Renzo De Felice (8 April 1929 – 25 May 1996) was an Italian historian, who specialized in the Fascist era, writing, among other works, a 6000-page biography of Mussolini (4 volumes, 1965–1997). He argued that Mussolini was a revolutionary modernizer in domestic issues but a pragmatist in foreign policy who continued the '' Realpolitik'' policies of Italy from 1861 to 1922. Historian of Italy Philip Morgan has called De Felice's biography of Mussolini "a very controversial, influential and at the same time problematic re-reading of Mussolini and Fascism" and rejected the contention that his work rose above politics to "scientific objectivity", as claimed by the author and his defenders.

Biography

De Felice was born in Rieti and studied under Federico Chabod and Delio Cantimori at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

. During his time as student, he was a member of the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...

. After the Soviet repression of the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

, De Felice was among 101 Italian intellectuals who sharply criticized the party for backing of the Soviets. He broke with it and joined the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...

. He taught history at the University of Rome. He was married to Livia De Ruggiero. He died in Rome.

Mussolini biography

De Felice is best known for a massive four-volume, eight-book biography of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

that was almost finished when he died. De Felice was the founder and editor of the influential journal ''Storia Contemporanea''. De Felice, a liberal Jew, also wrote a well-regarded history of Jewish life under the Fascist government and articles on Italian

Jacobinism A Jacobin (; ) was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary political movement that was the most famous political club during the French Revolution (1789–1799). The club got its name from meeting at the Dominican rue Saint-Honoré ...

. De Felice's leading interest was in Fascism. In his view, there were two types of Fascism, "Fascism as a movement" and "Fascism as a regime". De Felice saw Fascism, especially in the "movement" stage, as a revolutionary middle-class ideology that had deep roots in the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...

. Moreover, De Felice insisted that it was not caused by fear of a proletarian revolution on the part of the lower middle classes, as leftist historiography maintained; but it was an assertive movement, originated by an emerging middle class in search for its proper role. Fascism, as a regime, was seen by De Felice as nothing more than Mussolini's policy, which tended to make of fascist ideology just the superstructure of Mussolini's dictatorship and personal power. De Felice felt that fascism should be seen as valid political ideology, not just something to be demonized and dismissed in simplistic terms. He argued that studies on Fascism should get out from the political debate and become a historiographical issue based on scientific assertions. Furthermore, De Felice insisted that there was no connection or valid comparisons to be drawn between Italian Fascism and German

National Socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...

, which De Felice saw as being a completely different political ideology. Critics on the Left attacked De Felice for being too sympathetic to Italian Fascism. Giuliano Procacci, Paolo Alatri, Nicola Tranfaglia and others even accused De Felice of supporting Fascism. However, Italian communist leader and intellectual activist Giorgio Amendola came to De Felice's defence and rejected many of the criticisms of Giovanni Ferrara in 1975, calling for more civil dialogue on Fascism and Antifascism. Although he acknowledged many of De Felice's discrepancies, Amendola endorsed some of De Felice's ideas, including the "revolutionary aspect in Fascism" and the theory that Mussolini's Fascist movement attracted many adherents among the populace.Aurora G. Morcillo, ed., ''Memory and Cultural History of the Spanish Civil War: Realms of Oblivion'', Vol. 93, (''History of Warfare'' series) Leiden, Boston, Brill, 2013, Antonio Cazorla-Sanchez, "From Anti-Fascism to Humanism", p. 23

Selected bibliography

*''Storia degli ebrei italiani sotto il fascismo'', 1961. *''Mussolini'', 4 volumes, 1965–1997 (Turin, 1965–97) ::''vol. I, Mussolini il rivoluzionario, 1883–1920;'' ::''vol. II.1, Mussolini il fascista, La conquista del potere, 1921–1925,'' ::''vol. II.2, Mussolini il fascista,, L’organizzazione dello Stato fascista, 1925–1929;'' ::''vol. III.1, Mussolini il duce, Gli anni del consenso, 1929–1936,'' ::''vol. III.2, Mussolini il duce, Lo stato totalitario, 1936–1940;'' ::''vol. IV.1, Mussolini l’alleato, 1940–1945, L’Italia in guerra, 1940–1943, Dalla guerra "breve" alla guerra lunga,'' ::''vol. IV.2, Mussolini l’alleato, 1940–1945, L’Italia in guerra, 1940–1943, Crisi e agonia del regime,'' ::''vol. IV.3, Mussolini l’alleato, 1940–1945, La guerra civile, 1943–1945.'' *''Le interpretazioni del fascismo'', 1969. *''Il fascismo: le interpretazioni dei contemporanei e degli storici'', 1970. *''Intervista sul fascismo'', edited by Michael Ledeen, 1975. *''Ebrei in un paese arabo: gli ebrei nella Libia contemporanea tra colonialismo, nazionalismo arabo e sionismo (1835–1970)'', 1978.

Biography

Mussolini biography

Selected bibliography

References

Further reading