Proletarian nation

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Proletarian nation (Italian: nazioni proletarie, German: proletarische nation) was a term coined by the adherents of fascism. It was Mussolini used for referring to Italy and other poorer countries, subjugated by the imperialist powers, of occident.^[1] That was what Mussolini called "Plutocratic Nations" (nazioni plutocratiche). His motto was "Italy, proletarian, and fascist", most of the concept came from revolutionary sindicalism, and some of its intellectuals such as Enrico Corradini. The term was one of the key concepts used by fascism, during its government in Italy.

Prior to the First World War Mussolini described Italy as essentially a “proletarian nation”,^[2] he said that "Revolution is an idea that has found bayonets!" -- a slogan borrowed from the 19th century guerrillaist socialist Blanqui—was inscribed on the banner of Mussolini's newspaper, Il Popolo d'Italia. He considered that the military struggles unfolding in Europe could have "revolutionary" consequences but saw this in terms of an improvement in the position of the Italian nation, as underdogs ("a proletarian nation") in comparison with the major imperialist powers such as Britain.^[3] In the message from Mussolini to Italians on the day of declaration of war on France and Britain (June 10, 1940). Mussolini justified the intervention by presenting it as an opportunity for the poor and laborious struggle of peoples against states who hold the monopoly of all the wealth and financial world, revisiting the myth of the "proletarian nation".

Origins

Two prominent concepts promoted by Corradini inspired fascism: Corradini's theory of "war as revolution" and his theory of "proletarian nationalism".^[4] Though Corradini opposed the revolutionary socialism in Italy for its anti-patriotism, anti-militarism, internationalism, and its advocacy of class conflict, he and other nationalists admired its revolutionary and conquering spirit and, in a 1910 meeting of the Italian Nationalist Association, declared support for proletarian nationalism, saying:

“We are the proletarian people in respect to the rest of the world. Nationalism is our socialism. This established, nationalism must be founded on the truth that Italy is morally and materially a proletarian nation.” Manifesto of the Italian Nationalist Association, December 1910.^[4]

Use of the concept and development

The concept was used by Mussolini came prior the second world war, until the end of his life. The term indicated not only the difference among fascist and capitalist but also among communism and fascism.

Taking again the nationalist doctrines before the Walk on Rome, Mussolini set up in supreme value, the ideas of Georges Sorel on the role of violence in the history and on the revolutionary trade unionism of action, and the mobilizing idea of what Mussolini called Italy “large proletarian” against the pluthocratic nations, was one of the intiative that developed the concept.

The concept was use narrowly in the Nazi Party. For example the nazi official and head of the German Labour Front, Robert Ley in 1940 described Germany as a "proletarian nation".^[5] During their retirement of the Nazi Party, Gregor Strasser and his brother Otto Strasser identified Germany as "the first proletarian nation in the world" and declared that Germany would need to ally itself with "the other proletarian nations".^[6]

See also

• Ideological origins of Fascism
• Plutocracy

References