The Image of Italy on the Pages of the Emigrant Newspaper Vozrozhdenie (1920s-1930s)

The article analyzes the articles of the emigre newspaper Vozrozhdenie that reveal the image of Italy. The subjective image was broadcast on the emigrant community, shaped the attitude towards Italy, depending on how the information was presented. The study of the newspaper articles involves the analysis of disparate material; therefore, based on the problem-thematic approach, criteria for selecting the material for the study were developed. The newspaper was published from 1925 to the 1940s: the author analyzed the issues for all the years, with the exception of articles for 1939 and 1940, which the author did not have access to; this limited the scope of the study by the year 1938. After the end of World War I, Italy was in a strip of an economic crisis, the issue of stabilization of lira, which was resolved only thanks to financial loans of the USA, was particularly acute; the newspaper emphasizes that it created Italy's dependence on America. The interest of the newspaper in the figure of Mussolini is manifested from the first issues. The newspaper pays attention to the discussion and adoption of new laws in the Italian Senate, which were accompanied by Mussolini's speeches in which he appears to be an opponent of Freemasonry and a fighter against Bolshevism. Publications in the newspaper are written in a neutral tone, without evaluative judgments, which allows the reader to independently assess the events taking place. Special attention to Italy was perhaps connected with the interest of the emigrant community in fascism ideology; Italy was an example of these ideas' implementation. The newspaper reprinted Mussolini's interviews with claims for the expansion of the territory of Italy dating back to the late 1920s and explained by the vital need. The coverage of Italy's foreign policy issues concerned two directions: in the 1920s, it was the conflict with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on the collision of interests in the Mediterranean; in the 1930s, it was the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Evaluating the events, Vozrozhdenie regards claims of Italy to Abyssinia as lawful, but specifies that it is necessary to try to obtain them peacefully. Actions of Italy in Ethiopia are described as a bilateral conflict, information on the construction of roads in Ethiopia is given, which shows Italy's "civilized" arrival. Such presentation of events misinformed the emigrant community about the essence of the occurring phenomena. The war in Ethiopia undermined the forces of Italy, and in this situation the country went to a rapprochement with Germany. Readers of Vozrozhdenie learn that, according to the draft of the non-aggression pact between Germany and Italy, Italy undertook to support Germany in all its requirements of a colonial character and claims in the Balkans. The analysis of the newspaper articles shows a positive image of Italy which was broadcast on the emigrant community.

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