Carlo Rosselli's Liberal Socialism was appreciably inspired by the English political culture. The article highlights how and how much anti-fascism has acted in orienting the theoretical positions of the leader of «Giustizia e Libertà», and, consequently, also his relationship with cross-Channel influences. It was in the early 1920s that Rosselli's gaze turned explicitly, and not without youthful ingenuity, to the example of Labor, which he considered an expression of a reformism that was as incisive in action as it was anti-dogmatic in the doctrine. With the advent and consolidation of Mussolini's regime, Rosselli's anti-fascism became more intransigent. The intransigence involved not only fascism, but also the forces that should have opposed it with greater determination. Italian Socialist Reformism was no longer the solution, but part of the problem, a conclusion that is ill-suited to the references to English socialism, which in fact thinned out. In Liberal Socialism, a synthesis of Rosselli's thinking prior to the years of exile in France, there is still a trace of the "gildist" suggestions that can be traced in his youthful writings - in particular the theses of G. D. Hole are mentioned. Rosselli's ideas radicalized in the 1930s, coinciding with the escalation of the anti-fascist commitment. For theoretical conviction and above all for reasons of political strategy, Rosselli declined anti-fascism in an increasingly anti-capitalist sense: Liberal Democracy was no longer an essential fixed point, but a compromised regime. England seemed very far, even if, in hindsight, we know that there were many British engagé intellectuals who adopted similar perspectives in the same historical phase.
Anti-Fascism by Carlo Rosselli and British Socialism
carmelo calabro'
2020-01-01
Abstract
Carlo Rosselli's Liberal Socialism was appreciably inspired by the English political culture. The article highlights how and how much anti-fascism has acted in orienting the theoretical positions of the leader of «Giustizia e Libertà», and, consequently, also his relationship with cross-Channel influences. It was in the early 1920s that Rosselli's gaze turned explicitly, and not without youthful ingenuity, to the example of Labor, which he considered an expression of a reformism that was as incisive in action as it was anti-dogmatic in the doctrine. With the advent and consolidation of Mussolini's regime, Rosselli's anti-fascism became more intransigent. The intransigence involved not only fascism, but also the forces that should have opposed it with greater determination. Italian Socialist Reformism was no longer the solution, but part of the problem, a conclusion that is ill-suited to the references to English socialism, which in fact thinned out. In Liberal Socialism, a synthesis of Rosselli's thinking prior to the years of exile in France, there is still a trace of the "gildist" suggestions that can be traced in his youthful writings - in particular the theses of G. D. Hole are mentioned. Rosselli's ideas radicalized in the 1930s, coinciding with the escalation of the anti-fascist commitment. For theoretical conviction and above all for reasons of political strategy, Rosselli declined anti-fascism in an increasingly anti-capitalist sense: Liberal Democracy was no longer an essential fixed point, but a compromised regime. England seemed very far, even if, in hindsight, we know that there were many British engagé intellectuals who adopted similar perspectives in the same historical phase.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
