They, the people. Italian Fascism and the ambivalences of corporative populism

The appeal to the people, however essential in the demagogic choreography which formed its distinctive political liturgy, did not cover the whole extent of Italian fascist politics. Another defining political feature of Italian fascism, the one that was supposed to replace political franchise with an all-encompassing representation of the people in its concrete entirety, was its authoritarian brand of corporative organicism. Corporative ‘people’ was not an indeterminate unity; authoritarian corporatism assumed a structured, organized and de-politicised people, defined by hierarchically arranged social affiliations, and was not trusted to act politically unless firmly governed. In this contribution it is argued that, from the point of view of the conception of the people, leaderistic plebiscitarism and corporative organicism are two sides of the same coin, and resulted in fascist aspirational totalitarian democracy. The twofold – and intrinsically ambiguous - conception of the ‘people’ is examined first in the passive and indeterminate qualities attributed to the Italian people, then in the institutional device conceived to lead it. The resulting twofold paradigm of corporative populism is reviewed with reference to the type put together and popularized by Giuseppe Bottai, of which three different varieties are presented.