Benito Mussolini: “The Doctrine of Fascism”

Audience

The audience for this essay was primarily the Italian public of the 1930s as well as posterity. Mussolini, though he was intelligent, was not a deep thinker. His calls to action and the primacy of action over thought were sincere. Because the real doctrine of Fascism was whatever results came from action, the idea of an unchanging or even rationally evolving platform did not exist. Mussolini would not have been concerned with the thoughts and opinions of his audience. His own best audience was perhaps himself. Writing an article for Italy’s most significant cultural product of the time would have suited his conception of himself. Those who disagreed with the article’s content would have placed themselves outside the Fascist conception of life, disqualifying them from participation in the state.