Cassels, Alan, 1929- . Fascist Italy / Alan Cassels. 2nd ed. 0882958283 (pbk.) series Arlington Heights, Ill. : H. Davidson, c1985.
Call#: Van Pelt Library DG571 .C425 1985

 

In the chapter “In Power” of the book Fascist Italy, Alan Cassels writes on the passive manner in which Italians appeared, throughout the introduction of fascist rule. Several signs point to their apathy. One writer--Ignazio Silone--even wrote a popular work of fiction on the matter at the time, where the hero fails at turning workers and peasants into raising an uprising against the fascists. Cassels describes workers as being unhappy under fascist rule, but states that they posed no real threat. Italians did not expect significant changes in their way of life, and thus resigned to their normal course of life. Their apathetic attitudes of Italians led their country to fascism, though the majority of them were hardly believers in fascism. Cassels mentions a story from the fascist era, where an official visits a factory and learns that the workers are all either communist, socialist or members of smaller parties.

The themes of this chapter can be related to Federico Fellini’s film Amarcord. The film was unique in its telling, in that it follows the everyday lives of Italians who could be best described as being unconcerned with fascism interfering with their government. The characters of the film carry on with their way of life, with hardly a doubt.