Italy

THE POLITICAL HISTORY of the Italian right in the 20th century and into the 21st has been dominated by the figure of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and his regime, which repressed political opposition for 20 years and led Italy into the catastrophe of World War II. Since the final fall of Mussolini in 1945, Italian right-wing parties have had to deal with his and the Fascist Party's (FNP) problematic legacy.

The term fascism comes from the Italian fascio, derived from the ancient Latin fasces, which referred to the bundle of lictors, or axe-headed rods, that stood for the sovereignty of the Roman Republic. The movement, of which Mussolini, a former Socialist Party member, became the leader, or duce, combined strong nationalism with an aggressive new style of activism that prized violence, colonialism, idealism, and antimaterialism.

Mussolini's rise to power started after the general election held in May 1921, which witnessed the election of a conspicuous number of fascist deputies and a surprising success for the FNP leaders. Together with the liberal democrats headed by Giovanni Giolitti, the political force that governed Italy in the first two decades of the 20th century, the fascists had formed the National Blocks. Under the intentions of Giolitti, the National Blocks were to put a stop to the growth of the Fascist Party, whose candidates would be placed on the same list with more experienced and respected liberal politicians, thus standing little chance to be elected.

Yet, the elected deputies for the Blocks were extremely heterogeneous and thus difficult for Giolitti to control, and the fascists managed to elect 45 deputies. The coalition governments that followed the election were unable to govern the country effectively and to put a stop to fascist violence, which started to push Italy toward a totalitarian regime. The fascist March on Rome, which took place in October 1922, signified the end of democracy.

Despite the many Jews who were members of the FNP, Mussolini became Adolf Hitler's main ally in 1937, passing racist and anti-Semitic legislation in Italy and entering World War II in support of Hitler. The disaster of the world conflict led to Mussolini's downfall in 1943, but in German-occupied northern Italy, the Duce was installed as leader of a new puppet fascist-based Italian Social Republic, which waged a savage civil war against Italian anti-fascists in 1944–45. Although the new democratic government officially condemned fascists, the effective repression carried out by the Allied forces and the Italian governing party after the war, the Christian Democrats, was much weaker, allowing a disturbing continuum between the regime and the republic to function as a dam to communism.

The MSI (Movimento Sociale Italiano, Italian Social Movement), the party created in 1947 by former fascists after democracy was restored and the Fascist Party was declared illegal, enthusiastically endorsed the [Page 715]political values that were at the base of the fascist dictatorship. The party drew most of its electoral strength in the southern regions and initially refused to consider anti-fascism a foundational value of the Italian republic. It quickly rose from 2.8 percent in 1948 to 5.8 percent in 1953. In 1954, under the leadership of Arturo Michelini, the party started to accept more moderate positions. In 1960, the MSI gave its external support to the Christian Democratic government led by Fernando Tambroni. As the support of the neofascists was vital for the government's existence, widespread popular demonstrations started throughout Italy, leading to Tambroni's resignation.

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