Exporting Fascism: Italian Fascists and Britain's Italians in the 1930s by Claudia Baldoli (review)

Abstract

MLR, 100.3, 2005 841 second phase [of Futurism] at all' (p. 6). My bibliography of Futurism, published in 2000 in the volume International Futurism in Arts and Literature (New York: De Gruyter), lists no fewer than 300 studies on provincial centres, second-league artists, and the period of secondofuturismo?not exactly what I would call 'few'. Three ofthe four chapters in Bohn's book offera chronological run-down of Futurist activities (soirees, exhibitions, publications) in the three main cities of the Veneto. The region possessed a pool of about 100 artists and writers who at one point or another considered themselves to be Futurists. About a dozen figures are profiled in this study,and the fourthchapter looks in some more depth at the work of four writers and artists from Verona. Bohn reprints some thirty poems (entirely or in excerpts) with translations and reproduces eight paintings and sculptures, but none of these works is discussed in any great detail. The same, unfortunately, also holds true ofthe majority of activities undertaken by Futurist artists in the Veneto region. The book provides a useful checklist as to who participated in a serata, who exhibited in a local art show, who was invited to present works in the Biennale, how many issues of a journal were printed, and who contributed poems and illustrations to it. But what is missing is what these activities meant for the Futurist movement as a whole and, more importantly, how they affected the cultural life in the city concerned. For example, if Bohn's summary of some twenty Futurist events in Venice were to be placed alongside the cultural calendar of the city in the years 1910-44, it would possibly reveal that the Futurists had only a limited impact on the public at large. It would not be too difficultto select a representative sample of newspaper reports, diaries, letters, etc. of independent witnesses to give us an idea of how Futurism was viewed by the cultural establishment ofthe city and how it may have affectedyounger artists and writers. But without a critical assessment of such audience responses it is impossible to judge the degree of success the Futurists may have had in criticizing the servile respect paid to Italy's glorious past, in dismantling the ossified institutions, and in revolutionizing artistic, cultural, social, and political life in their country. Furthermore, a great many of the activities and works presented in this volume fall in the Fascist era. Bohn dwells on the artistic merit of these creations (which in my view he often overstates) and is astonishingly reticent in analysing their political dimensions. To investigate the complex relationship between Futurism and Fascism and the often contradictory attitudes taken by artists trying to make a living in a conservative, if not reactionary, environment, a thorough evaluation of an artist's works and career path is required. But forthis task a more incisive approach is needed than Bohn chose to adopt in this volume. University of Bristol Gunter Berghaus Exporting Fascism: ltalian Fascists and Britain's Italians in the 1930s. By Claudia Baldoli. Oxford and New York: Berg. 2003. vi + 2i7pp. ?50 (pbk ?15.99). ISBN 1-85973-756-0 (pbk 1-85973-761-7). Claudia Baldoli's book focuses on two main areas: the activities of the Fasci Abroad in London and Great Britain during Dino Grandi's term as Italy's ambassador to London from 1932 to 1939, and Grandi's relationship with the British Union of Fascists (BUF) and the British Right. The book explores several issues: how Italians living in Britain responded to Fascism, the relationship between Fascists in Britain and the British Right, and the implications of British Italophilia during the Fascist years. It is also an enquiry into the project of fascistization of the communities abroad in the 1930s. As Baldoli demonstrates, such a project did not just aim at the fascistization of emigrants, but also at their transformation into new Italians; it 842 Reviews also included the expansion of Fascism in other countries through the diffusion of Fascist ideology. In this context the Fasci Abroad played an important role and were actively involved in establishing contacts and organizing activities between them and...