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Fascist Samurais: the Japanese race in the Italian imaginary during the Second World War and beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2020

Michele Monserrati
Michele Monserrati*
Affiliation:
Comparative Literature and Romance Languages, Williams College, MA, USA
*
*Email: mm43@williams.edu
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Abstract

Between 1938 and 1943, Fascist intellectuals debated the problem of how to create a racial policy that would encompass the Japanese within the Aryan doctrine. This article demonstrates how internal divisions in the Fascist party over racial issues generated alternative versions of pro-Japanese propaganda, which influenced the racial thinking of the Italian far-right even long after the Second World War. I show how Italian racial theories developed to underpin the alliance with Japan were transnational in scope, as they involved both German and Italian scholars in a common effort to lobby state racial policies. Specifically, I consider George Montandon and Julius Evola as two transnational actors engaged in building a case for the inclusion of the Japanese in the family of Aryan races, speaking either from a ‘biological’ or ‘spiritual’ perspective. While by the end of the Second World War the ‘biological’ thesis for the inclusion of the Japanese race had evaporated, the ‘spiritual’ thesis would continue to influence a generation of Italian far-right militants, especially during the ‘Years of Lead’. To make sense of this legacy, I suggest that the foundational myth of Italian Fascism, based on the spiritual heritage of the multiethnic Roman empire, responded to the neofascist quest for transnational affiliations against Western materialism.

Tra il 1938 e il 1943, gli intellettuali fascisti si posero il problema di come includere l'alleato giapponese nel contesto della dottrina ariana. Questo articolo dimostra come, a causa di divisioni interne al partito fascista sulle questioni razziali, due versioni alternative di propaganda filo-giapponese hanno influenzato il pensiero razziale dell'estrema destra italiana, anche molto tempo dopo la seconda guerra mondiale. L'articolo mostra come le teorie razziali italiane sviluppate per sostenere l'alleanza con il Giappone sono di natura transnazionale, poiché hanno coinvolto studiosi tedeschi e italiani in uno sforzo comune per fare pressione sulle politiche razziali dei propri rispettivi paesi. In particolare, considero George Montandon e Julius Evola come due operatori transnazionali impegnati a giustificare l'inclusione dei giapponesi nel novero delle razze ariane, a partire da una prospettiva ‘biologica’ o ‘spirituale’. Se alla fine della seconda guerra mondiale tramonta la tesi ‘biologica’ per l'inclusione della razza giapponese, al contrario la tesi ‘spirituale’ avrebbe continuato a influenzare una generazione di militanti italiani di estrema destra, specialmente durante gli ‘Anni del piombo’. La spiegazione che l'articolo offre per dare conto di questa longevità della proposta spiritualista conduce a considerare il mito prevalente del fascismo italiano, che è basato sull'eredità spirituale e multietnica dell'impero romano. Questo mito ‘ultra-nazionale’ ha offerto una risposta al bisogno di gruppi neofascisti alla ricerca di una coalizione transnazionale per combattere le forze del materialismo occidentale.

Keywords

Italian Fascism and neofascismSecond World War Axis powersAinutransnational fascismFascist race theoriesGerman Nazism
Type
Research Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 63 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Association for the Study of Modern Italy

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