Collingwood and Marx: Observations on Writing Meaningful History in the Age of Fake Narratives

A century after Mussolini seized power in Italy (1922), we are reminded of the words written by the wise Bertrand Russel (1988: 82) that the ‘follies of our own times are easier to bear when they are seen against the background of past follies.’ In that age of classical Fascism historians, often at great personal risk, were called upon to defend their discipline against the assaults on it of totalitarian ideologies and authoritarian states.