Traitors, conformist and passionate politics. A new interpretation of interwar Europe between biography, analysis of language and political history

Abstract

This article attempts to address the issue of transit by political and union leaders from the left to fascist organizations in interwar Europe, paying special attention to three national areas. European historiography has tended not to treat this subject, seeing it as something rather minor and irrelevant. A detailed study of the cases of Italy, France and Spain shows, however, that the exact opposite is true. Studying their heteredox paths in political activism, through a new methodological proposal, helps us challenge some superficial and deeply held certainties in the political history and political thought of the twentieth century and allows us to talk about the issue of political passion.