Chapter 89: Italian Social Movement

340     the postwar antifascist consensus in Italy “The defeat of the Axis Powers in 1945 appeared to bring an end to the fascist nightmare . . . Fascism was discredited and became a term of abuse . . . Initially there were a few extreme right groups on the fringe, like the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI) in Italy. However, there was no public demand for the rebirth of Italian Fascism or hardcore German National-Socialism.” The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right, eds. Peter Davies and Derek Lynch (London: Routledge, 2002), 39. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/475960249.

340     operated behind the scenes in the MSI . . . Giorgio Almirante their leader  The Italian Social Movement “was officially led by a group of young ex-fascists with a low profile: the first general secretary was a young official of the RSI (Repubblica Sociale Italiana) (Italian Social Republic), Giorgio Almirante. But behind them, old and more experienced leaders of the fascist regime, who lived in hiding because of the prosecutions, guided the party. The MSI’s first ‘10 points’ programme somewhat veiled its ideological-political mould, insisting on ‘national conciliation’ and pacification, economic recovery, and so on . . . but all the symbolic and cultural references were unquestionably linked to fascism.” Piero Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2003), 36. Find a library copy at search.worldcat.org/title/62132369.

340     the chief of staff of the Ministry of Popular Culture . . .  Associated Press, “Giorgio Almirante, Italian Neo-Fascist, Dies at 73,” New York Times, May 23, 1988, www.nytimes.com/1988/05/23/obituaries/giorgio-almirante-italian-neo-fascist-dies-at-73.html.

340     received funding from some . . . that had supported Mussolini  Dennis Eisenberg, The Re-emergence of Fascism (Worcester, UK: Trinity Press, 1967), 145–146, touches on the “influential group of landowners, businessmen and industrialists who suppl[ied] much of the necessary financial support” in the early years of the MSI’s existence, especially after the appointment of the famed fascist naval commander Junio Valerio Borghese as honorary president. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/394409?oclcNum=394409.

340     six deputies (out of 574) and one senator (out of 237)  Chamber of Deputies, April 18, 1948, The Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior, Central Directorate of Electoral Services, elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=18/04/1948&es0=S&tpa=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&ms=S&tpe=A, via Google Translate; and Senate, April 18, 1948, The Historical Archive of Elections, elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=S&dtel=18/04/1948&es0=S&tpa=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&ms=S&tpe=A, via Google Translate.

340     unbending anti-NATO stance . . . opening to remove him R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini’s Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915–1945 (New York: Penguin, 2007), 548. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/85484316.

340     a journalist and . . . took over in 1950  Augusto De Marsanich “had been an important if second-rank figure throughout the[Mussolini] dictatorship . . . He had published in Critica Fascista, was promoted to be Under-Secretary of Communications from 1935 to 1943, while remaining long-time head of the PNF’s [National Fascist Party’s] legal office.” During the years of the Italian Social Republic, De Marsanich was “charged . . . with the management of Alfa Romeo and the Banco di Roma.” Bosworth, Mussolini’s Italy, 548–549. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/85484316.

340     led the party’s . . . Arturo Michelini  Mario Caciagli, “The Movimento Sociale Italiano–Destra Nazionale and Neo-Fascism in Italy,” in Right-Wing Extremism in Western Europe, ed. Klaus von Beyme (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2013), 23. Michelini’s obituary in the New York Times stated, “Mr. Michelini joined Mussolini’s Fascist party as soon as he finished studies in accounting at 18.” “Arturo Michelini, Neo-Fascist Leader,” New York Times, June 16, 1969, nyti.ms/4iGy8xe, 47. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/1103528325to find Right-Wing Extremism in Western Europe at a library near you.

340     to make the MSI more electable versus . . . Caciagli, “The Movimento Sociale Italiano–Destra Nazionale and Neo-Fascism in Italy,” 23. Find a library copy of Right-Wing Extremism in Western Europe, in which Caciagli’s piece appears, at search.worldcat.org/title/1103528325.

340     reclaimed the party helm in 1969, he bridged the factions Caciagli, “The Movimento Sociale Italiano–Destra Nazionale and Neo-Fascism in Italy,” 23–24. For a contemporaneous account, see Melton S. Davis, “Almirante Is No M-s---i—Yet,” New York Times, June 6, 1971, www.nytimes.com/1971/06/06/archives/almirante-is-no-msi-yet-almirante-is-no-msiyet.html. Find a library copy of Right-Wing Extremism in Western Europe, in which Caciagli’s piece appears, at search.worldcat.org/title/1103528325.

340     subsequently grew in the 1970s  “In 1973, at the peak of Almirante’s secretariat, there were . . . 4,335 sections, with 420,000 registered members.” Antonio Carioti, “From the Ghetto to Palazzo Chigi: The Ascent of the National Alliance,” Italian Politics 10 (1996), www.jstor.org/stable/45402576, 74.

341     a tax adviser . . . a novelist . . . Giorgia  Angus Holland, “‘I Am Giorgia’: Italy’s Far-Right Leader and the Confounding World of Italian Politics,” Sydney Morning Herald, August 4, 2024, www.smh.com.au/national/i-am-giorgia-italy-s-far-right-leader-and-the-confounding-world-of-italian-politics-20240722-p5jvka.html.

341     abandoned . . . sinking them into poverty  Holland, “‘I Am Giorgia,’” www.smh.com.au/national/i-am-giorgia-italy-s-far-right-leader-and-the-confounding-world-of-italian-politics-20240722-p5jvka.html.

341     more than a thousand terror attacks “The years from 1969 to 1988 are conventionally defined as the ‘Years of Lead’ because of the quantity, frequency, and virulence of political violence. According to our data, Italy experienced over 8000 conflict events, including domestic terrorist attacks and other forms of political violence, leading to hundreds of deaths and several thousand wounded victims.” Figure 1 shows the number of violent acts committed by “neofascist groups,” which tally over one thousand. Stefano Costalli et al., “The Violent Legacy of Fascism: Evidence From Italy,” Comparative Political Studies 58, no. 14 (2024), doi.org/10.1177/00104140241252089, 4, 15.

341     bombed . . . killing eighty-five people  “In the bloody aftermath, rescue squads worked for over twelve hours to pull the dead and maimed from the rubble. As they labored, a young neofascist entered a telephone booth across town and dialed Bologna’s leading newspaper. ‘This is the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei,’ he said. ‘We claim responsibility for the explosion in the railway station.’ The final toll: eighty-five dead—the eldest an eighty-six-year-old man, the youngest a three-year-old child—and more than two hundred wounded.” Thomas Sheehan, “Italy: Terror on the Right,” New York Review of Books, January 22, 1981, www.nybooks.com/articles/1981/01/22/italy-terror-on-the-right/.

341     The more . . . the more . . . pulled away from the party  Piero Ignazi, “Fascists and Post-Fascists,” in The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics, eds. Erik Jones and Gianfranco Pasquino (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2015), 217–218. Find an edition of this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1039409889.

341     decried political violence  Ignazi, “Fascists and Post-Fascists,” 218. Find a library copy of The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics, in which this chapter appears, at search.worldcat.org/title/1039409889.

341     rehabilitated its image “A few examples demonstrate this change of political climate: in 1983 the socialist prime minister, Bettino Craxi, declared, during the parliamentary confidence debate, that he would treat all parliamentary groups in the same vein without any discrimination; MSI leaders were invited, for the first time, to public meetings together with other antifascist party leaders; and the MSI secretary, Almirante, was admitted to the PCI [Italian Communist Party] headquarters, in June 1984, at the funeral of the PCI secretary, Enrico Berlinguer.” Ignazi, “Fascists and Post-Fascists,” 219. Find a library copy of The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics, in which this chapter appears, at search.worldcat.org/title/1039409889.

341     took over the party in 1987 For details on the Sorrento Congress in December 1987, at which Fini was elected as the new leader of MSI, see Giovanni Tassani, “The Italian Social Movement: from Almirante to Fini,” Italian Politics 4 (1990), www.jstor.org/stable/43039624, 129, 130–132, 134.

341     volunteered for the Italian Social Republic  Mauro Giordano, "Gianfranco Fini Turns 71: Politics, Wives, Daughters, the Brother-in-Law Case and the Return,” Corriere di Bologna, January 3, 2023, corrieredibologna.corriere.it/bologna/politica/cards/gianfranco-fini-compie-71-anni-politica-mogli-figlie-caso-cognato-ritorno/gianfranco-fini-origini-famiglia-nonno-comunista_principale.shtml, via Google Translate.

341     died in 1988 See AP, “Giorgio Almirante, Italian Neo-Fascist, Dies at 73,” www.nytimes.com/1988/05/23/obituaries/giorgio-almirante-italian-neo-fascist-dies-at-73.html.

341      joined MSI’s Youth Front in 1992 Amy Kazmin and Giuliana Ricozzi, “Hard-Right Giorgia Meloni’s Rise from Rough Streets to Cusp of Power in Italy,” Financial Times, September 6, 2022, www.ft.com/content/530de94d-6aef-45d7-aa8e-a1211284745c.

341     helped found . . . The Ancestors “Biography,” Sito Ufficiale di Giorgia Meloni (Official Website of Giorgia Meloni), accessed March 24, 2025, www.giorgiameloni.it/biografia/, via Google Translate.