TheSandro Italico Mussolini School of Fascist Mysticism (Italian:Scuola di mistica fascista Sandro Italico Mussolini) was established inMilan, Italy in 1930 byNiccolò Giani. Its primary goal was to train the future leaders of Italy'sNational Fascist Party. The school curriculum promotedFascist mysticism based on the philosophy ofFideism,[1][2][3] the belief that faith and reason were incompatible; Fascist mythology was to be accepted as a "metareality".[4] In 1932, Mussolini described Fascism as "a religious concept of life", saying that Fascists formed a "spiritual community".[4]
The school was founded through the efforts ofNiccolò Giani and the MilanGruppo Universitario Fascista, a youth wing of the National Fascist Party for university students. It was formed on April 10, 1930, at theCasa del Fascio (Fascist House) at piazza Belgioioso (Belgioioso Square), part of theIstituto Fascista di Cultura (Fascist Institute of Culture).[5]Leo Pollini presided at the meeting. These two organizations had the right to choose the nominal director.
Giani anticipated the opening on April 4, in an article in the GUF newspaper"Libro e moschetto" (Book and Musket)[6] The School of Fascist Mysticism was founded that same Spring in Milan, under the patronage ofBenito Mussolini's brother,Arnaldo Mussolini, and in the presence of CatholicCardinalAlfredo Ildefonso Schuster.[7]
The Milanese institution was first located inSan Francesco d'Assisi Street to gather its first staff members, and held its first directors' meeting on April 10, in thecasa del fascio (Fascist House) inpiazza Belgioioso (Belgioioso Square).[6] Several active Fascist Party members participated, including the Secretary of the GUF,Andrea Ippoliti. Giani explained the objectives of the creation of the school were not to create a duplicate of one of the many organizations of the regime, but to achieve a complete education for students enrolled in GUF.[6]
Following its relocation viaSilvio Pellico (Pellico Street), the school was namedSandro Italico Mussolini, on November 29, 1931. On the same day,Arnaldo Mussolini gave the speech "Coscienza e dovere" (Conscience and Duty), launching the school year, and providing the blueprint for the fundamental principles, or rules, of the school,[8] expanded by Giani later.From October 9 to October 15, 1932,Niccolò Giani wrote a type of program manifesto, establishing the founding principles of the School:
Our task must focus only on coordinating, interpreting and processing the thought of theDuce. That's because it is a sort of mystical Fascist school and here is its task: to develop and specify the new values that are in the Fascist work of Mussolini.[9]
The school proposed the goal of reviving the spirit of Fascism, the battlefield trench (recalling Italy's role inWorld War I) and the first years of the movement, delivered ideally through a new generation.[10] proposed in particular to be the center of political education for future leaders of ItalianFascism. The key principles on which the teaching was based were: voluntary activism; faith in Italy, from which it was believed faither inBenito Mussolini and Fascism derived; anti-rationalism; a mixture of religion and politics; teachings againstliberal democracy (constitutional democracy) andsocialism; and a cult ofAncient Rome (romanità).
Giani was made the school's first director, and the school's first president wasVito Mussolini, Benito Mussolini's nephew.Ferdinando Mezzasoma was made vice-president.Luigi Stefanini acted as an official "consultant" to the school for many years. In via Pellico, they had several offices, where it was easier to organize their work space, and inside they kept around five thousand volumes, mainly about Fascism but also other publications, such as a collection of issues by the socialist newspaperL'Avanti published by theConfederazione Generale del Lavoro (General Labour Confederation).[11] Numerous courses were given on a variety of subjects.[11] The School's main activity was organizing conventions and conferences on issues related to Fascism.[11] Courses covered a range of topics, but mainly focused on Fascism.[11]
The school became the editor of a series of books dealing with different issues. From 1937, under the initiative of Giani, the school published a magazine,Dottrina fascista (Fascist Doctrine), and in 1939 published the "Decalogo dell'italiano nuovo", (New Italian Decalogue (Ten Commandments)), written and delivered as a speech byArnaldo Mussolini, brother of Benito Mussolini.[12]
In 1939, during a ceremony presided over byAchille Starace, secretary of theNational Fascist Party, the official headquarters moved to the offices that housed Mussolini's newspaperIl Popolo d'Italia during its infancy, called "il Covo" (the Cave). The "Covo" over the years had been transformed into a permanent museum of the Fascist Revolution, and since November 15, 1939 the entire building had been declared a "national monument" with an "honour guard" made of fighters from thesquadrismo (squadristi) and veterans.[13] On November 20, by an explicit decision by Mussolini,[13] it was officially handed over to the students of the school, at an event that was conducted as a consecration of Giani's students, reunited around him.[13] In reality the transition had been ordered on October 18, 1939, as shown on the sheet of orders of theNational Fascist Party from that date,[13] at which time the Board had been received inRome by Mussolini. Mussolini had encouraged them to continue their activities.
Fascism must have its missionaries, that is, men who know how to convey the uncompromising faith and fight to the ultimate sacrifice for their faith. Every revolution has three stages: it begins with the mystical, it continues with the policy, you end up with the administration. When a revolution becomes an administration, one can say it's over, liquidated ...[14]
The School of Fascist Mysticism's directors intended to use the old location of "Il Popolo d'Italia" to turn it into a "Shrine of the Fascist Revolution", by creating displays withFasci italiani di combattimento and early years of Fascism memorabilia on the first floor. On the second and third floors, memorabilia and documents relating to the years leading up to the 1922March on Rome were to be displayed, and finally the most recent years were to be exhibited on the fourth floor.[14]
In 1929, Mussolini signed a Lateran Pact with the Roman Catholic Church. Intended to set down the rights of the Catholic Church in Italy, it was signed one year before the founding of the School of Fascist Mysticism. The religious component recalls the experiments in government-created religions during theFrench Revolution:Joseph Fouché's attempts to install aCult of Reason, andMaximilien Robespierre's attempts to install aCult of the Supreme Being, during theReign of Terror. Fouché and Robespierre had the goal of eliminating the Roman Catholic Church in France and replacing it with a secular, state-organized religion. Mussolini denied that this was the goal of Fascist mysticism, or that it in any way represented a conflict with Roman Catholicism. At the time, nearly all Italians belonged to Roman Catholic Church, and the Pope was Italian and Bishop of Rome. The Catholic Church ran nearly all schools, hospitals, and many other institutions in Italy, and was powerful around the world. Shortly after the founding of the School of Fascist Mysticism, Mussolini began suppression of Catholic organizations, including the laypersons'Azione Cattolica organization, deemed to be interfering in the cultural and social activities under the control of the state. In 1931, the Pope was compelled to issue a public, formalpapal encyclical,Non abbiamo bisogno, denouncing the "pagan idolatry of the state" being introduced to Italy by Mussolini.[4]
In a 1934 interview with French newspaperLe Figaro, Mussolini stated, "In the Fascist concept of the totalitarian state, religion is absolutely free, and, in its own sphere, independent. The crazy idea of founding a new religion of the state or of subordinating to the state the religion of all Italians has never entered our minds". On the other hand, Mussolini also stated in the same interview that "the Fascist state could ... intervene in religious affairs ... only when the latter touch the political and moral order of the state". Fascist philosopherGiovanni Gentile had maintained that Fascism could contradict Catholicism.[15]
During February 19 to 20 inMilan, to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the School, the "First National Conference of Mystical Fascists" was held in a room at thepalazzo Marino (Marino Palace), with the intention that it would be the first in a series of such conferences.[13] This objective failed with the start ofWorld War II.Ferdinando Mezzasoma presided at the Conference, as the Deputy Secretary of the School and theNational Fascist Party. The theme of the Conference was, "Why are we Mystics?"[16]
The meeting saw some 500 participants, among them most Italian intellectuals of the time, including deans and professors.Julius Evola was among the supporters of this initiative for the possibilities it could offer in the creation of an elite inspired by the traditional values he espoused. Numerous discussions were reported and published as "Notebooks" under the initiative of Giani.
After the entry of Italy into World War II on June 10, 1940, the School was entrusted to the regency ofSalvatore Atzeni,[17] and classes were suspended, in large part because most directors had left voluntarily under the instigation ofNiccolò Giani. Giani was killed during the war in 1941, as were many other instructors from the School, includingGuido Pallotta andBerto Ricci. In 1943, having lost most of its instructors in the war, the School's activities ceased.[18]
By the time Italy's participation in World War II was ended by theArmistice between Italy and Allied armed forces, 14 members of the school were killed, four of whom were decorated with Italy'sSilver Medal of Military Valor.[19]
Among the teachers at the school, there were:
The School of Fascist Mysticism has been the subject of limited research. Some eminent scholars have traced the brief notes and put them in works of broader scope: Bobbio, Casucci, Isnenghi,[21] Nolte, De Felice, Gentile, Ledeen[22] Greater depth was instead shown by Daniele Marchesini, Betri,[23] Signori, La Rovere,[24] journalists of the caliber of Bocca, de Antonellis[25] and Giannantoni.[26] The first to show interest in the topic was, from the political spectrum's right, the political scientistMarco Tarchi.[27] while Marchesini goes to the record of having been the only, until 2003, to have an entire study devoted to this subject.[28] By 2004 blooms a certain interest in Fascist Mysticism: there are published, without the knowledge of the other one, two works: L. Fantini,Essenza mistica del fascismo totalitario. Dalla scuola di Mistica Fascista alle Brigate Nere a cura dell'Associazione Culturale1 dicembre 1943, Perugia 2004 and A. GrandiGli eroi di Mussolini. Niccolò Giani e la Scuola di Mistica Fascista, Rizzoli, Milano 2004.
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