Mussolini conceived of the masses as inert material for the leader to sculpt.

Evidence

When I feel the masses in my hands, since they believe in me, or when I mingle with them, and they almost crush me, then I feel like one with the masses. However, there is at the same time a little aversion, much as the poet feels towards the materials he works with. Doesn’t the sculptor sometimes break the marble out of rage, because it does not precisely mold in his hands according to his vision? …Everything depends upon that, to dominate the masses as an artist (cited in Falasca-Zamponi, 2000, p. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 16

Categorization

• SHARE: A stunning primary quote for any colleague writing on aestheticized authoritarian rule; the sculptor metaphor is vivid enough to pull into essays.
• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the ‘On Sacrifice’ framing of how rulers aestheticize and dominate collectives, and complements the leadership/treatment-framing question driving this reading.
• QUESTION: The leader-feels-one-with-the-masses yet holds them in aversion is precisely the tension the reader’s project probes — worth chasing how social-identity theory reads this duality.
• XREF: connects to: Hitler framed mass domination as artistic creation by the leader. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 17

Broader Connections

• Hitler framed mass domination as artistic creation by the leader. #corroborates (0.90) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 17