>From:  James Deboo <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      Fw: Re: Futurism
>To:    [log in to unmask]
>Date:  Sun, 23 Jan 2000 11:37:47 -1000
 
>    I often wonder how different the general view of Pound might be =
>today if he'd felt himself sufficiently at home in Italy (or anywhere) =
>to abandon his US citizenship and obtain an Italian passport.
 
I think he felt at home in Italy.  As far as I can tell, he maintained
his U.S. citizen because being an American was extremely important to
him.  It was one of the core elements of his identity and certainly of
his public persona.  Much as he loved Italy, he could never have thought
of himself as an Italian.
 
>      As far as =
>I can tell his main reason for supporting the fascists was a desire to =
>end the war - the friends he lost in WW1 that war in, say, Hugh Selwyn =
>Mauberley, perhaps suggests that he saw the war as unnecessary and =
>wasteful, the result of a capitalist system resembling a corrupt =
>communist one, with absolute rulers and corporations who kept their =
>workers so much in the dark, and offered them a ready-made, =
>responsibility-free life in return for their money, that they didn't =
>really know what they were fighting for anyway, and he couldn't bear to =
>see everyone going back home to the same old lies all over again.=20
 
The last lines here more or less accurately summarize E.P.'s attitude
toward war in general, although this would not quite have been his way of
expressing it.  However as to his support for Fascism, what you say is
pretty much the opposite of what was true.
 
Throughout the Thirties, Pound admired Mussolini in particular and
Fascism in general, just as many of the leading intellectuals in Europe
did.  And for that matter, so did much of the news media, including the
Luce publications --- TIME, LIFE, and FORTUNE.  Today we think of Fascism
primarily in terms of its brutality, but people during the erly Thirties
were much more aware of the fact that Fascism had brought Italy out of
chaos and brought about a number of important practical constructive
results, such as draining the swamps and, yes, incidentally, getting
the railroad service to run in an orderly manner.  Furthermore, Mussolini
had enormous personal charm.  The Fascists had widespread support from
the Italian people, even though there were also forces which vehemently
opposed them.  I think that Pound personally tended to come mostly in
contact with the supporters of Fascism rather than with the opponents.
 
The brutality of the Fascists in Italy was quite real, but it was
mild compared to what existed in Germany and other Fascist countries.
 
The attitude of most of the world toward Italian Fascism changed in 1935
when Mussolini invaded Ethiopia.  From that point on, much of the world
started looking at Italy more critically, and started become more aware
that although Mussolini said really good things that most people liked,
he was actually an opportunist whose primary interest was in
maintaining his power, and that the actual actions of the government
often did not accord very well with Mussolini's benevolent speeches.
 
E.P., however, had little respect for the kind of people who were now
criticizing Mussolini.  As always in his life, once he had adopted a
particular attitude, he had very little inclination to reexamine it
critically.
 
Pound admired Fascism because he loved Italy.  Furthermore, he saw
Mussolini as an example of the sort of strong ruler, such as Sigismondo
Malatesta (and, for that matter, Confucius), who he had always admired in
history.  He was opposed to the war partly, as you say, because he was
on general principle opposed to war, but primarily because he loved
Italy, even though his primary allegiance, even during the period when
he made his radio broadcasts, was to the United States.  He was in the
position of someone who sees two friends, both of which he loves
dearly, getting into what seems like a senseless fight.
 
He did believe that the United States had fallen under the control of
evil forces, especially Roosevelt.  His attitude toward Roosevelt was
in fact quite widespread in the United States during the Thirties.
Even during the Fifties, I often encountered people in the United
States who always referred to Roosevelt as "the son of a bitch."   But
obviously Roosevelt also had many supporters who enabled him to win
elections.   (There were a lot more people who despised the Republican
Party than those who despised Roosevelt, although a lot of people
despised both.)
 
>    The Futurists wanted a new artform- they wanted, in Pound's words, =
>to 'make it new'; and, certainly in the visual arts, their impact has =
>been enormous. The Fascists also wanted to make it new; as, I suppose, =
>did Hitler. So did Pound; and whereas he (and, of course, everyone in =
>their right mind (dramatic irony intended)) despised Hitler and perhaps =
>didn't see quite eye to eye with Mussolini on all things, he did see =
>that the utopian ideals behind Itatian Fascism, while quite =
>unsupportable, were also, if advanced and supported, likely to bring the =
>war to a rapid end. After all, Alan Bullock's book Hitler: a study in =
>Tyranny closes by saying that Hitler's chief aim was to destroy the =
>structure of Europe and replace it with something new, and that in this, =
>he probably succeeded.=20
 
Pound's attitude toward Hitler varied.  At first, he disliked Hitler,
saying that he was too hysterical (which, in retrospect, is a little like
being opposed to nuclear bombs because they make too much noise), but
later, even after the war when the existence of the death camps became
known, he expressed an admiration for Hitler, although to the best of my
knowledge this admiration was expressed only in private letters to good
friends.  (I never heard him say anything good about Hitler at St.
Elizabeths, but I never heard him condemn him either.)
 
--Lee Lady