Christ Stopped at Eboli - Lucania: Fascism and Wars

Lucania: Fascism and Wars

The southern half of Italy was not completely on board with Mussolini and his fascist government. The southerners were looked upon as inferior citizens. Levi recalls one local man's view that he and his fellow people were not even considered humans, rather dogs. He tells another Northerners view of the southerners "inherent racial inferiority". The people specifically felt torn from Italy, and looked to America as a beacon of hope and prosperity rather than Rome. Levi writes "Yes, New York, rather than Rome or Naples would be the real capital of the peasants of Lucania, if these men without a country could have a capital at all." He is insinuating that the peasants and people of Lucania have no country which cares for them. The people were in dire shape, they lived in complete destitution and yet nothing was being done to provide for them. The war with Abyssinia only served to remind them of the impossibility of emigrating to America.

In 1935 Italy began a quick war in Abyssinia (present day Ethiopia). The people in Levi's village thought little to nothing about it. It did not faze them and they had no hope of any gain because of it. Levi refers to them as being indifferent to the war cause, and mentions only one man who enlisted to escape a troubled home life. He does notice however that they do not talk about World War I despite the fact that a large number of men in the village lost their lives.

Near the end of his stay Levi takes a trip to the north to attend a funeral. After spending almost a year in Lucania he feels an awkwardness he had not experienced before. As he talks with friends and acquaintances about politics he begins to uncover a common ignorance about the issue of Southern Italy. He listens as people share their opinions on "the problems of the south" about who is to blame and what can be done. A commonality is found amongst all their answers, the state must take action! They must do "something concretely useful, and beneficent, and miraculous." Levi chalks this response up to having fourteen years worth of fascist notions in their heads. He goes on to explain how the idea of a united "utopian" Italy has been subconsciously ingrained in all of them.