Transatlantic Fascism

In Transatlantic Fascism, Federico Finchelstein traces the intellectual and cultural connections between Argentine and Italian fascisms, showing how fascism circulates transnationally. From the early 1920s well into the Second World War, Mussolini tried to export Italian fascism to Argentina, the “most Italian” country outside of Italy. (Nearly half the country’s population was of Italian descent.) Drawing on extensive archival research on both sides of the Atlantic, Finchelstein examines Italy’s efforts to promote fascism in Argentina by distributing bribes, sending emissaries, and disseminating propaganda through film, radio, and print. He investigates how Argentina’s political culture was in turn transformed as Italian fascism was appropriated, reinterpreted, and resisted by the state and the mainstream press, as well as by the Left, the Right, and the radical Right.As Finchelstein explains, nacionalismo, the right-wing ideology that developed in Argentina, was not the wholesale imitation of Italian fascism that Mussolini wished it to be. Argentine nacionalistas conflated Catholicism and fascism, making the bold claim that their movement had a central place in God’s designs for their country. Finchelstein explores the fraught efforts of nationalistas to develop a “sacred” ideological doctrine and political program, and he scrutinizes their debates about Nazism, the Spanish Civil War, imperialism, anti-Semitism, and anticommunism. Transatlantic Fascism shows how right-wing groups constructed a distinctive Argentine fascism by appropriating some elements of the Italian model and rejecting others. It reveals the specifically local ways that a global ideology such as fascism crossed national borders.

“[T]hought-provoking, intelligent, well-researched, and complex work of intellectual history. . . . Finchelstein has written a book that is an important contribution to the study of fascism in general and makes an even more crucial contribution to the study of the ideology of the far Right in Argentina.” - Joel Horowitz, American Historical Review, “Federico Finchelstein’s extensive background in fascist and Holocaust studies and his work in Italian and French archives set this book apart. So, too, does his approach. Rather than simply discuss European influence on Nacionalismo, Finchelstein analyzes ideas and perceptions flowing in both directions across the Atlantic. . . . A short review such as this one cannot do justice to the originality, richness, and subtlety of this book. Even the detailed endnotes, which practically constitute another volume, merit close examination. Finchelstein’s fine work surely will stimulate debates about fascist transnationalism, Nacionalismo, and this movement’s legacy for years to come.” - Sandra McGee Deutsch, Hispanic American Historical Review, “[I]t is obvious that this book is a splendid contribution. But it is also welcome,necessary, and timely as extreme right-wing politics, authoritarianism, and party-led totalitarian states in the world are reasserting themselves. . . . If Churchill or Roosevelt had allowed a partial peace to end World War II, instead of total surrender, the Argentine politics described in this book would have joined Brazilian integralism to further autonomous fascist traditions in Central America, the Southern Cone, and the Andes. Finchelstein’s wonderful work paints a haunting image.” - Friedrich E. Schuler, The Americas, “Federico Finchelstein’s careful and ambitiously researched book which rests on archival work done in Rome, Buenos Aires, and the United States usefully reframes the literature on fascism by successfully challenging its overwhelming Eurocentrism....[It] is an invaluable contribution to reinvigorating scholarly discussion of fascism and is sure to be emulated, contested, and extended in years to come.” - Dylan Riley, Journal of Modern History, “Transatlantic Fascism is a fresh examination of fascism in Argentina from the perspective of its transnational connections. Federico Finchelstein provides new insight into fascism and its impact in Argentina.”—Donna Guy, author of Women Build the Welfare State: Performing Charity and Creating Rights in Argentina, 1880-1955

Federico Finchelstein is Assistant Professor of History at the New School for Social Research and the Eugene Lang College of the New School in New York City.