Saggio

“All of the arguments advanced against us by our enemies are untrue. Neither in Germany nor in Italy is there a dictatorship, but rather organizations and forces which serve the people. No government, in any part of the world, has the approval of the people to the same extent as the governments of Germany and Italy. The greatest and the most authentic democracies in the world today are the German and Italian. In other countries, under the guise of the "inviolable rights of man", politics are dominated by the forces of money, of capital, of secret societies, and of political groups in competition with one another.”
-Benito Mussolini, Berlin (1937)

As the invasion of Ethiopia neared, Mussolini became obsessed with an anxiety over instances of miscegenation between Italians and Africans, producing mixed-race children. Such instances, though still rare, already occurred in the Italian colonies of Eritrea and Somalia. Mussolini’s state of mind was revealed to Baron Pompeo Aloisi, who when he called on the Duce on April 2, 1934, found him “very upset” by his discovery of a book, Amore Nero (Black Love), that dealt with a love affair between an Italian and a black woman. Mussolini had the book immediately withdrawn from circulation. On August 5, 1936, only several months after the conquest of Ethiopia, a decree was issued outlining the system of racial separation that would now char- acterize Italian East Africa. Beginning with the fundamental provision that “the lives of whites and blacks should be completely separate in Italian East Africa,” it went on to specify the details of this program: “gradual separation of the habi- tations of nationals and indigents”; “avoidance of all familiarity between the two races”; segregation of public space; and the end of “madamismo” (concubines) and “sciarmuttismo” (biracial children). The police were instructed to enforce these provisions with “extreme rigor,” and anyone who was so bold as to live with or act married to a native would be deported. Until the anticipated arrival of Italian women in Africa created the conditions appropriate for proper family life, brothels staffed by Italian prostitutes were set up for the Italian soldiers. Not surprisingly, natives were absolutely forbidden to patronize them.

Mussolini made his intention to initiate eugenics policies apparent even before he entered the government. At a Fascist Congress in Rome held in November 1921, he announced: “fascism must concern itself with the racial problem; fascists must concern themselves with the health of the race by which history is made.” Little was done initially to realize these goals, since Mussolini spent his first years in office largely preoccupied with setting up a dictatorship. After this task was largely completed, in 1925, he devoted more attention to accomplishing fascism’s long-term objectives, including the remaking of the Italian people. Fascism must be understood as a process and therefore it is impossible to separate race from Italian Fascism.