In history there are clichés that are hard to die, although scholars have produced essays and weighty studies to dismantle them. One of these tells how fascism essentially died with the end of Mussolini in 1945. After that date the fascists would become a residual minority, unable to affect the events of republican Italy.
The historian Mimmo Franzinelli, in his latest essay entitled with obvious irony "Fascism ended on April 25, 1945" (Laterza, 2022, pp. 176, also e-book), dismantles the happy tale in which Italy seems to have cut the links with the twenty-year period were definitively already at the end of the Second World War. He does so by recounting how precisely in the post-war period the doctrine of the continuity of the state brought people of sincere fascist faith back to the top of prefectures and police. And describing the political parable of a fascist party as the Italian Social Movement which, between baton and double-breasted, played a role in the street clashes of the second post-war period and even contributed to the election of presidents of the Republic (from Antonio Segni to Giovanni Leone).
Mimmo Franzinelli , as usual very careful in the use of sources and period documentation, also dwells on the evolution of the neo-fascist fringes, on the responsibilities in the so-called strategy of tension and on the massacres of the 1960s and 1970s. Above all, it shows us the continuity between Mussolini's fascism - that of the march on Rome, the centenary of which next October - and the resurfaces and jolts of today's radical right.
This is why we ask Mimmo Franzinelli to tell us what, in his opinion, the peculiarities of modern neo-fascism are:
“Contemporary neo-fascism is a mix of nostalgia, of an eye to the past, and of attention to the present, to what is happening on the European continent, with the return of nationalism and war, two basic factors of fascist ideology. Furthermore, the neo-fascisms have made them elements of a populist and demagogic type. They try to intercept and capitalize on dissent and unease in the suburbs of large cities, primarily Rome ”.
Why Rome in particular?
“First, because fascism has always been linked to the myth of ancient and imperial Rome, a myth loved by Mussolini. Then Rome has huge suburbs and hamlets where the left has been absent for years. Therefore, populist and anti-state operations such as the opposition to the government's restrictive measures during the Covid emergency and the occupation of public buildings to be made available to the needy find consensus ”.
What are contemporary neo-fascists aiming for?
“First of all we must say that these are groups that are not very numerous and not very organized from a military point of view. However, they look to the experience of the first fascist squads of 1919-22 and look for the right opportunity to jeopardize the democratic stability of our country. With this in mind, a breakthrough action is posed, such as the assault on the headquarters of the CGIL in Rome last October. It was at a time when the anti-government pressures for anti-Covid measures were very strong and the neo-fascists aimed to hit the union, showing it as conniving with the authorities and the strong powers ".
Do the Italian neo-fascists have international connections?
"Of course. They operate a lot on the web and have connections with far-right groups in Eastern Europe, in particular Romania and Hungary, nations where fascist extremism was already very strong in the twentieth century ”.
Is there proper attention to the neo-fascist danger?
“Personally I am not among those who cry 'wolf, wolf!' as if fascism were just around the corner, ready to take back power. But there is an underestimation of the danger. Only when there are serious events is there attention from the police and the judiciary ... after which we return to pretend nothing has happened. The problem is that these radical right-wing groups don't mind threatening and intimidating. In my book I describe the threats to the L'Espresso publishing group for journalistic inquiries on Forza Nuova and Casa Pound. And one of the journalists dealing with the phenomenon of the new right, Paolo Berizzi, from Repubblica, lives under guard. The signal given by right-wing extremism is of a Camorra and mafia type: 'Whoever touches us risks and risks big' ”.