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Abstract
Ezra Pound became a leading anglophone propagandist for fascist Italy – a kind of Romanesque Lord Haw-Haw – which subsequently coloured both his politics and his poetry. Between summer 1940 and spring 1945, and already building several dozen gratis propaganda texts lauding Italy's imperial conquest of Abyssinia, supporting an 'international fascism' that embraced both Mosley's British Union of Fascists and Hitler's Germany, Pound wrote or broadcast thousands of radio items, first for Italy's state-run EIAR, and then for the Salò Republic. In doing so, he never ceased his well-paid propaganda activities, using at least a dozen pseudonymous 'personae' in order to continue his radio transmissions throughout the war. This article examines the influence of Ernst Kantorowicz's Frederick II, 1194–1250 ([1927] 1931) – a text described only 25 years ago as a 'fascist classic' – may have had on Pound's embrace of Italian Fascism and later sacralization of Mussolini's dictatorship. This article also includes new research into Pound's handwritten annotations in his personal copy of Kantorowicz's book, now in the Ezra Pound Collection of The Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas in Austin.

Modern politics relies enormously upon shaping 'the message' toward targeted constituencies. Whether it's Labour's 'Controls on Immigration' or the Tories' 'blue-collar cabinet' on either side of the recent 2015 General Election in Britain, reaching beyond a core 'base' of activists is now widely recognised as a key ingredient to political success. Whilst being 'on message' can be seen to be problematic for all political movements and organisations, it has special challenges for radical right movements. This short article presents a survey of some of the issues at play in terms of the post-war radical right, before focussing on two 'doublespeak' tactics – namely 'metonymy' and 'inversion' – as they are exemplified in the LaRouche organisation, deriving its name from the American political activist Lyndon LaRouche. There are a number of aspects are touched upon in this context, although discussion will be largely placed upon 'coded' anti-Semitic rhetoric since 1945, as well as postwar denial of the Holocaust. This overview argues, above all, that the variegated forces of ethno-nationalism have found novel and innovative ways to adapt in, and to, the 21st century. Indeed, the modes of expression employed in the process of re-framing radical right politics – often leading to the development of public messages that differ markedly to 'backstage' ideas – is an increasingly important area for scholarly enquiry.

Modern politics relies enormously upon shaping 'the message' toward targeted constituencies. Whether it's Labour's 'Controls on Immigration' or the Tories' 'blue-collar cabinet' on either side of the recent 2015 General Election in Britain, reaching beyond a core 'base' of activists is now widely recognised as a key ingredient to political success. Whilst being 'on message' can be seen to be problematic for all political movements and organisations, it has special challenges for radical right movements. This short article presents a survey of some of the issues at play in terms of the post-war radical right, before focussing on two 'doublespeak' tactics – namely 'metonymy' and 'inversion' – as they are exemplified in the LaRouche organisation, deriving its name from the American political activist Lyndon LaRouche. There are a number of aspects are touched upon in this context, although discussion will be largely placed upon 'coded' anti-Semitic rhetoric since 1945, as well as postwar denial of the Holocaust. This overview argues, above all, that the variegated forces of ethno-nationalism have found novel and innovative ways to adapt in, and to, the 21st century. Indeed, the modes of expression employed in the process of re-framing radical right politics – often leading to the development of public messages that differ markedly to 'backstage' ideas – is an increasingly important area for scholarly enquiry.