David Broder, editor of the transform! europe yearbook, Europe editor at JACOBIN, will present his new book “Mussolini’s Grandchildren” on 17 May, 19:00 CET at the transform! europe coordination office in Vienna. You are cordially invited to attend!
The fastest-rising force in Italian politics is Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia – a party with a direct genealogy from Mussolini’s regime. Surging to prominence in recent years, it has waged a fierce culture war against the Left, polarised political debate around World War II, and even secured the largest vote share in Italy’s 2022 general election. Eighty years after the fall of Mussolini, his heirs and admirers are again on the brink of taking power. So how exactly has this situation come about?
Mussolini’s Grandchildren delves into Italy’s self-styled ‘post-fascist’ movements – rooted in historical fascism yet claiming to have ‘transcended’ it. David Broder highlights the reinventions of far-right politics since the Second World War, and examines the interplay between a parliamentary face aimed at integrating fascists into the mainstream, and militant fringe groups which, despite their extremism, play an important role in nurturing the broader far right.
Fratelli d’Italia has retained its hegemony over fascist subcultures whilst embracing a raft of more pragmatic policy positions, fusing harsh Islamophobia and anti-communism with support for the European Union and NATO. As countervailing anti-fascist forces in Italian society wane, the far-right party’s mission to redeem historical fascism, legitimise its political heirs and shift the terrain of mainstream politics is proving alarmingly successful.
Italy is not the only country in Europe where the extreme right is on the rise. Right-wing populists and post-fascists are also gaining ground in Austria, Hungary, Poland, France, Estonia and Germany. How can their rise be explained? And to what extent do they threaten democracy in Europe? What can be done about it?
David Broder, editor of the yearbook of transform! europe, Europe editor at JACOBIN and presents his new book “Mussolini’s Grandchildren”.
Where: transform! europe coordination office, Gusshausstraße 14-3, 1040 Wien
When: 17 May, 19:00 (CET)
Language: English
Organised and supported by: transform! europe, KPÖ Wien, ksv lili (Union of Communist Students), Junge Linke Wien
Click here for a detailed book review by Franco Ferrari, Italian historian and political scientist.