ABSTRACT
Sport and body culture as fields of political and nationalist ambitions are characteristic features of totalitarian systems in modern societies. No other political movement knew better how to capitalize on the symbolic values and very practical implications of strong, healthy and superior bodies than the fascist ones that emerged as an essentially new force and a major factor within and outside of Europe during the 1930s. In response to the experiences of World War I, economic crises, political instability and social unrest that continued throughout the postwar decade, fascist ideologies worldwide were regarded as a promising alternative and practical solution across national and social constituencies. Practical, immediate action and the corporeality of direct participation provided a main attraction to anti-intellectual fascism that gained currency, particularly but not exclusively, at bottom level of the fascist organizations. Notwithstanding the many faces fascism had throughout the world, as well as to its followers, the concurrent emphasis on the superior and the collective body was a common feature contributing to its success since they resonated with the widespread longing for strong leadership and a secure sense of belonging. The symbolic expression of physical strength, which separated the strong from the weak, and the uniform body, which offered the feeling of home and community to the chosen members, converged into the imagery, rituals and rhetoric of fascist aesthetics. Or, in the words of Juan Linz, fascism satisfied both the romantic desire for the heroic deeds of the individual and the desire for submergence in a glorious collectivity. Its political leaders knew how to employ these needs to subordinate the individuals to the goals of the state and those holding power in it (Linz 1976:23).
