Iconic fascism The excess of destruction and creation in interwar radical right-wing politics

Abstract

Aristotle Kallis uses comparative analysis in Fascism and Iconoclasm to demonstrate that fascists were supreme icon-lovers even as they were consummate icon-breakers. Kallis shows that Iconoclasm – the wilful destruction of icons – was a core feature of fascist violence, from its early movement days through to the consolidation of political power and until the very end of the fascist epoch. The book looks at how fascist iconoclasm changed significantly over this period and differed in its targets and rituals from case to case, whilst remaining central to the fascist dynamics of rupture and rebirth. It examines several case studies, with a focus on Mussolini's Italy and Nazi Germany, and underlines how much fascists appreciated and instrumentalized icons and symbols in the pursuit of their revolutionary political project in the process