SOURCE: "Was Vilfredo Pareto Really a ' Precursor' of Fascism?," in American Journal Of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 42, No. 12, April, 1983, pp. 235-44.

In the following essay, Cirillo investigates whether or not Pareto was in fact, as is often contended, a "precursor of fascism."

I

INTRODUCTION

The fact that Vilfredo Pareto embraced fascism during the last months of his life generated enough prejudice against the man that even scholars sometimes approach his works with an initial bias. Readers will recall that when Arthur Livingston published the English translation of Trattato di sociologia generale in 1935, The New Republic of New York reacted predictably and Mind and Society languished on the bookshelves. Labelling great thinkers fascists, communists, anarchists, panacea-mongers or whatever has always had the unfortunate effect of casting doubts on the integrity and validity of their thoughts. Pareto's great predecessor at the University of Lausanne suffered from a similar fate...