Mussolini’s regime: the concept of consensus in contemporary historiography

One of the pivotal issues in the study of Italian fascism pertains to the question of public consensus under Mussolini’s regime. In the article, the author presents a comprehensive examination of the international historiographic discourse pertaining to this issue, tracing its evolution from the initial works published during the dictatorship to the impassioned debates that arose with the publication of Renzo De Felice’s multi-volume history of the Fascist regime in the 1960–1980s. At the core of De Felice’s research was the examination of the phenomenon of consensus within Italian society between 1920 and 1945. This paper acknowledges the value of De Felice’s contributions but challenges the methodological principles, research methods, and the conceptualisation of fascism as a long-term political strategy, particularly the notion of “Mussolinism” as a distinct form of “left-wing totalitarianism”. De Felice’s interpretation initially posited a consensus comprising new political forces and established elite structures. However, by the mid-1930s, this consensus had acquired a mass character, effectively eliminating the necessity for recourse to violence and endowing Mussolini’s regime with a distinctive quality: “incomplete totalitarianism”. De Felice’s analysis suggests that the collapse of the Fascist regime in Italy was primarily the result of a combination of miscalculations by the military and political leadership, coupled with inherent weaknesses in the system itself, rather than being driven by the erosion of mass consent. The historiographical debate surrounding the issue of consensus has been shaped by the works of Marxist historians and left-wing democrats who have opposed De Felice’s views. Additionally, the perspectives of liberals and regime apologists have contributed to this ongoing discussion. The 1990s saw the debate continue to evolve, encompassing both local and social historical analysis.