Il Qualunquismo Storico. Le idee, l'organizzazione di partito, il personale politico

Abstract

The center of attention of this thesis is the ideas of Guglielmo Giannini and the qualunquista movement, their conception of what was wrong, the changes they sought and the techniques they thought desirable. The movement was born in 1945 and grew popular during postwar years, although it quickly disappeared after 1948. This work of mine is divided in two parts. The first one reflects on the genesis of what we may call Qualunquismo storico (historical qualunquismo), a political movement which claimed to represent the middle class and a large penumbra of apolitical citizens not sufficiently dissatisfied to protest their conditions. Most of all, this is a study of political thinking and political moods, the kind of thinking that impinged most directly upon the ordinary citizen, the common man as it was defined by Guglielmo Giannini, father of Qualunquismo. In this part we consider the legacy of the Second World War and the sense of disillusion and disenchantment that it fostered, especially in right-wing thought and opinion.! The analysis revolves around the figure of Guglielmo Giannini and his thought as it was expressed through the newspaper L'Uomo Qualunque, which boasted a circulation of 800.000 and became a source of guidance and opinion for a certain kind of popular opinion. L'Uomo Qualunque claimed to represent the resentment and dreams of the meek little men in the middle, the figure for whom Giannini was particularly solicitous. These pages aim to study this particular movement as the harbinger of a rather broader frame of mind, therefore it considers right wing thought and opinion in postwar Italy and qualunquismo long-lasting legacy. The second part focuses on qualunquismo as a political party, studying it with a political science kind of approach. In this part I analyse the political party which was born from the newspaper L'Uomo Qualunque, named Fronte Liberale Democratico dell'Uomo Qualunque, using the Richard Katz and Peter Mair organisational tripartition: party in central office, party in public office and party on the ground. This part aims to provide a thorough analysis of the party form membership to leadership, paying particular attention to the qualunquisti member of parliament and their biographies.