Fascism and the Competition for Migrant Consumers, 1922–1940
Chapter Six demonstrates that connections between Italian consumers in New York and Buenos Aires became particularly politicized with the rise of Fascism in Italy. During the 1935 League of Nations’ boycott against Italy, Benito Mussolini called on migrants to consume for their homeland. Unlike World War I, however, during the boycott migrants used the Italian-language press to debate their patriotic duty as consumers and to form identities and experiences around U.S., Argentine, and Italian goods. Ironically, as Mussolini tried to divorce Italian women from Western-style consumerism at home, Italian-language newspapers abroad—supported economically by Italian fascists—employed links between women and foodstuffs to generate ethnic identities. By the 1930s, Italy, the U.S., and Argentina all competed for the attention of Italian consumers, especially women.