Combattere sul fronte interno. Romolo Murri e la propaganda per lo Stato nuovo (1916-18)

At the beginning of the Great War, the former modernist priest Romolo Murri supported the reasons of democratic interventionism. Criticizing liberal Italy, his ideology suggests a politicisation of masses based on a civil religion of the nation. But what was actually the political and social translation of this claim? The essay deals with Murri’s engagement in propaganda for a new State, analysing his activities as a militant intellectual: in particular his journalistic collaboration to the roman newspaper «Il Fronte interno» and his relationships with the groups of the left asking radical measures against home enemies. Murri’s practice of propaganda points out an ambivalence between loyalty to war governments and delegitimation of representative institutions. As a result, the condemnation of liberal democracy because of her incapability to mobilize citizens leads him to an approach that deprives democracy of some essential features.