“Vannacci thanks Amazon: I was censored over a book,” says Mussolini’s great-grandson

“It’s true, in a way Amazon has helped boost Vannacci’s popularity. Yet Amazon itself has censored me. But we remain each other’s readers,” says Caio Giulio Cesare Mussolini. Great-grandson of [name], a former naval officer. A few years ago, he made a brief foray into politics with FdI; today, he writes. Not exactly romance novels: "Mussolini e il fascismo. L'altra storia". A three-volume work. "It was a bestseller right up until the end of June," claims the author. "Sales were booming; my books were always at the top of the history charts. Then, on the 30th, my Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account – the platform through which Amazon allows self-publishing – was forcibly closed,” as we reported in *Il Foglio*. “Since then, I’ve received nothing but laughable and specious justifications. They say I haven’t complied with their rules: I wouldn’t even know which ones. In my opinion, "L'altra storia" is getting on someone’s nerves.”

Mussolini is a controversial figure, in short. In fact, he didn’t choose to play football. “For goodness’ sake, leave Romano alone – the Lazio defender, ed. – as so many people are already attacking him simply because of his surname. The lad isn’t interested in history or politics.” But you are. "Of course. And in fact, I’ve taken extra care in carrying out this work: these are books based on historical research, selecting sources and citing the most authoritative Italian and foreign scholars. For example, Renzo De Felice, who refutes the claim that Mussolini was anti-Semitic. The problem is that history – the distorted version taught in schools – is written by the victors. But is it possible that even "Mein Kampf" is on sale on Amazon?” Perhaps the difference is that Hitler’s writings, however abominable, reflected the thoughts and ideology of the individual. Caio Mussolini, on the other hand, sets out to reconstruct the facts with rigour, going so far as to overturn the narrative of an era. “An era obscured by the dominant narrative,” he retorts. “The violent ones were the Reds. The main collections of Italian laws today stem from that period. The racial laws were a mistake, but it was the Nazis who carried out the round-ups. And fascism, which died with Benito in 1945, was by no means a regime that suppressed freedom.”

The surname is the least of the issues here. “Matteotti was killed by the Fascists just as much as MP Casalini was killed by the Communists.” Is systematic squadrismo on a par with the actions of an isolated carpenter? And then there is the single-minded ideology, the dismissals of workers who were not members of the PNF. “I am not aware of that. And the March on Rome must also be put into its proper perspective: the Fascists needed a founding myth, whilst others denounce the attack on democracy when in fact everything took place with the full collusion of the royal army.” Even Monicelli, in one of his films, said that the march had been a farce. The problem is that it succeeded. "Do you know what the real problem is? That today a foreign multinational can act like this: in recent days, a parliamentary question has been tabled by MP Pozzolo alone." A pass from Futuro Nazionale. Again. "Vannacci and I know each other well. He’s had no problems with Amazon because he writes trivialities – in a good way: it should go without saying that we must fight for the future of Italians, against socio-economic decline and the invasion of foreigners. It’s always the Left that refuses to engage in debate: without its obsession with fascism, it feels lost. I wrote about the twenty-year period precisely to set the record straight, so let’s not talk about it any more.” Instead, the debate will continue: blessed democracy.