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‘Mediterraneo baltico’: Italian Fascist propaganda in Finland (1933–9)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2020

Fabio Ferrarini
Fabio Ferrarini*
Affiliation:
Department of Historical Studies, University of Milan, Italy
*
*Email: ferrarini.fab@gmail.com
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Abstract

This article focuses on Italian Fascist propaganda in Finland. Federico Finchelstein (2010) characterised fascism as a global-transnational doctrine with diverse reformulations, ramifications and permutations. Therefore, the Finnish case-study is useful in the analysis of Mussolini's twin struggle against Soviet Communism and the increasing Nazi threat in the Baltic in the 1930s and 1940s. This article will examine how Mussolini tried to keep in touch with Finnish fascists after Hitler's rise to power. Organisations and groups like the Lapua Movement and the Finnish Patriotic People's Movement were inspired by Italian Fascism and the success of the March on Rome encouraged their hope that they could take power in Finland. The ultimate failure of Finnish fascism has ensured the continued marginalisation of fascism as a research subject in the Finnish academic tradition. Yet, as Roger Griffin suggests, studies of peripheral and failed fascisms can also contribute important insights for understanding both the ‘centre’ of fascism, as well as modern nationalist extremist movements. Fascism as an international political phenomenon cannot be understood from rigidly national interpretative frameworks.

Il saggio prende in considerazione lo sviluppo della propaganda fascista in Finlandia. Come ricordato da Finchelstein, il fascismo era una dottrina globale e transnazionale, caratterizzata da diverse interpretazioni, ramificazioni e mutamenti. Di conseguenza, il caso finlandese consentirebbe di analizzare meglio la duplice lotta di Mussolini contro il comunismo sovietico, ma anche contro la crescente minaccia nazista nel Baltico tra gli anni Trenta e gli anni Quaranta. Mussolini avrebbe tentato di mantenere i contatti con i fascisti finlandesi dopo l'ascesa al potere di Hitler. Si trattava, ad esempio, di organizzazioni come il movimento di Lapua ed il movimento Patriottico Popolare che, avendo tratto ispirazione dal fascismo italiano, maturarono la speranza di salire al potere. Ciò non accadde e quell'insuccesso divenne una delle ragioni per cui il tema fu a lungo trascurato dalla tradizione storiografica finlandese. Tuttavia, come ricorda Roger Griffin, anche lo studio dei fascismi periferici e di quelli mancati può contribuire significativamente a comprendere il centro del fascismo, così come la natura dell'attuale estremismo nazionalista. Il fascismo, come elemento internazionale, non può essere capito attraverso i dogmi delle rispettive realtà nazionali.

Keywords

FascismNazismFinlandpropagandaanti-communismnationalism
Type
Special Issue
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 25 , Special Issue 4: Italians Beyond Italy/Italy Beyond Italians: Transnational Cultural Strategies and the Construction of Identities , November 2020 , pp. 389 - 402
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for the Study of Modern Italy

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