Review

Author(s): Alexander De Grand

Review by: Alexander De Grand
Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 90, No. 4 (Oct., 1985), pp. 975-976
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1858949
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ModernEurope
nature of the "access to the means of production"

975

Vincenzo Saporito, another Sicilian,became a nemesis; Giovanni Giolitti, prime minister before, during, and after the trial, may have viewed him as a
ROLAND SARTI
University of Massachusetts rival; and Antonio Salandra, another future prime
minister, was less than friendly toward Nasi. Distinctly unfriendly was a major newspaper, the
ZUMBINI.
L "Incidente" Nasi: Giornale d'Italia, which in turn was friendly to
FERRARI
ROMANO
Cronacadi una vicendadell'Italiapoliticad'altritempi, Salandra. Finally, the Socialist party and some So1903-1908. Padua: CEDAM. 1983. Pp. x, 179. L. cialistnotables found the Nasi case a politicalconvenience to exploit.
12,000.
Zumbini questions neither Nasi's guilt nor the
According to the constitution (Statuto)of the King- justice of the verdict that ended the politician's
dom of Italy, government ministers who were im- career; he does raise questions about the nature of
peached by the Chamber of Deputies were to be politicaljusticeas rendered by the Senate sitting as a
tried by the Senate sitting as a high court of justice. high court; and he marvels at the coincidence of
Until 1907 no such proceeding had occurred, nor rivalries,hostilities, and ambitions that surrounded
was one to recur so long as the Statutolasted. In that the "incident."
SALVATORE SALADINO
year, however, Nunzio Nasi, former minister of
QueensCollege
education (1901-03), was tried by the high court on
CityUniversityof New York
charges of repeated peculation, found guilty in
1908, and sentenced to eleven months and twenty
days of confinement.
The charges against Nasi surfaced in the chamber MICHEL OSTENC. Intellectuels italiens et fascisme,
at the end of 1903, soon after the resignation of the 1915-1929. (Bibliotheque Historique.) Paris: Payot.
government of which he had been a part. In 1904 1983. Pp. 338. 120 fr.
the chamber authorized his arrest and trial before
an ordinary tribunal.But in 1907 the Roman Court Michel Ostenc, the author of an excellent compreof Cassation ruled that the ordinary judiciary was hensive work on fascist education (La scuolaitaliana
not competent to try a former minister for acts duranteil fascismo[1979]), has deliberately not atcommitted while in the exercise of his office, where- tempted to write a general history of intellectuals
upon the chamber deferred Nasi to the high court. under fascism. Instead, his study concentrates on
The Nasi "incident" raised a host of legal and the evolving politicalattitudes of certain writersand
politicalquestions. The chief merit of Romano Fer- poets like Gabriele D'Annunzio, Filippo Marinetti,
rari Zumbini'sbrief but carefully prepared work lies Giuseppe Ungaretti, Luigi Pirandello, Curzio
in its examination of the constitutionaland juridical Malaparte, and the antifascist Piero Gobetti. He
aspects of the story and in its awareness of the wiselyterminateshis study in 1929, because, despite
exquisitely political nature of so unique a case. The the differences in their ages, the men studied all
structure of Zumbini'sbook reflects this dual inter- belong to the early period of Italian fascism and not
est. The firstchapter, which is appropriatelyentitled to the new era that opened around 1930.
The author reveals the tremendously diverse ide"PoliticalJustice"and accounts for about two-fifths
of the work, is devoted to a detailed examination of als that drew intellectuals to fascism. The futurist
historical precedents as well as Italian and foreign Marinettidesired to break with a corrupt past by a
constitutional and legal provisions for proceedings leap into the new industrial and technological fuagainst government ministers. The balance of the ture; Ungaretti hoped that an escape from the
book, rich in detailed citations of sources and ex- corruption of the present might be found in a
planatoryfootnotes, deals with Nasi'scase proper in return to Italian classicaltraditions; and Malaparte
its legal and politicalaspects, viewed severallyand in sought reconciliation between the elite and the
masses by means of fascism. Yet Ostenc shows that
their inextricableinterweaving.
An extraordinary confluence of events contrib- the intellectualswho were drawn to fascism shared a
uted to the production of the "incident"that, within common outlook on politics. They were all nationa few years, destroyed the career of a rising political alists who believed that liberal Italy had failed to
figure whose power base.in western Sicily, Masonic create a moral unity for the Italians. Although the
affiliation, and apparent royal favor all promised nation was flawed and incomplete, the solution was
higher and even the highest office. But chance and not economic development but a cultural awakencircumstance,in the form of the ambitionsof others ing. Fascismwas to be a moral revolution that would
and his own failings, intervened. Vittorio Emanuele provide some missing piece in the Italian character.
Orlando, a fellow Sicilian and future prime minis- Finally,they all sought in Mussolini a leader under
ter, seemed to stalk Nasi's political footsteps; whose direction the changes might take place.
(p. 101).

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976

Reviewsof Books

Ostenc reveals how the framework for this political activity was set by an older generation led by
Benedetto Croce and GiovanniGentile, who, before
World War I, directed their most severe attack
against Marxism, reformism, and democratic values. Just before and during World War I a new
generation fused this philosophical assault with a
romantic vision of politics that lacked any basis in
Italian reality. Their Italy was a myth. The author
then demonstrates convincingly that fascism was
never able to shape these disparate ideals into a
serious and coherent doctrine.
Most of the figures studied were creative writers,
which may have distorted the sample somewhat.
D'Annunzio is given an inordinate amount of attention, for he had little real importanceafter 1921 and
played no role under fascism.Similarly,Pirandello's
case was so special that his adherence to fascism
throws little light on the broader general question of
intellectuals and fascism. But these are minor
points. Ostenc's chapters on the relationship between the intellectuals and the new fascist movement are very well done, and the conclusion to that
section is a fine summaryof the whole problem. The
author's judgment that fascism managed to construct a formal cultural apparatus but had no content to put into it is solid. Ostenc has made a serious
and valuable contribution to the growing body of
work on Italian intellectual life from 1900 to 1929.
ALEXANDER DE GRAND

Roosevelt University

LINDA FREY and MARSHA FREY. A Question of Empire:

Leopold I and the War of Spanish Succession,
1701-1705. (East European Monographs, number

146; Brooklyn College Studies on Society in

Change, number 36.) Boulder, Colo.: East European Monographs;distributedby ColumbiaUniversity Press, New York. 1983. Pp. ix, 165. $20.00.
Although the reign of Leopold I has long been
considered a decisive period in the consolidationof
the Habsburg Gesamtstaat in Central Europe, the
emperor himself has customarilybeen described by
historiansas a ruler so uncertain of his own abilities,
so disinterested in politics, and so preoccupied with
inconsequential matters that he seldom acted decisively and fell time and time again under the influence of confessors and court favorites. A papal
nuncio anticipated the view propounded by several
generations of modern scholars when he observed
that Leopold was much too pious to be emperor.
Only recently has this interpretation been challenged by specialists who have stressed Leopold's
intelligence, determination, and devotion to duty
and insisted on the importance of his personal role

in the emergence of the Danubian monarchy as a

great continental power.
For those who have read the spate of articles by
Linda Freyand MarshaFrey on variousquestions of
diplomacy, war, and rebellion in the early eighteenth century, their refinement of the new approach in a study treating the numerous issues
raised by Leopold's involvement in the Spanish
succession will come as no surprise. Regarding the
emperor as a reasonably pragmatic statesman and
worthy protagonistof the Sun King, they argue that
he vacillatedon crucial issues not so much because
he was passive and irresolute by nature but because
he often saw in equivocation a means by which he
could enhance his influence over rapidly unfolding
events. From Leopold's perspective, the lands of his
Spanish cousins formed an inalienable part of his
dynastic inheritance, and in the last years of his
reign he never wavered in his determination to
assert the territorial claims of the House of Habsburg or to counter French aggression with every
means at his disposal.
The Freys' analysis of Leopold's policies in his
final struggle against Bourbon hegemony offers a
revealing perspective on the inescapable problems
involved in waging coalition warfare. In Leopold's
case these problemsstemmed ultimatelyfrom divergent assumptions, interests, and objectives among
the various allies, but they were complicated by the
emperor's reputation as a bigoted Catholic and
ruthless tyrant-a reputation that became especially
pronounced following the outbreak of the Rak6czi
rebellion. Stereotyped images of the way he treated
Protestantsdeveloped a life of their own and had a
direct bearing on his relations with the maritime
powers. Although the Freys offer relatively few
original insights into the problem of the Spanish
succession, they do demonstrate the impact of particular personalities and the central place of factional strife on the workings of the Vienna court.
They are also able to show that 1703 was a critical
turning point in Austria'sconncctions with England
and the United Provinces. Given their painstaking
research, based on an extensive investigation of
archival materials and admirably reflected in two
helpful appendixes, detailed notes, and an immense
bibliography, it is unfortunate that the Freys have
conveyed the fruits of their scholarship in a main
text marred by distractingtypographicalerrors and
a persistent misuse of commas as well as by a
needless repetition of key phrases and basic themes.
JOHN A. MEARS

Southern MethlodistUniversity

M. CIENCIALA and TITUS KOMARNICKI. From

Versailles to Locarno: Keys to Polish Foreign Policy,

ANNA

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