Ugo Spirito

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Ugo Spirito
Ugo Spirito.jpg
Born(1896-09-09)9 September 1896
Arezzo, Kingdom of Italy
Died28 April 1979(1979-04-28) (aged 82)
Rome, Italy
Resting place
 Campo Verano
Education
Education Sapienza University of Rome

Ugo Spirito (born September 9, 1896) was an Italian philosopher, economist, and political scientist.

Contents

A student of the philosopher Giovanni Gentile, he is one of the main theorists of corporatism. At first a fascist political philosopher and idealist thinker, he moved towards Soviet communism and Maoism in the post-World War II era.

Early life

Spirito was born on 9 September 1896, in Arezzo. [1] Spirito undertook academic study in law and philosophy. [2] He was initially an advocate of positivism. In 1918, whilst attending Sapienza University of Rome, he abandoned his position to become a follower of the actual idealism of Giovanni Gentile. [3] By the age of 22, he was a self-proclaimed fascist and actualist. [3]

Fascism

Spirito's particular interest in fascism was corporatism and he came to discuss the subject in depth through the journal Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economica e Politica. [3] He wrote extensively on his favoured topic of integral corporatism, a system where ownership would be concentrated in the hands of workers rather than shareholders. [4] This belief in integral corporatism was sometimes equated with a commitment to common ownership, [5] and he represented the left wing of fascism by supporting corporatism as a means of mass nationalisation and was the butt of criticism from other fascists who accused him of Bolshevism. [6] Spirito's economically left-wing ideals did not come to fruition in Fascist Italy and in the later years of fascism fell out of favour with Benito Mussolini. [3] In 1942, he even attempted to publish a book of his theories (Revolutionary War) but permission was denied by Mussolini. [7]

Academic career

Outside of his involvement in fascist politics, Spirito held professorships at the University of Pisa, University of Messina, University of Genoa, and at Rome itself. [3] Initially, his academic attention was taken up with economics and criminal law, but, later in his career, he became more interested in philosophical questions. [2] In terms of publications, he served as editor of the Giornale Critico della Filosofia Italiana and the Enciclopedia Italiana, and as joint director of the Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economica e Politica. [2]

References

  1. ↑ "Ugo Spirito, the philosopher who moved from fascism to communism until he rediscovered God". La Nazione . 13 June 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 Philip Rees, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 , Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 371
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 C.P. Blamires, World Fascism - A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, 2006, p. 629-30
  4. ↑ Roger Griffin, Fascism , Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 68
  5. ↑ P. Davies & D. Lynch, Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right, 2002, p. 241
  6. ↑ Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism 1914-45, Routledge, 1995, p. 220
  7. ↑ Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism 1914-45, Routledge, 1995, p. 387

Further reading

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