Italian Social Movement
The
Italian Social Movement (
Movimento sociale italiano ) (
MSI) was a
neo-Fascist party formed
1946 in the post-
World War II period by supporters of the executed dictator
Benito Mussolini under the lead of
Giorgio Almirante. It was dissolved in
January 1995 by
Gianfranco Fini, who founded the
Alleanza Nazionale (AN), which embraced
neoliberalism and claimed to respect democratic rules. Other hardliners founded the
Fiamma Tricolore,
Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of
Il Duce, founded the
Alternativa Sociale coalition. Furthermore, Gaetano Saya, leader of the outlawed
Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies (DSSA), founded the
Nuovo Movimento Sociale Italiano - Destra Nazionale in 2000. Several members or close partners of the MSI were involved in Italy's
strategy of tension during the "
anni di piombo" ("lead years").
For many of its supporters,
MSI was both a reference to the
Italian Social Republic, a
Nazi puppet state in northern Italy also known as the
Republic of Salò, and could also mean "
Mussolini
sei
immortale", or "Mussolini you are immortal".
The neofascist
Movimento Sociale Italiano was relegated to a state of paralegality because it refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the new republic; it was therefore found at once inside and outside the post-war party system. The MSI was the keeper of the fascist torch mostly in a nostalgic mode, loyal to the fascism of the Republic of Salò.
An array of themes remained nearly identical for forty years which incuded:
* advocacy of the
third way in between liberal capitalism and social-communism;
* rejection of the party system;
* intransigent
anticommunism;
* appeals for a strong
executive branch;
* support for aggressive government intervention in the social sphere;
* opposition to the guiding role of
superpowers in international politics.
MSI's national election results were around the 5 %. Its members were mostly of the southern underclass and the rural
oligarchy and in the
1970s from the urban
middle classes.
In
1956,
Pino Rauti founded the
Ordine Nuovo terrorist group, which carried on the December 1969
Piazza Fontana bombing, which started the Italian "
lead years" (
anni di piombo).
Stefano Delle Chiaie, a member of MSI, founded
Avanguardia Nazionale, which also took part in the
strategy of tension. As a member of
Armed Revolutionary Nuclei, an offshoot from
Ordine Nuovo, Stefano Delle Chiaie was involved in the 1980
Bologna massacre, which is generally considered to be one of the last important bombings of the
anni di piombo. Furthermore,
Junio Valerio Borghese, who attempted a coup in 1970 (known as the
Golpe Borghese with Stefano Delle Chiaie and
Licio Gelli, headmaster of
Propaganda Due (P2) masonic lodge), quit the MSI, which he considered too soft, to found the
Fronte Nazionale. As Stefano Damian Marley Chiaie's National Vanguard party, it was later proved to be infiltrated by members of the
Italian intelligence agencies, whom were involved in
false flags operations, coordinated by
Gladio. 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing and the 1980 Bologna train-station massacre are examples of such "false flags" operations, which aimed at terrorizing the Italian population into voting for an authoritative government, while blaming the attacks on far-left groups, in order to discredit the
Italian Communist Party (PCI). Gladio, which was NATO's secret "stay-behind" paramilitary organizations during the Cold War, has been also alleged of being ultimately responsible for the assassination of
Aldo Moro, leader of the Christian-Democracy, in 1978. The leader of the Italian intelligence services, member of P2, was accused of negligency during the negotiations with the Second
Red Brigades, who had kidnapped the Italian premier
[ Daniele Ganser, "Terrorism in Western Europe: An Approach to NATO's Secret Stay-Behind Armies" in Winter/Spring 2005 Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations '' ].
Gianfranco Fini took over the party leadership from
Giorgio Almirante in
1987 and set about modernising the party (except for a brief spell between
1989 and
1990 when Pino Rauti, who had returned to the MSI in 1969, was leader). In January
1995 Fini officially proclaimed the party's dissolution as well as the abandonment of the ideological stances, symbols, gestures and salutes that had closely identified it with the Mussolinian past.
He announced the foundation of the
Alleanza Nazionale ("National Alliance" - AN), a
neoliberal right-wing movement which claimed to be committed to the democratic process, centrist in orientation and opposed in its constitution to antisemitism, xenophobia and racism.
The
Fiamma Tricolore was born from the more hardline right-wing members of the party. On one hand, National Alliance (AN)
members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have joined the Parliament's
Union for Europe of the Nations Group (UEM). On the other hand, MEPs from the
Fiamma Tricolore have remained unattached to any European parliamentary group. Other well-known party members have included
Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of Benito Mussolini. In
1997,
Adriano Tilgher founded the
Fronte Sociale Nazionale as a breakaway faction from the
Fiamma Tricolore.
In November
2004, after Gianfranco Fini visited Israel in the function of Italian deputy prime minister and described fascism as "an absolute evil", Alessandra Mussolini, left the party together with some hardliners and founded the
Alternativa Sociale coalition, which included Adriano Tilgher's
Fronte Sociale Nazionale. However, Gianfranco Fini later specified that the expression "absolute evil" only referred to the racial laws.
Gaetano Saya, leader of the outlawed
Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies (DSSA), founded the
Nuovo Movimento Sociale Italiano - Destra Nazionale in 2000. Gaetano Saya and Ricardo Sindocca, the other DSSA leader, both claimed to be former members of
Gladio, NATO's secret "stay-behind" paramilitary organizations involved in
false flags terrorists attacks during the
anni di piombo.
* Roberto Chiarini:
"The ‘Movimento Sociale Italiano': A Historical Profile" in
Neo-Fascism in Europe.
* Betz,
Radical Right Wing Populism in Western Europe, op.cit., p 41.
*
Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies (DSSA), under investigations since July 2005 for having constituted a "parallel police" network.
*
Extreme Right in Europe: A Comparative Study of Recent Trends (pdf)*
collection of MSI posters
