Patriotic Socialism

I had two illuminating run-ins with fascism, Italian style: My father's side of the family were all off-the-boat from Southern Italy. I was making the rounds with my new wife, 32 years ago and stopped by a 90 year-old uncle's place. My dad was Republican but all of the older, born in Italy relatives were devoutly Democrat and this uncle was no exception. In our chit-chat, he brought up that the US needed a strong Democratic leader, somebody like Mussolini.

Many years later, my wife and I took a trip to Rome and the Amalfi Coast for our 25th anniversary. Part of the tour package was a bus ride through Rome, with a nice long stop at the Colosseum. Here and there, the guide pointed out some things done by Mussolini and/or done during that era. There was no tone or sense that they considered him an unusual leader.

I think the reason is that Italians understand fascism more correctly than Americans. To simplify: It is a variety of socialism, which is also patriotic/nationalistic. Italians are mostly pretty agreeable to socialism and most people in most places are proud of their country.

Italians in general, probably not their leftist showbiz types, but generally, are pretty neutral about fascism, very different from Germans with their form of fascism.