NCJ Number
60883
Journal
Terrorism Volume: 2 Issue: 3 AND 4 Dated: SPECIAL ISSUE (1979) Pages: 231-259
Date Published
1979
Length
29 pages
Annotation
THE MEANING AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ITALIAN FASCIST VIOLENCE DURING THE TWO PERIODS OF MAJOR POLITICAL CRISIS ARE EXAMINED.
Abstract
A COMPARISON OF THE PATTERN OF FASCIST ATTACKS DURING THE POST-WORLD WAR I ERA AND THE ACTS OF NEO-FASCIST VIOLENCE FROM THE LATE 1960'S INDICATES SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCES WITH RESPECT TO THE TARGETS THE FASCISTS CHOSE TO ASSAULT IN THE TWO ERAS. MUCH OF THE INITIAL WAVE OF FASCIST VIOLENCE WAS DIRECTED AGAINST PEASANTS, WORKERS, AND THE EMPLOYMENT-RELATED ORGANIZATIONS THAT SOUGHT TO ACT ON THEIR BEHALF. HOWEVER, TARGETS OF NEO-FASCIST VIOLENCE HAVE BEEN UNIVERSITY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS, GROUPS WHICH WENT UNSCATHED DURING THE 'DOPOGUERRA'. ITALY DURING THE 1970'S IS RADICALLY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IT WAS 60 YEARS EARLIER; IT HAS BECOME MORE URBAN AND INDUSTRIALIZED. NATIONALISM IS NO LONGER A WIDELY HELD VALUE, BUT NEO-FASCISM ATTEMPTS TO DEMONSTRATE A CONTINUITY WITH THE PAST BY DENOUNCING GOVERNMENTAL INEPTITUDE DEMANDING THE RESTORATION OF ORDER. THE MAJOR ACTS OF NEO-FASCIST VIOLENCE DURING THE 1960'S AND 1970'S WERE NOT ISOLATED EVENTS; THEY WERE PART OF A PATTERN OF GREATLY UNDERREPORTED VIOLENT CRIMES. AN EXAMINATION OF THIS PATTERN SUGGESTS THAT COMMUNISTS AND LEFT-WING PARTIES AT UNIVERSITIES WERE FREQUENTLY ATTACKED WITH BOMBS, WHILE STUDENTS AND WORKERS WERE ASSAULTED WITH GUNS AND KNIVES. NOTABLY, THE MOST FREQUENT TARGET OF THE EXTRAPARLIMENTARY LEFT WAS THE NEO-FASCIST MOVEMENT. BASED ON ITS CHOICE OF TARGETS, THE NEO-FASCIST MOVEMENT DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE AN ANTI-WORKING-CLASS PHENOMENON. REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (TWK)