In contrast with traditional approaches, which have seen a more or less uniform middleclass response to the political and economic crises of the age of fascism, this comparative study of the politics and ideology of the urban lower middle classes in Europe from 1918 to 1939 rethinks the political history of these groups, stressing the diversity and splintering of middleclass constituencies under the pressures of the interwar period.

Examining these years from the perspective of a broad range of European countries, including England, France, Germany, Italy, and Romania, the writers focus on non-rural lower-middle class groups not only as objects of elite and state manipulation -- the traditional view -- but as active, often violent agents of political conflict. What political positions were available to these groups in Europe after World War I, which did they choose and why? What were the central themes and symbols of the leaders and politicians who supposedly represented them? By exploring how the lower middle classes defined (or failed to define) themselves politically -- the alliances that they formed, the sentiments they articulated, and the interests they pursued and defended -- this informative and provocative book sheds light on a crucial segment of European society between the two world wars.