Tomorrow’s election in Italy looks like being a watershed event. The country was of course the birthplace of fascism, a movement that went underground in 1945 but re-emerged in the 1950s in slightly modified form as the Italian Social Movement. Since then, operating under various party names, it has been a constant presence in Italian politics, polling mostly below 10 per cent and offering a home to those nostalgic for the Mussolini era or offended by the untidiness of postwar Italian political life. Now, under the name Brothers of Italy and led by Giorgia Meloni, it is polling at 25 per cent and is favourite to emerge as the largest party, making Meloni the likely prime minister, heading a coalition comprising another far-right party, the Lega, and the centre-right Forza Italia of Silvio Berlusconi.
Meloni and her party are now most frequently described as “postfascist”, a term which suggests that while they will not abolish democracy or try to reinstate fascism they are not averse to using incendiary language or courting the support of those who reject diversity or assert that “not everything Mussolini did was bad”. Their core ideology consists of nationalism, hard social conservatism and visceral hostility to immigrants.
Italy has been politically volatile for some time. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement enjoyed a spectacular ascent from the 2013 election onwards but now seems a spent force. Berlusconi’s party has long been losing ground to the far right. Meloni’s current surge in polling is not unconnected to the fact that she has never been ‘tainted’ by government.
This lack of experience, apparently a plus with the electorate, is seen as a minus elsewhere and Meloni has been anxiously trying to convince her European partners that she is competent to govern. Concerns, however, are not confined to the economic sphere; there are also fears that a Meloni victory could embolden thuggish elements to further engage in violence against immigrants and other vulnerable minorities. A “postfascist” government would represent a backward step for Italy, and a dangerous one.