1st Edition
The Italian Far Right from 1945 to the Russia-Ukraine Conflict
The Italian Far Right from 1945 to the Russia–Ukraine Conflict provides a comprehensive account of the postwar parliamentary and extra parliamentary far right in Italy.
This book explores the ideology, movements and activism of the extreme right and neo- fascists. The recent victory in the Italian parliamentary elections of the ‘post-fascist’ party Fratelli d’Italia and its leader Giorgia Meloni highlights the importance of such research. The book examines why some of these movements participated with CIA- backing in the ‘Strategy of Tension’ in the years of the Cold War where terrorist actions aimed to keep Italy in NATO and prevent the Communist Party from coming to power, while other extreme- right groups vehemently opposed this and what they considered the dangerous ‘Americanization’ of the country. It debunks the myth that there was a unified postwar fascist movement in Italy, but instead excavates the complex battles within the extreme right as well as with their opponents from the left, and the authorities. This study is necessary to clarify the history and ideological dynamics of a political area still too often shrouded in mystery and whose geopolitical role is still poorly understood and generally underestimated. The analysis is contextualized in the present day by looking at the different perspectives of the Italian far right on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The book will be of interest to researchers of political history, the Cold War and Italian history and politics.
Introduction: The Complexity of Italian Neo- Fascism and the Extreme Right after the Second World War
1 Ideological and Political Inhomogeneity of the Italian Far Right During the Years of Lead
2 Conceptual and Operational Structure of the Strategy of Tension: Ordine Nuovo (ON), Avanguardia Nazionale (AN) and the Italian and American Secret Services
3 Redating the Strategy of Tension to 1947 and the Los Angeles Net Project: The ‘Bands of Revolutionary Action’ [Fasci di Azione Rivoluzionaria] and the American Intelligence
4 Hate Speech of the Opposing Extremisms During the Years of Lead: A Late and Precarious Truce
5 Giovane Europa (GE): An Ideological Classification to be Corrected ・ The Origin of National Bolshevism
6 The Second Neo- Fascist Generation of the Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari (NAR) and Terza Posizione (TP): Anarcho- Fascism Versus Extreme Right- Wing Hierarchism
7 The Esoteric Neo- Nazi Group Ludwig and Its Relations with Other Far- Right Organizations
8 Eowyn Magazine (1976・ 1982) and the Personalizing Feminism of Neo- Fascist Women
9 The Russia・ Ukraine War Explodes the Historical Contradictions of the Far Right: Militants of Different Radical Groups Fight Each Other at the Ukrainian Front
10 Italian Foreign Fighters of the Extreme Right and Left on the Ukrainian Front
11 Ideological, Historical and Methodological Conclusions: Three Neo- Fascist Generations Between the Atlanticist Extreme Right, the Europeanist Anti- American and Third- Worldist National Bolshevism, the Anarcho- Fascism and the Nostalgic Neo- Fascism
Biography
Nicola Guerra is Adjunct Professor at the University of Turku, Finland. He holds a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Pisa, a PhD in Italian Language and Culture and the title of Docent in Italian History and Society from the University of Turku. His research interests include: Political violence and radicalism; far right; far left; political terrorism in post-war Europe; the history of extremist ideologies; language and ideology nexus, hate- speech, hooliganism, social movements and urban subcultures.
“This book is a fascinating analysis of an important period of European political history. This detailed and rigorous scholarship is a valuable resource for historians and political scientists.”
Nell Bennett, Macquarie University, Australia
"This book is a must for anyone interested in the extreme right in Europe from a contemporary historical and social science perspective. The great importance of neo- fascist and right- wing extremist groups in Italy is presented over decades in its historical and political references – especially with a view to the Strategy of Tension and the Years of Lead.”
Fabian Virchow, University of Applied Sciences Dusseldorf, Germany
