Between Weber and Mussolini. The issue of political leadership in the thought of the late Michels

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is to briefly reconstruct Robert Michels’s account of the issue of political leadership as it developed in the last phase of his work, between the mid-1920s and the mid-1930s. By focusing on a series of more-or-less neglected writings (from Sozialismus und Fascismus to Studi sulla democrazia e sull’autorità, passing through the Corso di sociologia politica and Italien von heute), I will show how his “new theory of the élite” develops and how it is connected to the so-called “charismatic direction of public affairs” that is Michels’s late reflection on the role and the nature of the political leader. In doing this, I will highlight the triple root of his conception of charismatic leadership (in short: the Weberian theoretical framework; the psychological aspect of hero-worship; fascist ideology) as well as the essential combination of history and theory that characterises his thinking.KEYWORDS: Robert Michelsleadershipcharismafascismélite AcknowledgementsThis article is part of a broader research of mine on Caesarism and political leadership. A first version of the text was presented at the Kolloquium of the Lichtenberg Kolleg (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) in January 2021; I thank all the participants for their insightful comments. Thanks also to the anonymous referees of the journal and to Prof. Thomas Ahnert for their suggestions on how to improve the text.Notes1 A signal in this sense is represented by the reprints of more than one of Michels’s numerous works, for a long time only available in their original version. See Michels, Corso; Michels, Der Patriotismus. It is also noteworthy to recall the monumental intellectual biography by Timm Genett (Der Fremde im Kriege). Among the most recent journal articles in English on Michels, see Lavenia, “Rethinking Robert Michels”; Drochon, “Robert Michels”; Piano, “Revisiting Democratic Elitism”. See also the latest monograph by Andrew Bonnell, Robert Michels, Socialism and Modernity.2 Between the 1970s and the 1990s, there has been much discussion on the question of the meaning of Michels’s support of the fascist regime. If e.g. Beetham (“From Socialism to Fascism”) sustained the thesis of the necessary outcome of the elitism into fascism, other scholars argued in favour of Michels’s autonomy towards the regime (and even perhaps Michels’s opposition against it; on this point, see e.g. Sivini, Introduzione). For a survey on the different positions, see Tuccari, Dilemmi della democrazia moderna, 309ff.; Genett, Der Fremde im Kriege, 722ff.3 As is known, Michels was a very prolific writer and his bibliography is very extensive (see Opere di Roberto Michels). Given the incredibly large number of his publications, the present contribution will necessarily focus only on a selection of them (albeit very significant, I would argue). In the next pages, with the exception of the quotations already in English in §§ 3, 6 and from the English edition of Michels, Soziologie (Political Parties), all the translations are mine.4 On the political theory of the “first” Michels, see, among others, Linz, Robert Michels.5 For an overview on the history of the concepts of Bonapartism and Caesarism, see Groh, “Cäsarismus, Napoleonismus”; Baehr and Richter, Dictatorship in History and Theory; and, more recently, Prutsch, Caesarism in the Post-Revolutionary Age.6 On this point, see Mangoni, “Cesarismo, bonapartismo, fascismo”. See also, e.g. Antonini, Caesarism and Bonapartism.7 See, in this line, for example, the review written by Wilhelm Roscher, whose 1908 Politik was reviewed by Michels himself. On Roscher, see McDaniel, “The Politics of Historical Economics”.8 Quotations in this paragraph are taken from Michels, Political Parties, 133–4. For a recent account of this “law”, see the above-mentioned piece by Hugo Drochon.9 See Michels, “Gaetano Mosca”. On this article by Michels, cf. in particular De Mas, “Il giudizio di Michels”.10 While analysing Michels’s texts, it has to be remarked that the dates on which these writings were published do not always correspond to those in which the texts (or parts of them) were actually written. According to his writing and publishing habits, he often published the same text more than once and, even more frequently, he reused older texts in new contexts, according to a very interesting method of self-quotation (explicit or, more frequently, implicit).11 All quotations in this paragraph are taken from Michels, “Gaetano Mosca”, 817.12 On Carlyle’s thought and on its fascist interpretation, cf. e.g. Moulin, “Thomas Carlyle”.13 See Tuccari, “Leader politico”, 147.14 The expression, in English in the text, is a quotation from MacDonald, Socialism and Society. Michels quotes also an entire sentence from this work (cf. Michels, “Gaetano Mosca”, 817, fn. 3): “He [der Führer] has a scheme to which he works, and he has the power to make his will effective”.15 In English, again, even if not explicitly declared, this is another quotation from MacDonald.16 A detailed reconstruction of the relationship between Michels and Mussolini can be found in Ricci, “Michels e Mussolini”. On Michels and fascism, see also Panella, “Origini e caratteri”. See, more recently, also Trocini, “Robert Michels”.17 See Di Nucci, “Roberto Michels ‘ambasciatore’ fascista”.18 See chapter 3 (Der Führer) of section 3.4. (Elemente zur Entstehungsgeschichte der italienischen Fascismus (1922); Kap. 3., Zur Soziologie des Fascismus) of the second volume (Sozialismus und Fascismus in Italien). The overall title of the work is Sozialismus und Fascismus als politische Strömungen in Italien. Historische Studien. Part of this paragraph was already used in the article on the Basler Nachrichten and also in another article from 1924 (Michels, “Aufstieg des Faschismus”; this text, in turn, took up articles published by Michels as early as 1922).19 Quotations in this paragraph are taken from Michels, Sozialismus und Fascismus, 319, 321, 323.20 Michels, Sozialismus und Fascismus, 319, fn. 2. The reference is to the first edition of the Soziologie (1911), as the second and modified edition (1925) is not yet published while Michels writes Sozialismus und Fascismus.21 Prophecy is an important theme in Mussolini’s reflection, as demonstrated in Lanfranchi and Varcin, “Mussolini”.22 It should be remembered that, later, Michels personally contributed to the diffusion of Weber’s thought in Italy: see e.g. Michels, Politica ed economia, which contains Weberian passages taken from Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (as well as writings by Antonio Labriola, Marx and Engels, Loria, Pareto, Simmel and Michels himself).23 Cf. Michels, Zur Soziologie des Parteiwesens (ed. 1925), 469, fn. 32. The new reference is to the first edition of Weber’s magnum opus (Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, 1922).24 On the Caesarist-Bonapartist model and charisma in Weber, see Baehr, Caesarism, Charisma and Fate.25 On this overall reading, with which I substantially agree (see also § 9), see in particular Tuccari, Dilemmi della democrazia moderna. On the complex question of the Weber–Michels relationship, see also Mommsen, “Weber and Michels”.26 Tuccari, “Leader politico”, 153ff.27 The rethinking of the élite theory in the Corso is a major achievement of Michels’s late thinking and would deserve a separate analysis. In what follows, I will try to provide the reader with a description of his main characteristics, by stressing also its “downgrading” as soon as the mystical and totalitarian features became more relevant in Michels’s thought.28 Quotations are taken, here, and later, from Michels, Corso, 117ff. Significantly, Michels recalls Schmitt’s Diktatur to justify the collective nature of this rule, which will be explicitly defined shortly after as “charismatic”.29 The reference is here to the second edition of Weber’s work (“See Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Grundriss der Sozialoekonomik, Siebeck, Tübingen 1925, part III, vol. 1, pp. 140ff”: Michels, Corso, 121, fn. 11). It seems to me that this updated bibliographic reference corresponds to a more accurate and in-depth knowledge of the Weberian texts.30 He is referring to a 1924 anthology of Cuoco’s writings edited by Domenico Bulferetti (Vincenzo Cuoco (1770–1823): Storia, politica, pedagogia).31 The overlapping with what was said in Sozialismus und Fascismus is clear: the terms of that analysis are repeated almost verbatim by Michels in the Corso (“unshakable faith in himself and in his mission”: Michels, Sozialismus und Fascismus, 320). In the allusion to the “vocation” of the Corso, once can also read a reference to the question of the prophet.32 On the theme of the psychology of the masses, cf. e.g. Bodei, “Dal parlamento alla piazza”; and, more generally, Mangoni, Una crisi fine secolo. On Le Bon, see also Gallino, Le Bon.33 In a 1926 interview, Mussolini affirmed: I have read all the works by Gustav Le Bon’s, and I don’t know how many times I have reread his The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. It is a capital work, to which I still often return today. (Mussolini, Opera omnia, 156)34 What before was defined as “trust” has now become “faith”, to sanction the mystical-religious perspective highlighted by Michels (he quotes H. Spencer in this regard). However, the counterpart of this blind faith is represented by the fragility of charismatic leadership itself, as emphasized on the basis of Weber’s conceptualisation.35 “The head of the democratic party acts as the owl”. The reference to the “democratic party leader” should not be surprising here: it is indeed an allusion to what Michels wrote about figures like Bebel (the reference is therefore primarily to the Soziologie; on the figure of Bebel, see also what was said in Michels, Bedeutende Männer).36 This aspect of the characterisation of the charismatic leader is developed starting from Mosca, whose Elementi di scienza politica are explicitly mentioned (see, however, also the reference to Mirabeau).37 Other versions in French and Italian are: Michels, “Les partis politiques”; Michels, “Classificazione dei partiti politici” (the Italian version is abridged).38 In this case, the text does not open with a quotation (albeit modified, as it happened in the Corso and as it will be elsewhere), but with Michels’s paraphrase of the Weberian text (the reference is to the already-mentioned second German edition of Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft). However, Weber’s analysis is not the only element of inspiration: as clearly emerges from the text and from the notes, this paper on political parties is also influenced by other works by Michels, in particular Bedeutende Männer (see, in particular, the chapter on Bebel), as well as by the new and more in-depth reflection on the psychology of the masses contained in the work entitled “Psychologie der antikapitalistischen Massenbewegung”, which appeared in the journal Grundriss der Sozialökonomik in 1926.39 Quotations in this paragraph, when not differently stated, are from Michels, “Some Reflections”, 754–6.40 The French version contains a small but interesting variant, consisting of a note added later by Michels (note 4bis) and containing a reference to the etymological definition of charisma offered by Weber.41 Michels, Corso, 122, 129, 127.42 The reference is to the 1925 edition of Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft.43 Quotations in this paragraph are taken from Michels, Italien von heute, 266ff.44 It is interesting to note the various provenance and the different orientation of the texts cited (the writings mentioned are by G. Volpe, M. Sarfatti, Don Sturzo, E. Rocca, F. Hackett and Arturo Labriola); Michels’s Corso is also mentioned, and its factual politically oriented (and not, therefore, abstract and general) character emerges clearly.45 An explicit reference to psychoanalysis is also found, for example, in the 1928 text entitled “Massenpsychologie, Wirtschaft und Psychoanalyse”.46 The volume republishes texts belonging to different periods of the Michelsian production. The chapter on authority (Michels, Studi, 69–78) from which I quote reprises the entry “Authority”, written by Michels in 1931 for the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences.47 Here is evoked again Carlyle and his “commanders of men”. There is also a reference to volume Tarde, Le lois de l’imitation.48 The “magistratura del lavoro” is a judiciary organ established by the fascist regime in the framework of the 1927 “Carta del lavoro”, the main expression of fascism’s social and economic policies (its role was to regulate collective labour disputes).49 On the question of totalitarianism and on the significance of this category in early twentieth-century Italy, see Petersen, “Stato totalitario”.Additional informationNotes on contributorsFrancesca AntoniniFrancesca Antonini is Assistant Professor in History of Political Thought at Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italy). Previously, she held research positions at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany), École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France), Fondazione Luigi Einaudi (Turin, Italy). Her research interests are in Intellectual History, the History of Political Thought, and Italian and European Modern History.