Germany

1

• Germany
• and
• Italy

2
Germany and Italy

• Core fascist countries
• Italy the origin of Fascism fascist party in
  power 1922-1943
• Germany the origin of National Socialism
  (nazism) Third Reich 1933-1945
• Post-war extreme right successful in Italy, less
  so in Germany

3
Germany

• Several pro-nazi parties in the early post-war
  years (cf. von Beymes first phase). Six extreme
  right parties gained seats in Bundestag or
  Landtäge 1949-52
• Socialistische Reichspartei (SRP) represented in
  first Bundestag 1949, but banned by
  constitutional court 1952
• Introduction of 5 per cent threshold 1953 also
  disadvantaged extreme right

4
NPD

• Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands
• Formed in 1964, out of several extreme right
  parties and groups. Included several nazi
  veterans
• Had notable successes in Landtag elections
  1966-67 (coincided with economic recession and
  Grand Coalition)
• Failed to clear 5 per cent threshold in 1969
  Bundestag election (4.3). Then declined but
  did not disappear

5
DVU

• Deutsche Volksunion (German Peoples Union).
  Formed 1971 by newspaper editor and book
  publisher Gerhard Frey
• National-romantic and anti-immigration
• Initially not a party, but began to contest
  elections in 1987
• Has had some regional election successes, in
  Bremen and the east
• Has formed alliance with NPD

6
Die Republikaner

• Formed in 1983, by defectors from Bavarian CSU,
  critical of conciliatory policies to the then
  DDR. Party name inspired by Reagan Republicans in
  the USA
• Initially emphasis on anti-communism and
  anti-establishment protest, but took turn to the
  extreme right following takeover by Franz
  Schönhuber in 1985

7
Die Republikaner (cont.)

• Electoral breakthrough in 1989 election to the
  European parliament, with 7.1 (six seats).
• However, party group in EU parliament was riddled
  by defections
• Wrong-footed by unification in 1990. Has never
  established itself in the east
• Schönhuber replaced as leader by Rolf Schlierer
  in 1994. Schönhuber later joined DVU died in
  2005
• Some regional successes in the 1990s, but has
  declined in the 2000s

8
NPD again

• After failure in 1969, NPD turned more extremist
• Youth section of NPD had more or less open
  neo-nazi links
• Following unification, established itself in the
  east
• Attempt to outlaw the party in 2001 unsuccessful,
  following revelations of secret police
  infiltration
• Lantdag election successes in the east
• Current leader Udo Voigt

9
NPD, DVU, Republikaner

• Central issues nationalism, anti-immigration, law
  and order
• NPD, DVU successful in the east Republikaner
  seen as Wessis
• All three opposed the war in Iraq. Udo Voigt
  (NPD) "Genocide, oppression, slavery, terrorism
  has one name USA"
• All three parties have to a varying extent a
  revisionist position on the Holocaust
• NPD election slogan Gute Heimreise Jetzt (Happy
  journey home Now)

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Extreme Right Landtag representation since 1960

• Republikaner
• Baden-Württemberg 1992, 96 (West)Berlin 1989
• NPD
• Bayern 1966 Bremen 1967 Hessen 1966
  Niedersachsen 1967 Rheinland-Pfalz 1967
  Schleswig-Holstein 1967 Baden-Württemberg 1968
• Sachsen 2004 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2006
• DVU
• Bremen 1991 Brandenburg 1999, 2004
  Sachsen-Anhalt 1998

12
German extreme right leaders

• Udo Voigt (NPD) Gerhard Frey (DVU) Rolf
  Schlierer (Rep)

13
Italy

• Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI) formed in 1946.
  Openly pro-fascist. In parliament without
  interruption since 1948
• In 1960, close to political legitimacy, providing
  support for Christian Democratic government. But
  the latter pulled out after violent protests
• Giorgio Almirante (MSI leader 1946-50 and
  1969-87) advocated all or nothing approach. No
  compromises with established parties

14
From MSI to AN

• Gianfranco Fini takes over as leader in 1987
• Tangentopoli scandal leads to collapse of the
  entire Italian party and political system in the
  mid 1990s, but MSI not tainted
• Fini launches Alleanza Nationale (AN) in 1993, as
  an electoral alliance
• Alleanza Nationale becomes a fully fledged
  political party in 1995. Fini wanted to play down
  the fascist past
• Fascist loyalists defected to form MSI-Fiamma
  Tricolore

15
The post-fascist AN (i)

• Joins coalition government with Forza Italia,
  Lega Nord and others in 1994, but government
  lasts less than a year
• Steps away from fascism. 1995 congress
  declarations against racism and anti-semitism.
  Fini declares that The era of fascism is over.
  But party members keep traditional fascist views

16
The post-fascist AN (ii)

• Party joins second coalition government with
  Forza Italia, Lega Nord and others in 2001. Fini
  at pains to keep image of respectability makes
  no gaffes like Berlusconi during EU presidency
  in 2003
• Berlusconi government coalition narrowly loses
  power in 2006 election
• AN now comes across as a mainstream conservative
  party. Extreme right label primarily justified by
  its origins and history

17
The post-fascist AN (iii)

• Policies and ideology
• Institutional reforms (e.g. strengthened
  presidency, more frequent use of referendums)
• Mixed economy, with openness to state
  intervention to control the free market
• Traditional Catholic values. Promotion of family
  values, opposition against abortion
• Have in government taken comparatively liberal
  views on immigration, e.g. proposing giving
  immigrants of six years the right to vote in
  subnational elections

18
Lega Nord (i)

• Various leagues formed in Northern Italy in the
  1980s
• Unified into the Lega Nord in 1991
• LN is separatist. Wants an independent north,
  called Padania
• Strategy for independence has varied first in
  favour of a federal Italy, then wanted complete
  secession, but in 2005 accepted devolution

19
Lega Nord (ii)

• Leader since formation Umberto Bossi
• Party is very abrasive in its rhetoric against
  southern Italy, portrayed as lazy parasites
• For this and other reasons, does not see eye to
  eye with AN, but has participated in the same
  governments 1994 and 2001-2006 (although it was
  LN that caused the end of the former)
• Anti-immigration, at times very strongly

20
Lega Nord (iii)

• Policies on independence/self rule of Padania
  have shifted
• Also turned from pro-EU to EU and EMU scepticism
• Umberto Bossi an authoritarian leader, who
  accepts no dissent in the party
• Left government due to illness in 2004, but has
  made a comeback

21
Extreme right participation in Italian governments

• Happened in 1994, and again in 2001
• Did not lead to anything like the protests that
  followed the ÖVP-FPÖ government in Austria in
  2000
• The 1994 government short-lived (May-December),
  but the 2001 government lasted five years
  (re-formed in 2005)
• Neither government noted for extremist politics.
  Most controversy associated with style of, and
  scandals linked to, Berlusconi

22
The AN and LN

• Diametrically opposed in their views on the
  Italian state
• LN tries to maintain anti-establishment
  credentials, while AN is at pains to gain and
  maintain respectability
• AN at times flirted with anti-immigration, but LN
  more radical and abrasive
• Both parties supportive of the war in Iraq, being
  members of the Italian government which joined
  the alliance (MSI-FT against)

23
Other extreme right parties in Italy

• MSI-Fiamma Tricolore (Luca Romagnoli)
• Alternativa Sociale alliance in the 2004
  election to the EU parliament
• Forza Nuova (Roberto Fiore)
• Fronte Sociale Nazionale (Adriano Tilgher)
• Libertà di Azione (Alessandra Mussolini)
• Benito Mussolinis granddaughter. MEP since 2004.
  Previously in MSI and AN, but left following
  Finis criticism against fascism. Party now
  called Azione Sociale

24
The AN and LN leaders

• Gianfranco Fini Umberto Bossi

25
Membership

• Republikaner 6,000
• DVU 8,500
• NPD 7,000
• AN 250,000
• LN 150,000 (ca.)
• As a rule, extreme right parties have small
  memberships. Have taken voters from established
  parties, but not in any way been able to
  compensate the massive loss of members in the
  major parties

26
Herbert Kitschelt

• Argues that the extreme right has failed in Italy
  and Germany, due to remaining old fascist
  ideology, hence have failed to adopt winning
  formula
• But Republikaner came very close to the standard
  success model of the 1980s/90s extreme right
• Extreme right not a failure in Italy Kitschelt
  fails to pick up the surge of Lega Nord and
  trivialises constant success on MSI

27
To conclude

• Fascism less stigmatised in Italy than Nazism in
  Germany. Still, reorientation of AN a conscious
  attempt to gain legitimacy
• Questionable whether AN of today is an extreme
  right party LN more clear cut
• German self-trial of the nazi era mostly confined
  to the west extreme right seems to have more
  fertile ground in the east
• Attempt to make Republikaner a modern populist
  right party has failed, but more extremist NPD
  (and DVU) are gaining ground in the east