Gabriele D’Annunzio : u źródeł ideologicznych włoskiego faszyzmu

Gabriele D’Annunzio. The Ideological Roots of Italian Fascism studies the political thought of Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863-1938), with particular emphasis on his role in the rise of Fascism in Italy. D’Annunzio was not only a chief proponent of the Italian Decandent movement, theater reformer and world-recognized poet and writer, but also a politician who madę an impact on Italian political life in the late century and the first two decades of the 20th. Although morę than a half-century has passed sińce his death in 1938, he continues to arouse controversy among recent historians. D’Annunzio is generally considered a precursor of Italian Fascism. This description, largely a persistent hand-down from Fascist writers, is still accepted by some contemporary historians and political scientists. The Polish reader will be especially familiar with D’Annunzio as a writer and playwright. He was popular in Poland during the Young Poland period around the tum of the 20lh century. His works were translated by such prominent artists as Leopold Staff, Maria Konopnicka, and Jan Kasprowicz; his plays were staged in Cracow under Józef Kotarbiński and their casts included the leading actresses of the day, among them Helena Modrzejewska, Stanisława Wysocka, Wanda Siemaszkowa. So far, no comprehensive work has appeared in Poland on D’Annunzio as politician and ideologue. While the first commentaries on the Italian poet appeared in Poland in the 1890’s, they were critical studies focused on his literary output. Examinations of D’Annunzio’s political involvement by Stani¬sław Sierpowski, Jerzy Wojciech Borejsza, Mieczysław Zywczyński, Józef Gie¬rowski and Teodor Filipiak, did not begin to emerge until after World War II. D’Annunzio’s political ideas evolved over the years as the poet began to draw inspiration from varied ideologies. Moreover, although in the proper sense the soldier poet was politically active for only a few years (1915-1924), he nevertheless expressed his political opinions as early as the 1890’s in his literary output (La bestia elettiva, the play La nave, Odinavali, Elettra, the novel Le vergini delle rocce). At first, D’Annunzio’s political thought developed within an intellectual circle centered on two literary magazines, Corwito and 11 Marzocco, the cradle of Italian nationalism. His ideas were also shaped by the philosophy of Nietzsche (the Superman theory), Schopenhauer, the aesthetic concepts of Wagner, and the writings of Giosue Carducci. D’Annunzio stood for elitism, opposed democracy and parliamentarism, and favored great-power politics for Italy. His political involvement proper began as World War I had eonie to an end. At that point he became a spokesman for Italy’s dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Versailles, which he expressed in his address titled “La lettera ai Dalmati”. Wielding the ery of “Lamę Victory”, he occupied the city of Fiume on Sept. 12, 1919. His force held Fiume until Christmas 1920, when Italian troops under Gen. Enrico Caviglia forced the poet and his legionnaires to leave the city. The Fiume event had serious conseąuences in international politics (it was the first breach of the Versailles order) and in shaping D’Annunzio’s political ideas. It brought him closer to revolutionary syndicalism, one effect of which was the highly novel Constitution of Fiume (Carta del Camaro), written by the poet with Alceste De Ambris. The Fiume period also borę further fruit in the form of a social and political movement, headed by D’Annunzio, called “fiumanesimo”. The dramatic conclusion of the Fiume expedition put an end to D’Annunzio’s political involvement, although after the March on Romę and Mussolini’s ascent to power, he often voiced his disapproval of Fascist policies. Of especial impact were his public declarations after the murder of the deputy Giacomo Matteotti on June 10, 1924, as well as his poetic works dealing with political issues (an anti-Mussolini political satire in 1934 and Pasquinata ridiculing Adolf Hitler). He was likewise critical of the Lateran Treaty madę by Mussolini with the Pope. He did not change his mind about Mussolini and Fascism until the victorious Abyssinian campaign (as he expressed in the epic poem “Teneo te, Africa”). To him, the war in Ethiopia meant settling an old account going back to 1896 when the Italians suffered a defeat by Abyssinia. Although D’Annunzio did not consider himself a Fascist, he undeniably did play a major role in the rise and establishment of Fascism in Italy. Many analogies are discernible between Fascism and D’Annunzio’s “fiumanesimo”: 1) common source (Italy’s disillusionment following WWI), 2) veteran legend, 3)ancient Rome legend, 4) political ceremoniał (talking to the crowd, shouting “Eia, eia, alala", speeches from a balcony, Roman salute, the song Giovinezta, etc.), 5) the idea of a “March on Rome”, 6) the concept of Duce, a charismatic leader, 7) corporatism.