«One artistic movement creates a political party». The Italian Futurism between “avanguardismo” and normalization

di Maddalena Carli
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 33 (2010), p. 15

Winter 1918: a few weeks after the end of WWI, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti wrote on his Taccuini: «The futurista political party do exists». Despite the strong judgment expressed since its origin by the artist movement against the political parliamentary system, between September 1918 and may 1920 the Italian futurists created a real political party. The essay analyses the history and the evolution of this political movement as part of the changes and clashes which distinguished the Italian social situation in the first period following the First World War. At the same time, the essay tries to investigate on the role of the futurist party in the Italian society analysing its experience from different points of view: was the creation of the party just a provocation made by an artistic movement? Was the party one propaganda instrument to present the movement itself in one critical period of Italian and European society? Or was it just the expression of the sense of paradox which was a particular quality of the historical vanguards? Key words: Futurism, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Political party, Avanguardismo, Combattentismo, Fascism