1.4 Mussolini and “An Active and Functional Neutrality” towards WWI

October 31, 1914 Il Grido del Popolo In this episode I’ll finally cover one of Gramsci’s essays, one of the first essays Gramsci published. In it he defends Mussolini, the same Benito Mussolini that invented Fascism. Before inventing Fascism Mussolini was a respected Marxist. As World War I was heating up Mussolini protested the war, but only a few months later his opposition to the war was softening. He was beginning to appeal to Italian nationalist sentiments. Many criticized Mussolini’s softer position, but Gramsci defended it. This episode will also hit on a few other topics. We will discuss - [ ] Red Week, a week of major labor upheaval in Italy just before the war - [ ] World War I - [ ] The Second International, an international socialist organization - [ ] Mussolini - [ ] And Angelo Tasca #fascism #worldwari #nationalism #internationalism #roleoftheparty #therevolution #hegemony #solidarity #secondinternational http://www.internationalgramscisociety.org/resources/pre-prison-index/index.html https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/07/second-international-bernstein-rosa-luxemburg-unions-world-war https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/pre-war_socialist_pacifism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Week_(Italy) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_unification http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Germany/mussolini.htm