Nazi-Maoism

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Flag of the New Order (Ordine Nuovo), with whom Freda was affiliated. Flag of Ordine Nuovo.svg
Flag of the New Order (Ordine Nuovo), with whom Freda was affiliated.

Nazi-Maoism was a political movement and an ideology that emerged in Italy around 1968, [1] with the formation of a group known as Struggle of the People (Lotta di Popolo). This group of students, from the Sapienza University of Rome, [2] took heavy inspiration from the writings and theories of Franco Freda, [3] and advocated for a combination of ideas from both the far-left and the far-right. According to the neo-fascist group Terza Posizione, Nazi-Maoism's stance was "neither capitalism nor communism, neither reds nor reactionary". [4] Nazi-Maoists such as Freda wanted to form a "Fascist dictatorship of the proletariat", [5] by using the Maoist guerrilla strategy of people's war to overthrow the government and the bourgeoisie. [6]

Contents

Nazi-Maoism is mostly believed to have faded away after the Lotta di Popolo group dissolved itself in 1973. Some forms of Nazi-Maoism were still being espoused by other groups until the late 1970s, but they were not as active as the Struggle of the People was. Some slogans are still being used by numerous extra-parliamentary right-wing political groups, such as Terza Posizione and Forza Nuova. Despite the accentuated anti-communist and nationalist positions which are typically espoused by far-right political groups, they strongly focus on social problems, and they are also violently anti-American and anti-Zionism. [7] [8] [9]

Outside Italy

The Organisation Lutte du Peuple explained to its militants: “Don’t be afraid to use so-called leftist terminology, provided, of course, you specify or modify its meaning”. The OLP denounced the West and “a Europe mentally and politically colonized” by cultural imperialism, the only solution to which was “a class struggle between ruling nations and ruled nations,” that is, a “fight for liberation from imperialism (USA-USSR-ZIONISM),” which was the work of the Jews. That liberation was supposed to eliminate the “pro-Russian or pro-American Kollabos,” and “it will build a new cultural order founded on a virile Socialism: European Socialism.”.

Jean-Yves Camus in Far-Right Politics in Europe, quoting OLP newspaper La Flamme (January 1972) [10]

In Finland

SS -veterans Sakari Haikala and Aarne Roiha were founding members of Maoist Finland–China Society, [11] and were also members of its board. [12] Lieutenant Colonel and fascist party MP Paavo Susitaival jokingly described himself as a "Maoist-Democratic fascist". [13] [14] The pro-Maoist position among Finnish far-right was at least partially motivated by the anti-Soviet position of Mao's China. Haikala said: "We visited the Helsinki embassy of China, and they showed anti-Russkie propaganda movies with massive cheering Chinese armies demanding attack to the USSR. We cheered also, this is the salvation of Finland. I still think that." [15] Kai Murros is a prominent neo-fascist thought leader in Finland who has identified as a Maoist. [16] [17]

In France and Belgium

In France, a sister organization of the Italian Lotta di Popolo was called Lutte du Peuple. It was created from the remains of Giovane Europe and Jeune-Europe, which were sister organizations structured around ideas propagated mainly by Jean Thiriart. Among the founders of Lutte du Peuple were some dissident left-wing nationalists of the Ordre Nouveau and European socialists of the Pour une Jeune-Europe (not to be confused with Jeune-Europe headed by Thiriart), directed by Yves Batille. These organizations were a mix of Thiriart's theses with a Maoism adapted to the European scene but there was a fundamental difference because while for Thiriart Maoism was a secondary element, for Nazi-Maoist organizations it was a fundamental element. [18] Thiriart admired the People's Republic of China and Socialist Republic of Romania, indicating a sympathy towards Communist states that displayed strong Nationalist characteristics and certain degrees of independence from the Soviet Union. Historian Walter Laqueur called his views a form of Fascist Maoism. [19] Nazi-Maoist ideas were also noticeably manifested in the ideology of the Fédération d'action nationale et européenne (FANE). [20]

Franco-Belgian Parti Communautaire National-Européen's founding membership included both those whose background was neo-fascism and former Maoists. [21] Thiriart served as a main inspiration and an advisor for a time after the foundation of the group. Even later on, PCN leader and former FANE activist Luc Michel advocated the idea of a "Eurasian axis" between China, Russia, and Iran as an alternative to Western hegemony, and called for an international tribunal in China to prosecute colonial crimes. [22]

In Ukraine

In late 2019, Ukraine's Azov movement's literature club and publishing outfit Plomin (Flame in Ukrainian), presented a translation of Freda's writings into Ukrainian. Freda's ideas were also promoted in Ukraine by neo-Nazi groups Karpatska Sich and Wotan Jugend. [23]

Elsewhere

Sister organizations were created in Germany, such as the Cause of the People / National-Revolutionary Organisational Structure (Sache des Volkes / Nationalrevolutionäre Aufbauorganisation, SdV-NRAO). [24] [20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sheehan, T., 1981. "Italy: Terror on the Right". The New York Review of Books, 27(21), pp.23–26.
  2. ↑ Bessarione, Giuseppe Bessarione, 1979. Lambro / Hobbit. Right-wing youth culture. In Italy and Europe, Rome, Arcana Editrice, 1979, pp. 99–100
  3. ↑ Andreoli, M., 1979. "Perspicacity of Nazi-Maoism Case of Freda, Franco and Massacre at Piazza-Fontana Effects On Italian Right". Ponte-Rivista mensile di politica e letteratura, 35(4), pp. 384–386.
  4. ↑ Hoffman, B., 1989. The contrasting ethical foundations of terrorism in the 1980s. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1(3), pp.361–377.
  5. ↑ Griffin, Roger, 2003. "From Slime Mould to Rhizome: An Introduction to the Groupuscular Right". Patterns of Prejudice, 37(1), pp.27–50.
  6. ↑ Lebourg, N., 2015. "Arriba Eurasia? The Difficult Establishment of Neo-Eurasianism in Spain". Eurasianism and European Far Right: Reshaping the Europe-Russia Relationship.
  7. ↑ Rossi, Gianni, 2003. La destra e gli ebrei: una storia italiana, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino Editore.
  8. ↑ La strage di Stato, Rome: Samonà e Savelli, 1970.
  9. ↑ Bessarione, Giuseppe, 1979. Lambro/Hobbit. La cultura giovanile di destra. In Italia e in Europa, Rome: Arcana Editrice, 1979, pp. 99–100
  10. ↑ Camus, Jean-Yves; Lebourg, Nicolas (2017). Far-Right Politics in Europe. Harvard University Press. p. 91, 92. ISBN   978-0674971530.
  11. ↑ "Ambassador Chen Li Hosts Reception for Finland–China Society".
  12. ↑ Koska kotimaa meidät lähetti — SS-mies Sakari Haikala Hitlerin eliittijoukoissa ISBN   978-952-291-257-2
  13. ↑ "Unohdettu Susitaival". Sarastus. 11 January 2024.
  14. ↑ Paavo Susitaival: Aktivisti ei hellitä (WSOY, 1981). ISBN   9512318377
  15. ↑ "Sakari Haikala, Kouvolan veturimies 1970-luvun alussa". 11 January 2024.
  16. ↑ Sakari Timonen (13 May 2024). "Aatetta tunnustaen". Apu .
  17. ↑ Zúquete, José Pedro (2018). The Identitarians: The Movement against Globalism and Islam in Europe. University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 9780268104245.
  18. ↑ L'ALTERNATIVE NATIONALE-COMMUNISTE
  19. ↑ Laqueur, Walter, Fascism: Past, Present, Future, p.93
  20. 1 2 LA STRAGE DI STATO. III CAPITOLO I fascisti. La nuova tattica: infiltrazione e nazimaoismo
  21. ↑ Martin A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens , Routledge, 1999, p. 319.
  22. ↑ "Nécrologie : Luc Michel, géopoliticien et panafricaniste, ami du Burundi, s'éteint à 66". burundi-agnews.org. 15 April 2025. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
  23. ↑ "Ukraine's Far Right Is Boosting A Pro-Putin Fascist". Bellingcat . 12 January 2024.
  24. ↑ https://www.apabiz.de/archiv/material/Profile/SDV-NRAO.htm
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