Blackshirt, Vol. 1, No. 5
New York: Blackshirt Publishers, 1939. The fifth and final issue of The Blackshirt, the organ of the short-lived American Fascist Party founded in NYC in 1939 by Francesco Paulo Castorina (aka, Paul Castorina). The paper was billed as a “monthly Journal of Aggressive Patriotism” and featured a disclaimer at the top of each issue: “This Paper has no connection whatsoever with any Italian Organization.” But Castorina clearly modeled both his organization and its paper on Italian fascism, while adopting both the emblem and the paper name of the British Union of Fascists. In NYC, the American Fascist Party was closely affiliated with the German-American Bund and the Christian Front (Castorina held membership in both organizations), and Carlson mentions seeing “The Blackshirt” at a meeting of the anti-Semitic American Nationalist Party.
All of the content for this issue is unsigned and was presumably written by Castorina, which includes short articles on Jewish Communism, the Jew monopoly in Hollywood, the Jewish corruption of the medical industry, and the activities of the American Fascist Party. Not to be confused by an earlier paper named the “Black Shirt,” the organ of the American Fascisti published in Atlanta, GA.
Newsprint sheet folded (14” x 10 ½”), 4 p., illus. An extremely fragile item, with small chips and closed tears along the edges and splitting from a crease along the spine. All issues exceedingly scarce. The NYPL has a full run and the Univ. of Pittsburgh appears to hold a single issue.
Very little has been written on the American Fascist Party and Castorina. I consulted, Luconi, Stefano. “The Venom of Racial Intolerance”: Italian Americans and Jews in the United States in the Aftermath of Fascist Racial Laws , Revue française d’études américaines, vol. no 107, no. 1, 2006, pp. 107-119. Item #10070
Price: $350.00