Између затвора и надзора: Кроче и Грамши као примери селективног третмана интелектуалне опозиције у фашистичкој Италији
BETWEEN IMPRISONMENT AND SURVEILLANCE: CROCE AND GRAMSCI AS CASES OF SELECTIVE TREATMENT OF INTELLECTUAL OPPOSITION IN FASCIST ITALY

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the selective nature of repression in Fascist Italy through a comparative case study of Antonio Gramsci and Benedetto Croce. Drawing on theoretical insights regarding violence in totalitarian systems, the study challenges the notion of the uniformity of Fascist repression and highlights its instrumental and strategic dimensions. It analyzes mechanisms of state and para-state coercion-ranging from squadrist violence to legislative measures ‒ as instruments of political consolidation. The central argument is that the treatment of intellectual opposition was not arbitrary but conditioned by the perceived degree of threat, specifically the ideology of the targeted intellectuals: while Croce, as a representative of the liberal tradition, was subjected to surveillance and restrictions yet partially tolerated within the regime, Gramsci, as an exponent of revolutionary Marxism and organized party opposition, endured exemplary imprisonment. The paper demonstrates that Fascist policy toward intellectuals functioned as a model of selective repression, in which punitive measures and controlled tolerance were employed as complementary strategies for maintaining regime hegemony.

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