The Fascists on the way to regain government power in Italy

Italian politics A lot speaks volumes for the fascists in Italy, after almost 80 years in opposition, regaining government power after Sunday’s parliamentary elections. Torsten Rönnerstrand, social scientist and docent in literary studies reviews the development of fascism in Italy from Mussolini to the present day.

In the fourth part of Elena Ferrantes The Naples Quartet says the author’s alter ego Elena Greco: “A black wave that had previously been hidden behind the fancy scenes of power […] spread to every corner of Italy.” (IV:436) It is clear from the context that this refers to the “black” wave of success for Italian neo-fascism which started at the beginning of the 1980s and which this autumn may give Italy the first fascist head of government since the Second World War. That the black stands for fascism, we immediately see if we look back at the history of modern Italy. One example among many is Ordine Nero (The Black Order). It was a neo-fascist militant group that claimed responsibility for two of the high-fatal terrorist attacks mentioned in the Naples Quartet, the bombings in Piazza della Loggia in Brescia on 5/28/1974 and on the Italicus Express between Rome and Brenner on 8/4/1974.

The beginning to the end of this wave came when the black-clad Mussolini was executed by anti-fascist partisans. The following year, the fascist party was banned by the new regime which, with the support of the American occupying power, took over power in Italy.

But Ordine Nero was of course not the first. A “black” wave had already begun a hundred years ago, that is, on October 23, 1922. At a mass meeting in Naples, the black-clad fascist Benito Mussolini roared to his similarly black-clad followers: “Either they give us government power or we take it after a march to Rome!” Five days later, on October 28, some 25,000 black-clad fascists marched on the Italian capital. Mussolini himself cautiously retreated to his office in Milan – it was far from certain that the seizure of power would succeed – but that did not prevent his marching “black shirts” from succeeding in scaring the country’s king, the extremely public-shy Vittorio Emanuele III. To appease the approaching black shirts, the king announced on the evening of October 29 that he had commissioned Mussolini to form a new government. Thus began a black wave that lasted until the end of the Second World War. The beginning to the end of this wave came when the black-clad Mussolini was executed on 28/4 1945 by anti-fascist partisans. The following year, the fascist party was banned by the new regime which, with the support of the American occupying power, took over power in Italy.

However, the fact that the fascist party was banned did not mean that the fascists disappeared. The black shirts were retained for the longest time, and in 1946 a group of Mussolini-loyal veterans led by former Nazi collaborator Giorgio Almirante was able to start a new fascist party, the MSI (Movimento Sociale Italiano). When they stood in the first free parliamentary elections after the war in 1948, however, they received only 2 percent of the vote. In the following decades, the party had a lot of success, but there were also setbacks. In the early 1960s, it was for a time the fourth largest party in the Italian parliament, but then followed a period of stagnation and decline.

However, the fact that the fascist party was banned did not mean that the fascists disappeared.

The downward trend was then broken in the early 1980s. When the social democrat Benedetto Craxi became prime minister of Italy in 1983, he therefore contacted the neo-fascists in MSI. In an official statement, he also distanced himself from the “ghettoization” of fascism. The intention of this was that his government with the help of MSI would receive support for his, in the eyes of many, controversial policy. But Craxis’ example was soon followed by his competitors in the struggle for government power. In order not to lose ground to the Social Democrats, the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Liberals (PLI) send their own representatives to MSIs party congress in 1984. Ten years later the results of this policy could be seen. 1983 had MSI had yet been a relatively marginal phenomenon in Italian politics, but it would not remain so. In 1993, the party’s candidate in the mayoral election in Rome, Benito Mussolini’s granddaughter Allessandra Mussolini, received a whopping 45 percent of the vote. This success was probably also connected with that MSI just changed name and party leadership. Under the new designation AN(Alleanza Nazionale) and with Gianfranco Fini as party leader, received more than 13 percent of the vote in the 1994 parliamentary election. A short time later, several of the party’s representatives took seats in Silvio Berlusconi’s first government.

The new party leader, Gianfranco Fini, was the grandson of one of the fascist black shirts who in 1922 took part in the march on Rome. He got his first name after a fascist relative who was killed during the Second World War in a battle with anti-fascist partisans. Gianfranco Fini distinguished himself as a teenager by doing the fascist salute, dressing in black and beating communist protesters. By virtue of these merits, he made a rapid career in MSIs youth organization Fronte della Gioventù. In 1977, with the active support of party leader Giorgio Almirante, he became the organization’s general secretary. In that role, he made a series of statements to the effect that his party was the only rightful heir to Mussolini’s Fascist Party. However, the young Fini’s most notable contribution came in connection with the celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the fascist seizure of power in 1922. During this controversial ceremony, he greeted his black-clad co-conspirators with a proper fascist salute. This did not prevent him from leading a short time later AN to great success in the parliamentary elections in 1994 (13.75 percent), 1996 (15.66 percent), 2001 (12.02 percent) and 2006 (12.34 percent). These successes led to Fini becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Silvio Berlusconi’s second government (2001-2006). Since 2008, he has been Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.

The new party leader, Gianfranco Fini, was the grandson of one of the fascist black shirts who in 1922 took part in the march on Rome. He got his first name after a fascist relative who was killed during the Second World War in a battle with anti-fascist partisans.

During Fini’s first term as Speaker amounted to AN in 2009 in the newly formed party – called Il Popolo della Libertà (PdL) – created by Silvio Berlusconi. But in 2012, the fascists got their own party again. Through an outbreak out of Il Popolo della Libertà arose the new fascist party Fratelli d’Italia. To begin with, the breakaways got quite a few votes in the 2013 (2.0 percent) and 2018 (4.4 percent) parliamentary elections. But the regional elections fared much better, and in the first round of the mayoral elections in Rome in 2016, party leader Giorgia Meloni received 20.6 percent of the vote. Giorgia Meloni, who was born in 1977, already joined the neo-fascists as a fifteen-year-old. Like Fini, she began her career in MSI‘s youth organization and further on she became AN:’s representative in student politics. By virtue of these credentials, in 2006 she became the youngest female member of parliament in the history of Italy and two years later the youngest female minister. As the thirty-one-year-old minister for youth affairs in Berlusconi’s third government, she distinguished herself by calling for a boycott against the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, against the wishes of the head of government. Four years later, she helped found the Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) and since 2014 she is the party’s leader.

The next step in Giorgia Meloni’s career may come after the new elections to the Italian Parliament on September 25. If the forecasts hold true, there is a lot to be said for her becoming the country’s prime minister. This means that after almost 80 years in opposition, fascism could regain government power. If Giorgia Meloni wins the election, one must be prepared for a stormy future for Italy. Many of her political horses are controversial. This applies not least to her opposition to abortion, homophobia and hostile attitude towards the LGBTQ movement. Inspired by the right-wing Catholic organization Opus Dei does she want, through changes in the country’s constitution, to criminalize abortions and all forms of cohabitation that are not sanctioned by the Catholic Church. Recently, she also caused a stir by paying tribute MSI‘s founder, the fascist anti-Semite Giorgio Almirante, who during the Second World War collaborated closely with the German occupying power.

The next step in Giorgia Meloni’s career may come after the new elections to the Italian Parliament on September 25. If the forecasts hold true, there is a lot to be said for her becoming the country’s prime minister.

Against this background, it is noteworthy that Giorgia Meloni has been elected chairman of the group in the EU Parliament that is usually called European Conservatives and Reformists. In this group there are members such as the Swedes Peter Lundgren, Jessica Stegrud and Charlie Weimers – who in their home country are not only expected to be supporters of free abortion but also opponents of Nazism and homophobia. However, it remains to be seen what policies Giorgia Meloni would like to implement, in the event that she becomes prime minister. In some matters, she has proven to be pragmatic on the border of the standless. This pragmatism has sometimes been viewed with skepticism in the conservative circles that otherwise tend to support her. An example of that is her seemingly ambivalent relationship with the Vatican’s family policy. The fact that she said she was opposed to all forms of cohabitation that were not sanctioned by the Catholic Church, has not prevented her from being an unmarried mother herself since 2016.

Another example came this spring. At odds with the party’s mostly pro-Putin majority, Meloni called for support behind Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion. However, this maneuver has aroused distrust in wide circles. Many believe that Giorgia Meloni’s support for Ukraine is just a tactical way of shuffling the cards ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections. If Meloni is to be able to form a government, she must have the active support of the strongly pro-Putin parties Lay down and Forza Italia. The leaders of these two parties have long had close contacts with Russia. Lay downs Matteo Salvini has often expressed great admiration for Putin, so it is not unexpected that he opposed the government’s arms shipments to Ukraine. Berlusconi has as leader of Forza Italia cultivated a long-term friendship with the Russian leader, something that was largely based on shared financial interests. If Salvini and Berlusconi rally behind Giorgia Meloni, they will try to push through a realignment of Italy’s policy towards Russia. It would certainly appeal to the Italian voters who, for various reasons, dislike the support for Ukraine and the sanctions against Putin. In any case, it can be expected that the new election on 25 September will have dramatic consequences for Italy.