Post-fascism

Post-fascism is a label that identifies political parties and movements that transition from a fascist political ideology to a more moderate and mainline form of conservatism, abandoning the totalitarian traits of fascism and taking part in constitutional politics. ^[1]

In Italy

The Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party established in Italy in 1946 by former members of the National Fascist Party and the Republican Fascist Party. Despite being an explicitly fascist party, the MSI included a post-fascist faction headed by Arturo Michelini and Alfredo Covelli, who favoured political cooperation with moderate conservative parties, such as the Christian Democracy, the Monarchist National Party and the Italian Liberal Party.

In 1977 a moderate faction of the MSI led by Covelli split away and established National Democracy (Democrazia Nazionale, DN), the first real post-fascist party in Italy. Covelli attempted to create an alliance between DN and the Christian Democracy, but electoral results were very poor and DN was eventually disbanded in 1979. ^[2]

The MSI eventually repudiated fascism in a party congress held in Fiuggi in 1995, where the party voted to disband itself and transform into National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale, AN), ^{[3] [4]} a party which has been labeled by several scholars and journalists, including academic Roger Griffin, as a "post-fascist" party. ^[5] A minority faction in the MSI, led by Pino Rauti, refused to abandon fascism and created a new party called Social Movement Tricolour Flame. ^[6]

The far-right party Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia, FdI), which was established in 2012 by several former members of AN and currently leads the government of Italy, has also been described as post-fascist party. ^{[7] [8]}

See also

• Crypto-fascism
• Jobbik
• Post-communism
• People's Alliance

References

1. "Post-fascist". thefreedictionary.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021.
2. Veneziani, Marcello (30 December 2003). "I percorsi della destra" [The paths of the right]. Marcello Veneziani (in Italian). Archived from the original on 12 May 2021.
3. "Lo strappo di Fini, il post-fascista" [The tear of Fini, the post-fascist]. La Repubblica (in Italian). 12 December 1993. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022.
4. Baldoni, Adalberto [in Italian] (2009). Storia della destra. Dal postfascismo al Popolo della libertà [History of the right. From post-fascism to the People of Freedom] (in Italian). Florence: Vallecchi. ISBN   978-88-8427-140-2 – via Google Books.
5. Griffin, R. (2007). "The 'post-Fascism' of the Alleanza Nazionale: A case study in ideological morphology". Journal of Political Ideologies . 1 (2): 123–145. doi:10.1080/13569319608420733.
6. D'Esposito, Fabrizio (2 November 2022). "Pino Rauti, chi era il missino e fascista 'rivoluzionario' che si oppose alla svolta di Fiuggi. Oggi la figlia Isabella è sottosegretaria" [Pino Rauti, who was the 'revolutionary' MSI and fascist who opposed the turnaround in Fiuggi. Today the daughter Isabella is undersecretary]. Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2 November 2022.
7. "The Guardian view on Italian post-fascists: heading for the mainstream? | Editorial". The Guardian . 31 May 2021. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
8. Winfield, Nicole (26 September 2022). "How a right-wing party of neo-fascist roots became poised to lead Italy". PBS NewsHour . Archived from the original on 15 November 2022.