Italian Neo-Fascism: The Strategy of Tension and the Politics of Non-Reconciliation

193 Pages·2007·0.826 MB·English

by  Anna Cento Bull

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Italian Neofascism
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To David
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Italian Neofascism
The Strategy of Tension and the
Politics of Nonreconciliation
Anna Cento Bull
Berghahn Books
New York • Oxford
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First published in 2007 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
©2007, 2012 Anna Cento Bull
First paperback edition published in 2012
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cento Bull, Anna, 1951-
Italian neofascism : the strategy of tension and the politics of
nonreconciliation / Anna Cento Bull.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84545-335-0 (hbk) -- ISBN 978-0-85745-174-3 (pbk)
1. Fascism--Italy. 2. Terrorism--Italy. 3. Italy--Politics and government--
1976-1994. I. Title.
JC481.C39 2007
324.245'038--dc22
2007044679
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Printed in the United States on acid-free paper
ISBN 978-0-85745-174-3 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-85745-450-8 (ebook)
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Contents
List of Abbreviations vii
Preface viii
Acknowledgements x
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Part I: Villains? The Judicial Truth
Introduction to Part I 19
Chapter 2 The Role of Italian Neofascism in Stragismoand
the Strategy of Tension 29
Chapter 3 The Role of the Armed Forces and Intelligence
Structures 45
Chapter 4 Interpretations of the Strategy of Tension in
Accordance with Judicial Findings 62
Conclusion to Part I 80
Part II: Victims? The Truth According to the
Neo- and Postfascist Right
Introduction to Part II 87
Chapter 5 Narratives of Victimhood: The Right’s
Reconstructions and Interpretations of Stragismo 96
Chapter 6 The Self-narratives of Extreme-right Protagonists
of the Political Conflict 127
Conclusion to Part II 158
Chapter 7 Conclusion 164
Bibliography 169
Index 179
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List of Abbreviations
AN Avanguardia Nazionale
BR Brigate Rosse
DC Democrazia Cristiana
DS Democratici di Sinistra
GAP Gruppi di Azione Partigiana
MAR Movimento di Azione Rivoluzionaria
MS-FT Movimento Sociale-Fiamma Tricolore
MSI Movimento Sociale Italiano
NAR Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari
NDS Nuclei Territoriali di Difesa dello Stato
ON Ordine Nuovo
PCI Partito Comunista Italiano
PDS Partito Democratico della Sinistra
PSI Partito Socialista Italiano
TP Terza Posizione
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Preface
This has been without doubt the most difficult book I have written to date. It is
also a different book from the one I had planned to write.
I lived in Italy in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and again between 1978 and
1985, and was deeply affected by the events of those years, starting with the
bombing attack of 12 December 1969, at Piazza Fontana, Milan. Since then, I
have repeatedly tried to make sense of the many massacres of innocent civilians
(stragismo)carried out in Italy during the period of the Cold War. Following the
most recent investigations and trials, I believed that it was now possible to
achieve a balanced, evidence-based reconstruction of stragismo and the Strategy
of Tension. The latter used the massacres as means, aimed at creating an atmos-
phere of terror in the country, whereas the goal was some form of authoritarian
or presidential political system.
To complement existing judicial material, I decided to interview some ex-pro-
tagonists of the radical neofascist movement, as well as representatives and intel-
lectuals of the right, initially with a view to treating them as possible oral sources,
particularly in view of the demise of the old neofascist party, the Movimento
Sociale Italiano (MSI), and its transformation into a democratic party, Alleanza
Nazionale, which has distanced itself from both fascism and neofascism. However,
it soon became clear that the stories they were prepared to tell did not constitute
sources for reconstructing the past, but a plurality of voices through which a shared
representation of a ‘community of belonging’ was being affirmed and deeply felt
grievances were being expressed. While I found it very difficult to relate to the
reconstructions put forward by the right, given that I come from the opposite side
of the political spectrum and was unprepared to be faced with such uncompro-
mising attitudes, I also wanted as much as possible to understand their positions.
The result has been this book, which is by necessity a book of two halves,
rather than a comprehensive reconstruction of stragismo. In Part I, I have assem-
bled the main evidence concerning the massacres as unearthed by successive judi-
cial investigations and trials. I have also explored the reconstructions of stragismo
and the Strategy of Tension put forward by a number of well-established and rep-
utable, mainly left-of-centre, professional and scholarly people, as well as a lead-
ing witness for the prosecution, himself a neofascist. Despite significant
differences of interpretation, the trial findings and these people’s reconstructions
have one thing in common: that the massacres were carried out by radical neo-
fascist groups.
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Preface ix
In Part II, I examine the reconstructions put forward by the neo- and post-
fascist right, which reverse the previous interpretations. I consider their narratives
primarily as ‘narratives of victimhood’, whereby the neofascists are constructed as
victims, as opposed to perpetrators, of stragismoand the Strategy of Tension. To
an extent they are also codified narratives which leave little room for a critical
reappraisal of the past. One example is that of Stefano Delle Chiaie, who in
1997, during a hearing of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, stated, with
reference to his ‘wronged’ image, that ‘Fantasy, plus more fantasy, plus archival
news create the monster’. When I met him outside the block of flats where I
would interview him, in October 2005, he greeted me with the same words,
thereby clearly indicating that his story was not going to change in any signifi-
cant way from his previous renditions.
Finally, I explore the reasons for this clear-cut division of opinions and narra-
tives, and I consider its wider political significance.
In many ways, therefore, this is not the book I intended to write. It is, how-
ever, the only one that I could write given the current state of the judicial process
and of political relations in Italy. I hope that one day it will become possible to
write the original book I had in mind.