Italy 1919–21: The Current State of Research

Abstract

It seems rather obvious to say that the main problem concerning the study of the years I919-2I in Italy is the problem of the origins of fascism. Nevertheless, Italian life in those years also presents a set of particular issues worthy of the historian's attention, on account both of the special impact that these issues had on the development of fascism, and of some of the longer-lasting effects on the general course of Italian history. In foreign policy, for instance, in the years I919-2I there were the bitter disputes over and the final settlement of the peace treaties and Italy's political frontiers. In domestic policy there was the foundation of the two political parties which are to this day the main actors of Italian political life: the Catholic Party and the Communist Party. Furthermore, there were some profound changes in the social and economic life of Italy, both in the structure of the productive system and in the way of life of the working classes, indeed, of the whole people. It may be convenient, therefore, to review the current state of research concerning Italy in those years according to the main topics briefly outlined above. We do not have many general works on Italian history for the years I919-2I. Because of the lack of freedom in Italy during the period of fascism, no critical work on the origins of fascism was produced inside the country in those years.1 We had, instead, a long series of partisan works written in praise of the fascist regime, which hardly deserve the name of history books but which can sometimes be quite useful, either for the vast documentation they contain (e.g. the five volumes of Chiurco, Storia della Rivoluzione Fascista, I929), or for the clear account of the official version of those events which they provide, that is, fascism as a revolution which saved