Le fascisme en marche. Dimension nationale et transnationale de la circulation du fascisme italien entre la fin des années 1920 et les années 1930

This article examines the role of book publishing in the national and transnational circulation of Italian Fascism from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s. Drawing on archival sources and an extensive bibliographical survey, it shows how Mussolini's regime, alongside independent authors and foreign sympathizers, invested strategically in books as instruments of propaganda, knowledge-transfer, and international legitimation. From early biographies of Mussolini (notably by Margherita Sarfatti) to institutional initiatives such as the "Bibliografia fascista" and the International Centre of Fascist Studies in Lausanne, the essay traces the growing consciousness—both within and outside Italy—of Fascism's international resonance. Particular attention is paid to the 1932 "Decennale," which marked a turning point with Mussolini's own writings entering the market, partly in response to the success of Hitler's Mein Kampf. The study argues that foreign interest in Fascist literature reflected not merely orchestrated propaganda, but genuine intellectual and political fascination amid the broader crisis of interwar democracies—an aspect still insufficiently studied today.