Fascist Spectacle.pdf

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39. Plinio Ciani, Graffiti del ventennio (Milan: Sugarco, 1975), p. 79.
40. Gentile, Il culto del Littorio , op. cit., p. 89.
41. On fascist uniforms see Ugo Pericoli, Le divise del Duce (Milan: Rizzoli, 1983).
42. Spring was the equivalent of youth, as the fascist hymn went: "Youth, Youth, Spring of Beauty" (Giovinezza, Giovinezza,
Primavera di Bellezza).
43. Royal decree-law of October 21, 1923, no. 2451.
44. See Zeri, op. cit. Also, the 1 lira stamp designed by Balla featured an horizontal fascio .
45. Royal decree-law of December 12, 1926, no. 2061.
46. Royal decree-law of March 27, 1927, no. 1048.
47. Royal decree-law of April 11, 1929, no. 504.
48. Royal decree-law of August 9, 1929, no. 1517.
49. The same lack of originality and the same omnipresence of the fascio littorio characterized another iconographic inheritance
of the Roman past that fascism adopted in its imperial days: the Roman eagle. The eagle, which in ancient Rome used to
precede the legionnaires, is actually one of the most common political symbols both across time and across nations. The royal
eagle characterizes monarchical governments, and it also appears in traditionally republican systems such as the United States.
For a history of the eagle's symbolism, see Alain Boureau, L'Aigle: Chronique politique d'un emblème (Paris: Editions du Cerf,
1985); and, for the United States, Loretta Valtz Mannucci, "Aquile e tacchini: iconografie di stato," op. cit.
During the fascist regime the eagle, although already present in the iconography of the Italian state, enjoyed great
prominence, especially in the second half of the 1930s in connection with the conquest of the empire. Small and giant eagles,
ephemeral or iron cast, filled the regime's symbolic world, a representation of the imperial force and power of fascism.
50. De Felice considers fascism's reference to the new man the element that distinguishes Italian fascism from National
Socialism. Whereas the Nazis' ideal man was the old Aryan who needed to be resuscitated, Mussolini strove to create a really
new type (Renzo De Felice, Intervista sul fascismo [Rome-Bari: Laterza, 1982]). However, according to Mosse, the new fascist
man both in Germany and Italy represented a stereotype that originated in nineteenth-century nationalism. It was part of an
antibourgeois rhetoric against the unproductive and talkative intellectuals and tended to establish other bourgeois values, such
as order, respectability, honest work, cleanliness, and productivity. Although the vast majority of Nazis believed the ideal
German was the ancient Aryan type, the new German man in fact represented the ideal bourgeois, and National Socialism
annexed every middle-class virtue that was
under siege in modern times. Certainly, Mosse admits, Italian fascism's new man presented features that were more
forward-looking than the German ideal type. But references to the past also characterized Mussolini's vision of the new man and
made of it a more ambiguous and ambivalent model of renewal (George Mosse, Nazism: A Historical and Comparative Analysis
of National Socialism. An Interview with Michael A. Ledeen [New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1978]).
51. Scritti e discorsi , vol. VIII, p. 21.
52. Fascist associations included people of all ages and professions. There were fascist associations of schools; public employees;
state employees; railroad and postal services; professionals and artists; and agricultural, commercial, and industrial businesses.
Other associations included the Fascist Fallen, Disabled, and Wounded; the National Forest Committee; the National Union of
Officers on Leave; the Naval League; the Association of Sailors on Leave; the Nautical Union; the Union of Aeronautics; the
National Institute of Fascist Culture; several youth organizations; women fasces, which in 1934 also began to include "rural
home-makers"; the Olympics committee; and the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (OND, the leisure time association). Academies
and colleges for youth were also included.
53. Fascism apparently inherited the black shirt from the Arditi, the special army corp that "daringly" fought during World War I
and later joined D'Annunzio in the Fiume enterprise. Ugo Pericoli claims there is no certainty about the color of the Arditi's shirts.
According to him, black was a dominant color in Italy, especially in the South (op. cit., p. 4). Black shirts were, however, visible
in Fiume, according to Giuseppe Antonio Borgese. See his Goliath: The March of Fascism (New York: Viking, 1937), p. 160.
54. In 1926 the basic elements of the official fascist outfit were adopted, and they remained the same until 1943. The uniform
included a fez, a black shirt, a black tie, black pants, and a black belt. See Pericoli, op. cit., p. 6.
55. Women changed the color of the shirt to white around 1932 (ibid., p. 15).
54. In 1926 the basic elements of the official fascist outfit were adopted, and they remained the same until 1943. The uniform
included a fez, a black shirt, a black tie, black pants, and a black belt. See Pericoli, op. cit., p. 6.
55. Women changed the color of the shirt to white around 1932 (ibid., p. 15).
56. "[T]he 'black shirt' is not for everyday use and for every occasion. I positively ordered the competent authorities to
unfailingly arrest all individuals (isolated or in groups) who improperly wear the black shirt" ( Scritti e discorsi , vol. IV, p. 352).
57. Scritti e discorsi , vol. V, pp. 110-111.
58. See George Seldes, Sawdust Caesar: The Untold History of Mussolini and Fascism (New York: Harper, 1935), Appendix 10,
p. 408. The commandments were issued by the party secretary, Giovanni Giuriati, in October 1931.
59. See article 3 of the Statute in Mario Missori, Gerarchie e statuti del P.N.F.: Gran Consiglio, Direttorio Nazionale, Federazioni
provinciali: Quadri e biografie (Rome: Bonacci, 1986), p. 379.
60. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Partito Nazionale Fascista, Direttorio (Uff. Stralcio), 369.
61. Asvero Gravelli, ed., Vademecum dello stile fascista (Rome: Nuova Europa, n.d. but circa 1940), pp. 68, 99. Gravelli
compiled the injunctions sent by Starace regarding questions of style. The injunctions I cite from Gravelli's book are the ones
missing from the Archivio Centrale dello Stato. See also Archivo Centrale dello Stato, Partito Nazionale Fascista, Direttorio (Uff.
Stralcio), 371, Disposizione No. 868.
62. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Partito Nazionale Fascista, Direttorio (Uff. Stralcio), 371, Disposizione no. 757 of March 4.
63. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Partito Nazionale Fascista, Foglio di Disposizioni no. 1240 (January 13, 1939). For the gala
uniform, see Pericoli, op. cit., p. 9.
64. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Partito Nazionale Fascista, Foglio di Disposizioni no. 1285 (March 12, 1939).
65. See for instance Disposizione no. 309 of October 29, 1934, on badges for party members (all those enrolled in fascist
organizations were party members but for the youth). Instructions were given on who, how, and where to wear a badge.
Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Partito Nazionale Fascista, Direttorio (Uff. Stralcio), 370.
66. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Agenzia Stefani, B 70, July 17, 1938 (communication of the Ministry of Popular Culture). Also
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