. The students and faculty of the 2012 Verona project, convened by Dr. Portelli and Dr. Agostino Portera, helped shape my initial ideas about barriers to democratic education in Italy. Thanks to them. Carolyn Shapiro provided me with extensive feedback on a version of this thesis. Informal discussions with my friends in Turin and Rome helped me understand the contemporary context of CasaPound Italia, and pointed me to key movement resources in Italian. An email conversation with Dr. Kristian Bjørkelo rounded out my understanding of CasaPound and its links to other variants of European far-right ideology. Dr. Sam Gindin read a version of chapter 5 and provided feedback that forced me to consider larger questions of socialist strategy in response to fascism and racism. Christina Rousseau provided me with careful and thoughtful English translations of Italian material. I thank my friends Graeme, Alison, Christy, Greg, and Rhiannon for listening to my ideas and for offering academic and other advice. Thank you to Mary and Tim for last minute technical support. Thanks to my friend Marc, and my parents Pauline and Doug, for their many different types of support during this project. Thank you to Odessa for her help with final copy-editing and for providing me with encouragement, friendship, and fun. iii Table of Contents 1. Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Relevance ............................................................................................................................ 5 1.2. Argument ............................................................................................................................ 8 1.3. Methodological orientation ............................................................................................... 11 1.4. Data collection and analysis .............................................................................................. 15 1.5. Structure of the thesis ........................................................................................................ 16 2. Chapter 2: Historical and intellectual context of CasaPound Italia ........................................ 18 2.1. The mainstreaming of the far right: an overview of CPI and its historical context ......... 18 2.1.1. The 1970s: the Strategy of Tension, and the birth of anti-establishment ethnopluralism ....................................................................................................... 23 2.1.2. The 1980s: Propaganda 2, neoliberalism, and far-right mainstreaming ............. 29 2.1.3. The 1990s: Clean Hands, Berlusconi, and the dissolution of MSI ...................... 30 2.1.4. 2000s and beyond: racism, social fragmentation, and CasaPound ...................... 33 2.2. CasaPound and Ezra Pound .............................................................................................. 37 2.3. CasaPound's “metapolitics” and aesthetics ....................................................................... 42 3. Chapter 3: Literature Review .................................................................................................. 46 3.1. The field ............................................................................................................................ 46 3.2. Frameworks for understanding historical interpretations of fascism ................................ 48 3.3. The Communist International and fascism in Germany ................................................... 53 3.4. Non-economistic Marxist interpretations of fascism ........................................................ 57 3.4.1. Gramsci and the united front ................................................................................. 58 3.4.2. Trotsky, the role of the middle class, and the failures of the left .......................... 61 3.4.3. Guérin on the relation between capitalism and fascism ........................................ 62 iv 3.4.4. Poulantzas and the relations of production ........................................................... 64 3.5. Non-marxist accounts of fascism ...................................................................................... 65 3.5.1. De Felice, the middle class, and revisionism ........................................................ 65 3.5.2. Griffin and palingenetic ultra-nationalism ............................................................ 67 3.5.3. Paxton and fascism's opportunism ........................................................................ 70 3.6. Conclusion: CPI as a fascist movement ............................................................................ 76 4. Chapter 4: The Core Philosophy of CasaPound ...................................................................... 80 4.1. CasaPound's political philosophy ..................................................................................... 80 4.2. The Philosophy of Italian Fascism: Giovanni Gentile ..................................................... 85 4.2.1. Gentile's ontological claims .................................................................................. 86 4.2.2. Gentile's political philosophy: the state and totalitarianism ................................ 88 5. Chapter 5: CasaPound and Education ..................................................................................... 95 5.1. Gentile and Education ....................................................................................................... 95 5.2. Education under Mussolini ............................................................................................... 99 5.3. History of Neoliberalism in Italian Education and Blocco Studentesco ......................... 103 5.4. CasaPound and Blocco Studentesco platforms on Education ......................................... 111 5.5. In Conclusion: Whose Education? .................................................................................. 113 6. Chapter 6: CasaPound, Race, and racism .............................................................................. 116 6.1. Race in CasaPound's Platform ........................................................................................ 116 6.2. Julius Evola and Race ..................................................................................................... 118 6.3. Race and racism under Mussolini ................................................................................... 122 6.4. CasaPound and racism .................................................................................................... 127 6.4.1. Welfare from below, for “Italian citizens” .......................................................... 128 6.4.2. What is an “Italian citizen”? ............................................................................... 132 6.4.3. Demonstrations and violence .............................................................................. 134 v 6.5. In Conclusion: Opportunistic racism .............................................................................. 138 7. Chapter 7: Conclusion ..........................................................................................................