In the postwar years, Italy underwent a far-reaching process of industrialization that transformed the country into a leading industrial power. Throughout most of this period, the Italian Communist Party (PCI) remained a powerful force in local government and civil society. However, as Stephen Gundle observes, the PCI was increasingly faced with challenges posed by modernization, particularly by mass communication, commercial cultural industries, and consumerism. Between Hollywood and Moscow is an analysis of the PCIs attempts to cope with these problems in an effort to maintain its organization and subculture. Gundle focuses on the theme of cultural policy, examining how the PCIs political strategies incorporated cultural policies and activities that were intended to respond to the Americanization of daily life in Italy. In formulating this policy, Gundle contends, the Italian Communists were torn between loyalty to the alternative values generated by the Communist tradition and adaptation to the dominant influences of Italian modernization. This equilibrium eventually faltered because the attractive aspects of Americanization and pop culture proved more influential than the PCIs intellectual and political traditions. The first analysis in English of the cultural policies and activities of the PCI, this book will appeal to readers with an interest in modern Italy, the European left, political science, and media studies.
Recenzijas
The book is an original contribution to knowledge based on a prodigious amount of research. . . . A significant achievement. - Stephen Hellman (International History Review) Stephen Gundle's book is a highly original contribution to our knowledge of the culture and politics of modern Italy, combining as it does theoretical sophistication with extensive empirical research.-Paul Ginsborg, Universita degli Studi di Firenze Between Hollywood and Moscow is an outstanding work that treats the effects of modernization and the development of a mass consumer society in Italy in an original and illuminating manner. It restores a sense of the importance of culture as an integral part of political strategizing and communicates the shifting meanings of culture over four decades of Italian history.-Ruth Ben-Ghiat, New York University "A comprehensive account of the cultural policies of the Italian Communist Party. This is a very useful book containing much relevant information on a surprisingly under-researched topic." - Donald Sassoon (Modern Italy) Between Hollywood and Moscow makes an original contribution to the study of the PCI and post-war Italy in general from a cultural point of view, and reveals the importance of specific cultural strategies and transformations in the political history of the PCI.-John Dickie, University College, London
Papildus informācija
A study of the cultural policies of the Italian communist party following the collapse of fascismand the struggle with popular consumer culture that led to its demise in 1991.
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Chapter One: Between Hollywood and Moscow
Politics, Culture, and Society after the Fall of Fascism
Chapter Two: Bread, Love, and Political Strife
Cold War Communism and the Development of Cultural Policy
Chapter Three: Whats Good for Fiat is Good for Italy
Television, Consumerism, and Party Identity in the 1950s
Chapter Four: From Elvis Presley to Ho Chi Minh
Youth Culture and Cultural Conflict Between the Centre Left and the Hot
Autumn
Chapter Five: Crisis, Austerity, Solidarity
The Question of Hegemony in the 1970s
Chapter Six: Welcome to Prosperity
Economic Growth and the Erosion of Left-Wing Culture
Chapter Seven: The Last Tango
The Collapse of Communism and the Dissolution of the PCI
Conclusion
Bibliography
Stephen Gundle is Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Italian at Royal Holloway, the University of London.
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