The role of artists and intellectuals in political resistance is a well documented and generally well respected modern and contemporary feature, but their role in actual governance has been littered with failure and ignorance.
Up until fairly recently, art and intellectuals were primary supported by (or actually part of, by way of birth) the governing class, which placed them in a different role vis a vis politics.
But at least since the Romantic period, certainly artists and also, to a great extent, I think, intellectuals have been put into a role as outsiders.
This is all about Ezra Pound and what to do with him. Because that question never goes away, does it?
I was reading this article about Pound’s relationship with Mussolini and the impression is that Pound was roundly duped by Il Duce.
Listen to this comment by Mussolini’s aide:
Pound as a stupid little man, tossed meaningless sops to keep him happy with being effectively ignored so he could be blithely trotted out as a meagre tool of propaganda when time permitted.
The great genius… reduced to so little.
the coffee philosopher 
You make it sound like Pound was the only or one of the few talented artists/intellectuals to support the Fascist Revolution. I suggest you educate yourself on this era in history. You can start with the following names:
Massimo Bontempelli
Giuseppe Bottai
Enrico Corradini
Carlo Costamagna
Gabriele D’Annunzio
Salvatore Di Giacomo
Andrea Emo
Julius Evola
Enrico Ferri
Giovanni Gentile
Agostino Lanzillo
Curzio Malaparte
Guglielmo Marconi
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Robert Michels
Angelo Oliviero Olivetti
Sergio Panunzio
Giovanni Papini
Camillo Pellizi
Luigi Pirandello
Giuseppe Prezzolini
Berto Ricci
Alfredo Rocco
Margherita Sarfatti
Ardengo Soffici
Ugo Spirito
Giuseppe Ungaretti
Gioacchino Volpe
Gottfried Benn
Ernst Bertram
Hans Blüher
Max Hildebert Boehm
Hans Bogner
Heimito von Doderer
Hans Freyer
Arnold Gehlen
Stefan George
Martin Heidegger
Friedrich Hielscher
Edgar Julius Jung
Ernst Jünger
Friedrich Georg Jünger
Ludwig Klages
Paul Lensch
Arthur Moeller van den Bruck
Armin Mohler
Georg Quabbe
Rainer Maria Rilke
Ernst von Salomon
Carl Schmitt
Werner Sombart
Martin Spahn
Othmar Spann
Oswald Spengler
Christoph Steding
Josef Weinheber
August Winnig
Hans Zehrer
Raymond Abellio
Marc Augier
Jacques Bainville
Maurice Bardèche
René Benjamin
Jacques Benoist-Méchin
Henri Béraud
Georges Bernanos
Abel Bonnard
Robert Brasillach
Alexis Carrel
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Jacques Chardonne
Alphonse de Châteaubriant
Léon Daudet
Pierre Drieu La Rochelle
Georges Dumézil
Kléber Haedens
Marcel Jouhandeau
Bertrand de Jouvenel
Jacques de Lacretelle
Jean de La Varende
Gustave Le Bon
Henri Massis
Thierry Maulnier
Charles Maurras
Jean-Pierre Maxence
Henry de Montherlant
Paul Morand
Lucien Rebatet
Louis Salleron
Paul Sérant
Gustave Thibon
Georges Vacher de Lapouge
Georges Valois
Nimio de Anquin
Leonardo Castellani
Camilo José Cela
Álvaro Cunqueiro
Gerardo Diego
Manuel Gálvez
Enrique Gil y Robles
Ernesto Giménez Caballero
Carlos Ibarguren
Rodolfo Irazusta
Pedro Laín Entralgo
Ramiro Ledesma Ramos
Leopoldo Lugones
Manuel Machado
Ramiro de Maeztu
José Antonio Maravall
Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo
Eugenio d’Ors
Leopoldo Panero
José María Pemán
Onésimo Redondo
Dionisio Ridruejo
Vicente Risco
Luis Rosales
Pedro Sainz Rodríguez
Rafael Sánchez Mazas
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester
Antonio Tovar
Lorenzo Villalonga
Hugo Wast
Petre P. Carp
Emil M. Cioran
Nichifor Crainic
Mircea Eliade
Ioan C. Filitti
Radu Gyr
Vintilă Horia
Nae Ionescu
Nicolae Iorga
Constantin Noica
Ioan Slavici
Petre Tuțea
Mircea Vulcănescu
Hilaire Belloc
David Jones
Saunders Lewis
Wyndham Lewis
George Santayana
Wallace Stevens
Evelyn Waugh
W. B. Yeats
Knut Hamsun
Verner von Heidenstam
Rolf Jacobsen
I am not unaware, I merely have a personal interest in Pound.
Certainly the Italian Futurists must be included, collaborators like Paul Claudel. And the elephant in the room – Martin Heidegger.
But just because you can put together a long list of misguided artists, writers, and intellectuals doesn’t make fascism legitimate.
Heidegger and Marinetti were already listed.
And of course Fascism is legitimate and respectable. You only call them “misguided” because you disagree with them and probably have a facile understanding of Fascism and the radical right in the first place. Liberal democracy, capitalism, egalitarianism, and individualism lead to the reign of degeneracy and mediocrity. This is obvious to any intelligent person who looks at the West’s predicament.
Saw that Marinetti was listed but I was not particularly interested in combing through a four page laundry list to look for Martin.
I was actually prepared to accept an argument over the intellectual underpinnings of the fascist right until you dropped the word “degeneracy.”
Sorry – too many points lost for using that word in the context of fascism when that word is closely linked to pale efforts to legitimize racism and genocide.
Though I will acknowledge a great appreciation of Heidegger’s philosophical works and Marinetti’s artistic output. Just not their fascism and nazism.
Check out the Ctrl + F function.
“I was actually prepared to accept an argument over the intellectual underpinnings of the fascist right until you dropped the word “degeneracy.””
Unless you’re an apathetic nihilist, which I don’t think you are, I’m willing to bet there’s a great deal of inconsistency here. Need I remind you that ideals which you probably cherish such as “equality” and “human rights” have also been closely linked to mass murder on many separate occasions? Would you say that alone discredits them? If not, why not? Besides, “degeneracy” can refer to many different types of decline, not only racial. Is American McCulture something you’re proud to export? Is it not degenerate in a sense?
In the context of fascism, the word “degeneracy” is just too charged.
Frankly, I mistrust someone who uses in the context of a discussion of fascism.
Either that person is aware of the implications of that word in association with the actions of German fascism, in which case the choice to use that word is repellent.
Or, they are not aware, so I mistrust their historical understanding of the subject.
And your calling American culture degenerate… I don’t condone McDonald’s (I’m vegetarian) or much of what the cultural industrial complex produces.. But too damn close to Hitler’s obsession with destroying and dehumanizing the “degenerate” culture of the Jewish people (which was really just western liberal culture).
But I will admit to curiousity – what led you to becoming a self proclaimed “proud fascist?”
The “degeneracy” discourse of Fascism was an offshoot of the larger “degeneracy” discourse and cultural pessimism which had swept Europe during the late nineteenth century. For example, Max Nordau (a Jew) wrote a book entitled Entartung (Degeneration) in which he denounced “degenerate art.”
It’s true that this discourse was sometimes racially-charged, especially since scientific racism was at its zenith at the same time, but not necessarily so, and one should not let one taint the other. Even if I used a different word, like decadent, the same charge would probably be raised regardless, so why bother with euphemisms? The culture in America and most of Europe is degenerate and sterile.
I became a proud Fascist because I decided some time ago that Western civilization was following the wrong trajectory, and that the ideas of the both the left and the neoliberal right were naive and contributed to this mess, and sought out alternatives. I am proficient in several languages, which meant I could read what actual Fascists said rather than rely on tendentious scholarship. Like most people, I have my disagreements with particular actions taken by Fascist regimes and even elements of doctrine, but agree with enough points of doctrine to accept the label. Besides, it means I don’t have to pussyfoot around it when the opposition inevitably tries to end all debate by labeling someone a “fascist.”
Actually, decadent has a very different connotation (at least for me): the Parnassian movement, Huysmans, and Swinburne.
Certainly, in this context, it lacks the racial charge of “degenerate.”