Editing Neo-fascism (section)

=== Italy ===
{{see also|History of the Italian Republic}}
[[File:Giorgio Almirante crop.jpg|thumb|[[Giorgio Almirante]], leader of the [[Italian Social Movement]]]]
Italy was broadly divided into two political blocs following World War II: the [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democrats]], who remained in power until the 1990s, and the [[Italian Communist Party]] (PCI), which was very strong immediately after the war and achieved a large consensus during the 1970s. With the beginning of the [[Cold War]], the [[Federal government of the United States|American]] and [[Government of the United Kingdom|British governments]] turned a blind eye to the refusal of Italian authorities to honor requested extraditions of [[Italian war criminals]] to [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], which they feared would benefit the PCI. With no event such as the [[Nuremberg trials]] taking place for Italian war crimes, the collective memory of the crimes committed by Italian fascists was excluded from public media, from textbooks in Italian schools, and even from the academic discourse on the Western side of the [[Iron Curtain]] throughout the Cold War.<ref>[[Alessandra Kersevan]] 2008: (Editor) Foibe – Revisionismo di stato e amnesie della repubblica. Kappa Vu. Udine.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Pedaliu |first=Effie G. H. |author-link=Effie G. H. Pedaliu |year=2004 |title=Britain and the 'Hand-over' of Italian War Criminals to Yugoslavia, 1945–48 |url=http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/6783/ |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |volume=39 |issue=4, ''Collective Memory'' |pages=503–29 |doi=10.1177/0022009404046752 |issn=0022-0094 |jstor=4141408 |s2cid=159985182 |archive-date=9 August 2021 |access-date=1 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809222142/https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1057557 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The PCI was expelled from power in May 1947, a month before the Paris Conference on the [[Marshall Plan]], along with the [[French Communist Party]] (PCF).

In 1946, a group of [[Italian fascist]] soldiers founded the [[Italian Social Movement]] (MSI) to continue advocating the ideas of [[Benito Mussolini]]. The leader of the MSI was [[Giorgio Almirante]], who remained at the head of the party until his death in 1988. Despite attempts in the 1970s towards a "[[historic compromise]]" between the PCI and the DC, the PCI did not have a role in executive power until the 1980s. In December 1970, [[Junio Valerio Borghese]] attempted, along with Stefano Delle Chiaie, the ''[[Borghese Coup]]'' which was supposed to install a neo-fascist regime. Neo-fascist groups took part in various [[false flag]] terrorist attacks, starting with the December 1969 [[Piazza Fontana massacre]], for which [[Vincenzo Vinciguerra]] was convicted, and they are usually considered to have stopped with the 1980 [[Bologna railway bombing]].

In 1987, the reins of the MSI party were taken by [[Gianfranco Fini]], under whom in 1995 it was dissolved and transformed into the [[National Alliance (Italy)|National Alliance]] (AN). The party led by Fini distanced itself from Mussolini and fascism and made efforts to improve its relations with the Jewish community, becoming a conservative right-wing party until its merger with [[Silvio Berlusconi]]'s [[Forza Italia]] into the [[Centre-right politics|centre-right]] party [[The People of Freedom]] in 2009. Neo-fascist parties in Italy include the [[Tricolour Flame]] (''Fiamma Tricolore''), the [[New Force (Italy)|New Force]] (''Forza Nuova''), the [[National Social Front]] (''Fronte Sociale Nazionale''), and [[CasaPound]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Castelli Gattinara |first1=Pietro |last2=Forio |first2=Caterina |last3=Albanese |first3=Marco |date=1 January 2013 |title=The appeal of neo-fascism in times of crisis. The experience of CasaPound Italia |journal=Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=234–258 |doi=10.1163/22116257-00202007 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=10451/23243}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Andriola |first=Matteo Luca |url=http://www.edizionipaginauno.it/La-nuova-destra-in-Europa-seconda-edizione-Matteo-Luca-Andriola.php |title=La Nuova destra in Europa. Il populismo e il pensiero di Alain de Benoist |publisher=Edizioni paginauno |year=2019 |isbn=978-8899699369 |language=it}}</ref> The national-conservative [[Brothers of Italy]] (FdI), main heirs of MSI and AN, has been described as neo-fascist by several academics,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Benveniste |first1=Annie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mDelDAAAQBAJ |title=The Rise of the Far Right in Europe: Populist Shifts and 'Othering' |last2=Campani |first2=Giovanna |last3=Lazaridis |first3=Gabriella |publisher=Springer |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-1375-5679-0 |page=36 |access-date=5 November 2021 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Campani |first1=Giovanna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjolDwAAQBAJ |title=Understanding the Populist Shift: Othering in a Europe in Crisis |last2=Lazaridis |first2=Gabriella |date=2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-3173-2606-9 |page=45 |access-date=5 November 2021 |via=Google Books}}</ref> and it has some neo-fascist factions within their internal organization.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bruno |first1=Valerio Alfonso |last2=Downes |first2=James F. |last3=Scopelliti |first3=Alessio |date=12 November 2021 |title=Post-Fascism in Italy: 'So Why This Flame Mrs. Giorgia Meloni' |url=https://culturico.com/2021/11/12/post-fascism-in-italy-so-why-this-flame-mrs-giorgia-meloni/ |access-date=28 September 2022 |website=Cultorico}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Lowen |first=Mark |date=26 August 2022 |title=Giorgia Meloni: Far-right leader who's favourite to run Italy |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62659183 |access-date=21 September 2022 |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> The results of the [[2022 Italian general election]], in which FdI became the first party, have been variously described as Italy's first far-right-led government in the republican era and its most right-wing government since World War II.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Leali |first1=Giorgio |last2=Roberts |first2=Hannah |date=25 September 2022 |title=Italy on track to elect most right-wing government since Mussolini |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/italy-election-exit-poll-far-right-giorgia-meloni-brothers-of-berlusconi-salvini-mario-draghi/ |access-date=27 September 2022 |website=Politico}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Braithwaite |first1=Sharon |last2=DiDonato |first2=Valentina |last3=Fox |first3=Kara |last4=Mortensen |first4=Antonia |last5=Nadeau |first5=Barbie Latza |last6=Ruotolo |first6=Nicola |date=26 September 2022 |title=Giorgia Meloni claims victory to become Italy's most far-right prime minister since Mussolini |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/25/europe/italy-election-results-intl/index.html |access-date=26 September 2022 |publisher=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=26 September 2022 |title=Italy election: Meloni says center-right bloc has 'clear' mandate |url=https://www.dw.com/en/italy-election-meloni-says-center-right-bloc-has-clear-mandate/a-63233616 |access-date=26 September 2022 |publisher=Deutsche Welle}}</ref> The [[Russia-Ukraine war]] has divided the Italian [[far right]], including neo-fascists, into three clusters: the pro-Western and [[Atlanticism|Atlanticist]] extreme right (e.g. ''[[CasaPound]]''), nostalgic and pro-Putin neo-fascism ([[New Force (Italy)|New Force]]), and an ideologically evolving collection of [[National Bolshevism|National Bolshevik]] and [[Eurasianism|Eurasianist]] militants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Guerra |first=Nicola |date=2023 |title=The Russia-Ukraine war has shattered the Italian far right |journal=[[Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression]] |pages=1–21 |doi=10.1080/19434472.2023.2206468 |s2cid=258645197}}</ref> Recent studies have studied the geopolitical role of Italian neofascism with some groups participating with CIA-backing in the Strategy of Tension during the Cold War where terrorists actions were aimed to keep Italy in NATO and prevent the Communist Party from coming to power <ref>{{cite book |last=Guerra |first=Nicola |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-Italian-Far-Right-from-1945-to-the-Russia-Ukraine-Conflict/Guerra/p/book/9781032566252 |title=The Italian Far Right from 1945 to the Russia-Ukraine Conflict |publisher=Routledge |year=2024 |isbn=978-1-03-256625-2 |language=en}}</ref>