Ugo Spirito

Spirito undertook academic study in law and philosophy.^[1] He was initially an advocate of positivism. In 1918, whilst attending Sapienza University of Rome, he abandoned his position to become a follower of the actual idealism of Giovanni Gentile.^[2] By the age of 22, he was a self-proclaimed fascist and actualist.^[2]

Spirito's particular interest in fascism was corporatism and he came to discuss the subject in depth through the journal Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economica e Politica.^[2] He wrote extensively on his favoured topic of integral corporatism, a system where ownership would be concentrated in the hands of workers rather than shareholders.^[3] This belief in integral corporatism was sometimes equated with a commitment to common ownership,^[4] and he represented the left wing of fascism by supporting corporatism as a means of mass nationalisation and was the butt of criticism from other fascists who accused him of Bolshevism.^[5] Spirito's economically left-wing ideals did not come to fruition in Fascist Italy and in the later years of fascism fell out of favour with Benito Mussolini.^[2] In 1942, he even attempted to publish a book of his theories (Revolutionary War) but permission was denied by Mussolini.^[6]

Outside of his involvement in fascist politics, Spirito held professorships at the University of Pisa, University of Messina, University of Genoa, and at Rome itself.^[2] Initially, his academic attention was taken up with economics and criminal law, but, later in his career, he became more interested in philosophical questions.^[1] In terms of publications, he served as editor of the Giornale Critico della Filosofia Italiana and the Enciclopedia Italiana, and as joint director of the Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economica e Politica.^[1]