Armed far-right organizations in Italy
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In the First Italian Republic, after the Second World War, several armed, paramilitary, far-right organizations were active, as well as far-left ones, especially during the Years of Lead.
The attempt, in 1960, to include representatives of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), the neo-fascist heir of the National Fascist Party, in the Tambroni Cabinet led to short-lived yet intense anti-fascist rioting.[1] In the second half of the 1960s, widespread labor unrest and co-ordinated agitation of student activist groups along with factory workers and radical leftist organizations, such as Potere Operaio and Lotta Continua, broke out in the country, culminating in the Hot Autumn of 1969, a series of massive strike actions in factories and industrial centres in Northern Italy.[1]
Student strikes and labour strikes, led by workers, leftists, left-sympathizing laborers, or Marxist activists, became increasingly common, often deteriorating into clashes between the police and demonstrators composed largely of workers, students, activists, and militants.[1]
During this period of mass social unrest, various far-right organizations emerged in Italy and undertook violent action. Young neo-fascists agitated against the "red threat," perceiving the legalist politics of MSI as abandoning their cause, especially through its ostensible inaction in the face of attacks by the police and the extreme left.[a][2]
Influenced by theories of urban guerrilla warfare and spontaneism,[3][4][b] a number of neo-fascists moved from street-fighting to armed militancy and terrorism.[6][5] Small groupings of militarist neofascists are still active in the 21st century.[7][8][9]
Organizations
[edit source]| Name in Italian | Flag or symbol | Name translated | Leading figures | Period of activity | Ideology | Principal actions | Political representation, affiliation, or legacy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Associazione Protezione Italiani | Italians' Protection Association | 1961–1979 | Neo-fascism | Alto Adige bombings (1961)[10] | |||
| Avanguardia Nazionale |  | National Vanguard | Stefano Delle Chiaie[11] | 1970–1972 | Neo-Nazism | Reggio revolt (1970), Gioia Tauro train station sabotage (1970), and Peteano massacre (1972) | Comunità Politica di Avanguardia[12] |
| Falange Armata | Armed Phalanx | SISMI officers[13] | 1990–1994 | Far-right politics | Assassination of Opera prison educator Umberto Mormile (1990) | ||
| Fasci di Azione Rivoluzionaria | Fasces of Revolutionary Action[c] | Pino Romualdi | 1946– 1947; 1951 | Neo-fascism | Attacks against Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the United States, Rome[14] | ||
| Movimento di Azione Rivoluzionaria | Movement of Revolutionary Action | Carlo Fumagalli Gaetano Orlando[15] | 1962–1974 | Neo-fascism | Arson and bombing attacks on Enel pylons (1960s), and arson attack on the Pirelli-Bicocca tire depot in Milan, in which a worker lost his life (1971) | ||
| Movimento Rivoluzionario Popolare | Revolutionary Popular Movement | Paolo Aleandri Marcello Iannilli[16] | 1979–1980 | Neo-fascism | Bombing attack at the Capitoline Hill (1979), bombing attack on the Regina Coeli prison (1979), bombing attack against Italy's High Council of the Judiciary (1979), and bombing attempt at the Piazza dell'Indipendenza in Rome, which failed due to bomb malfunction (1979)[17] | ||
| Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari | Armed Revolutionary Nuclei | Valerio Fioravanti Francesca Mambro Massimo Carminati Alessandro Alibrandi Franco Anselmi | 1977–1981 | Neo-fascism | Bologna massacre, a bombing with 85 dead (1980), and assassination of magistrate Mario Amato (1980) and police officer Francesco Evangelista (1980) | ||
| Ordine Nero |  | Black Order | Fabrizio Zani Marco Pastori Adriano Petroni Luciano Benardelli | 1974–1983 | Neo-Nazism | Italicus Express bombing (1974), Piazza della Loggia bombing, with 8 people dead and 102 wounded (1974),[18] and assassination of judge Vittorio Occorsio (1976) | |
| Ordine Nuovo |  | New Order | Pierluigi Concutelli[19] Pino Rauti | 1965–1973 | Neo-Nazism | Piazza Fontana bombing in the headquarters of the Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura, with 17 people dead and 88 wounded (1969), and Peteano massacre, with 3 Carabinieri killed and one injured (1972), plus various bombings of trains | Movimento Politico Ordine Nuovo[20] |
| Terza Posizione |  | Third Position | Giuseppe Dimitri Nanni De Angelis Roberto Fiore Gabriele Adinolfi Massimo Morsello | 1979–unknown | Neo-fascism | Collaboration with the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei in armed militancy and popularization of the Third Position ideology[d] | Forza Nuova (via Roberto Fiore),CasaPound (via Gabriele Adinolfi) |
| Partito Nazionalsocialista Italiano dei Lavoratori[e] |  | National Socialist Italian Workers' Party | 2016–2019 | Neo-Nazism | Preparation of terrorist acts; illegal possession of firearms[7] | ||
| Nuovo Ordine Sociale/Nuovo Ordine Sociale-Sole Nero[f] |  | New Social Order/New Social Order-Black Sun | Andrea Cavalleri | ~2021-December 2024 | Neo-fascism Neo-Nazism[21][22] | Plotting to murder prime minister Giorgia Meloni, illegal possession of firearms.[9][8] |
See also
[edit source]Notes
[edit source]- ↑ As in the case of the Acca Larentia killings.
- ↑ "Spontaneism" is an idea in communist theory that refers to the unscripted, self-organized uprisings of the masses or—but not necessarily—of the oppressed social classes and has been most famously articulated by communist theoretician and agitator Rosa Luxemburg. Instead of a band of professional revolutionaries, i.e. the communist party cadres, leading the workers, as envisaged by Lenin, Luxemburg posited that revolutionary consciousness and discipline grow organically from the masses experiencing direct struggle. See The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions (1906). The neofascist terrorists in Italy adopted the notion of spontaneism without its original ideological connotations, aiming at a nationalist revolution caused by armed agitation that would inflame the patriotic masses.[5]
- ↑ Not to be confused with Benito Mussolini's Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria, it was also known as Legione Nera (Black Legion).
- ↑ The rhetoric of the Third Position developed in Italy and in France. In the 1980s, it was taken up by the National Front in the United Kingdom. In 1983, the National Front was taken over by a Strasserist faction led by Nick Griffin, who presented himself as a Third Positionist.
- ↑ Named in direct reference to the German NSDAP (the "National Socialist German Workers' Party").
- ↑ Part of the international terrorist group Atomwaffen Division.[21]
References
[edit source]- 1 2 3 Montanelli, Indro; Mario Cervi (1989). L'Italia dei due Giovanni [The Italy of the two Giovannis] (in Italian). Milan: Rizzoli Editore.
- ↑ Zanarini, Manuel (10 June 2008). "NAR: lo spontaneismo armato neofascista" [NAR: the neo-fascist armed spontaneism]. Ariana editrice (in Italian). Archived from the original on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
- ↑ Commissione Parlamentare sul Terrorismo (Parliamentary Commission on Terrorism) (24 February 2006). "L'eversione di destra dopo il 1974" [The right-wing subversion after 1974]. Archivio900 (in Italian). Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ↑ Paternoster, Renzo (1 July 2015). "Gli "Orfani" Del Msi: Dal Ribellismo Allo Spontaneismo Armato" [The MSI 'Orphans': From Rebellion to Armed Spontaneism]. Storia in Network (in Italian). Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- 1 2 Groppi, Michele; Senfter, Irene; Martínez-Girón, Sonia; Ting Hung, Ho (April 2024). "The Rise of the Far-Right in Europe: Mapping Groups, Narratives, and Trends in Europe's Far-Right Landscape". ResearchGate. Verona: International Team for the Study of Security. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ↑ Minnucci, Marzia (2015). A destra del MSI: evoluzione armata della destra radicale [To the right of MSI: The armed evolution of the radical right] (PDF) (Thesis) (in Italian). Free International University of Social Studies "Guido Carli". Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 June 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- 1 2 3 "Italian anti-terrorism police seize air-to-air missile, guns in neo-Nazi raids". ABC News. Australia. 16 July 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Neonazisti nella rete dell'antiterrorismo, l'indagato triestino è Fabio Tuiach" [Neo-Nazis in the Net of Counterterrorism : Fabio Tuiach is the suspect from Trieste]. Trieste Prima (in Italian). 4 December 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- 1 2 3 Fazzo, Luca (5 December 2024). "Alba Nuova e 'Werwolf'. La frangia neonazista che cercava alleanze per lanciare la jihad nera" [New Dawn and 'Werwolf': The neo-Nazi fringe seeking alliances to launch black jihad]. Il Giornale (in Italian). Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ↑ Tortello, Leticia (18 October 2019). "Alto Adige, nella valle che sogna la secessione e invoca la grazia per i suoi terroristi" [Alto Adige, in the valley that dreams of secession and invokes pardon for its terrorists]. La Stampa (in Italian). Rome. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ↑ Harris, Geoffrey (1 January 1994). The Dark Side of Europe. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0748604661.
- ↑ "Comunità Politica di Avanguardia" [National Vanguard community]. Misteri d'Italia (Mysteries of Italy) (in Italian). Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ↑ Pipitone, Giuseppe (25 June 2015). "Trattativa, l'ex capo dei Servizi Fulci: "la Falange chiamava dalle sedi Sismi, alcuni 007 usavano esplosivi"" [Revelation, the former head of the service Fulci: "the Falange called from the Sismi headquarters, some 007s were using explosives"]. Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ↑ Portella della Ginestra: alla radice del segreto italiano [Gate of the Broom: at the root of the Italian secret] (in Italian). Memoria e Futuro. 2019. ISBN 9788831618823.
- ↑ Lanza, Luciano (2014). Secrets and Bombs. Piazza Fontana 1969. Translated by Sharkey, Paul. Christie Books. ISBN 9781873976203.
- ↑ "Movimento Rivoluzionario Popolare" [Revolutionary Popular Movement]. WebArchive (in Italian). Centro di documentazione storico politica sullo stragismo. 2005. Archived from the original on 9 March 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ↑ Casillo, Giuseppe (2012). A destra della destra: Terza Posizione [To the right of the right: Third Position] (Thesis) (in Italian). Universitá degli Studi del Molise. Archived from the original on 29 June 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
- ↑ Rodella, Mara (22 July 2015). "Strage di piazza Loggia, ergastolo ai neofascisti Maggi e Tramonte" [Piazza Loggia massacre, life imprisonment for neo-fascists Maggi and Tramonte]. Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ↑ Bianconi, Giovanni (19 April 2011). "Torna libero Pierluigi Concutelli" [Pierluigi Concutelli returns free]. Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ↑ Baldoni, Adalberto; Provvisionato, Sandro (1989). La notte piu lunga della repubblica : sinistra e destra, ideologie, estremismi, lotta armata, 1968-1989 [The longest night of the republic : left and right, ideologies, extremisms, armed struggles, 1968-1989] (in Italian). Serarcangeli.
- 1 2 Berizzi, Paolo (5 December 2024). "Neonazisti arrestati, cresce la galassia nera italiana: ritratto di un mondo sempre più radicato" [Neo-Nazis arrested, Italy's black galaxy grows: a portrait of an increasingly entrenched world]. la Repubblica.
- ↑ Fregatti, Tommaso; Indice, Matteo (23 January 2021). "Smantellata la rete dei suprematisti italiani: 'Faremo strage di ebrei'" [Italian supremacist network dismantled: 'We shall massacre Jews']. La Stampa (in Italian). Retrieved 19 May 2026.
[Cavalleri] voleva creare una cellula italiana della «Atomwaffen Division», movimento neonazista e suprematista nato nel Sud degli Stati Uniti che ha compiuto diversi attentati. Cavalleri, per creare la sua cellula, era entrato in contatto con militanti americani di organizzazioni suprematiste.
[[Cavalleri] wanted to create an Italian cell of the «Atomwaffen Division», a neo-Nazi and supremacist movement born in the South of the United States which carried out several attacks. Cavalleri, to create his cell, had come into contact with American militants of the supremacist organization]
Further reading
[edit source]- Cento Bull, Anna (2016). Ending Terrorism in Italy. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-845740-65-8.
- Weinberg, Leonard; Eubank, William L. (2019). The Rise And Fall Of Italian Terrorism. Routledge. ISBN 978-0367295561.
External links
[edit source]- "Terrorism and Security: The Italian Experience" (PDF). Report of the Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism. United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. November 1984. Retrieved 11 October 2020.