Italian Fascist Ideology: A Comparative Analysis

For many years the Italian population has not been able to face its turbulent fascist past. On the one hand Italians have for a long time hid behind fascists and blamed them for the tragedy of WWII. On the other hand, the Italian population has never truly hindered the resistance of fascist ideology after war. This silent behavior has helped in different cases the resistance and enabled it to tenere accesa la fiammella. This complete indifference of the Italian population for its clandestine past has led different revisionist historians to reconsider the mass consent towards fascism and its ideals (Mammone 295). Nevertheless, it is important to understand why a country that puts the principle of antifascism in its constitution, and still presents

First, she points out that ignorance on 20th century Italian history is a common denominator in the Italian population. Although, the country condemns the brutality of the regime, the Italian education system barely touches these arguments in classes. In addition, some people accuse the state of being too historically revisionist on the dark years of the fascist regime. Second, professor Wilcox suggests, that Italy did not experienced an Italian Nuremberg Trial. In fact, although all the crimes carried out by Mussolini and his regime have been well documented, there has never been an official and final case that elevated all the proofs and officially condemned the regime for all the atrocities committed. Third, Wilcox concludes, that after the war there has not been a real and effective purge. In fact, as previously discussed in the paper, different important personalities of the fascist party infiltrated the Italian political system after the

In other words, Italy after WWII presents a physiologic and cyclical attraction to far-right ideologies. Scholars like Cas Muddle and Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser have analyzed the far-right movements for long time, and concluded that in Italy and most European countries far right movements are populist and exclusionary (167). As other European countries, Italy is facing today another wave of far right populism. It is important to highlight that these populist movements are not a threat to democratic system. On the contrary, they tend to give voice to the voiceless, and support people who are at the margin (Smith). Nevertheless, these movements are a threat to the Italian population overall, because of their use of violence and direct recall to the fascist ideology. Neo fascist movements today act as the camice nere did in the past, they tend to eradicate violence inside their militants and lead them to commit extreme actions. In addition, every time these movements become popular, there is a widespread awakening of the revisionist movement on the fascist ideology and the Ventennio