Claremont McKenna College

Action as Philosophy: The Void in Italian Fascism

H. STUART HUGHES

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1993

Benito Mussolini's brand of Fascism seems to have lacked the kind of folkloric myth and ethnocentric hubris that provided the seed and sustenance for the Nazism of Adolf Hitler and those under his sway. What, then, was Italian Fascism's ideological provenance? Revolutionary syndicalism? A myopic or willfully distorted view of Italian intellectual tradition? The burgeoning Nationalism of prewar Italy? A combination of these factors?

To help unearth the ideological roots of the Mussolini regime, H. Stuart Hughes will deliver the fourth in this fall's series of lectures on European Fascism. Before taking up his current residency at the University of California at San Diego, Dr. Hughes enjoyed a long and distinguished teaching career at Harvard, where from 1969 to 1975 he held the Gurney Chair of History and Political Science. One of the nation's preeminent historians of ideas, he has authored, among other books, The United States and Italy (1953), Consciousness and Society (1958), Contemporary Europe: A History (1961), and Prisoners of Hope: The Silver Age of the Italian Jews, 1924-1974 (1983). He has twice been decorated by the Italian government, first for his service in the Mediterranean theater during World War II, and later for his work in Italian historical studies. His activities outside university life have included an independent candidacy for the United States Senate and the chairmanship of SANE: A Citizen's Organization for a Sane World.

All are welcome to join us for what we're sure will be a most authoritative and enlightening discussion of the origins of Italian Fascism. Professor Hughes's lecture comes via sponsorship of the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies.