National Front (Italy)

Fronte Nazionale (Ital. National Front, abbreviated FN) is a name that has been used for several Neofascist political parties and movements in Italy.

Junio Valerio Borghese FN

The original Fronte Nazionale was founded in September 1968 by Junio Valerio Borghese who was dissatisfied by the political activities of the Italian Social Movement, of which he had held the largely ceremonial post of party President.^[1]

The new party aimed to abolish political parties and trade unions and instead to build an Italy based on corporatism, class co-operation and strong government in opposition to what they called "red terror".^[1]The Front drew many of its members from amongst the officer class and veterans thereof, groups with which Borghese was already closely linked, and co-operated closely with the Stefano Delle Chiaie's Avanguardia Nazionale and Pino Rauti's Ordine Nuovo, even sharing members with both groups.^[2] With a nationwide structure and a network of funding from business sources the Front soon had a few thousand members and even set up underground "B groups" to prepare the ground for an armed uprising.^[2]

The Front's mission was fulfilled in the Golpe Borghese, a failed coup attempt launched in December 1970, with the group disappearing soon afterwards.^[2] Like its close cousin in the National Vanguard the party was proved to have been promoting terrorism and to have been infiltrated by the Italian Secret Services which used it as a recruiting ground for expendable pawns to be used in 'wet' and 'dirty' operations which would have been outside their jurisdiction or supposed ethics (see strategy of tension).^[3]

Franco Freda FN

A second Fronte Nazionale was founded in 1990 by Franco Freda and adopted a policy against 'racial mixing' and immigration, whilst also opposing Zionism, what it called 'cosmo-politics', Zionism and the influence of the United States and international finance. This group, which published an economic journal L'antibancor, became moribund after the 1995 conviciton of Freda and 49 other members of the party under the Scelba Law which banned the refoundation of the National Fascist Party.^[4][5]

Adriano Tilgher FN

In 1997 Adriano Tilgher, a neofascist leader coming from Avanguardia Nazionale, used the title for a movement that he set up following his expulsion from Fiamma Tricolore. This group has since changed its name to Fronte Sociale Nazionale.^[6]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Franco Ferraresi, Threats to Democracy: The Radical Right in Italy After the War, Princeton University Press, 1995p. 117
2. ^ ^{a b c} Ferraresi, Threats to Democracy, p. 118
3. ^ L. Cheles, R. Ferguson & M. Vaughan (eds.), Neo-Fascism in Europe, Harlow: Longman, 1992, p. 36
4. ^ Italy December 1999
5. ^ F.G.Freda , I lupi azzurri. Documenti del Fronte Nazionale , Edizioni di Ar, 2001
6. ^ Stephen Roth Institute Italy Report 2001-2