Republican Fascist Party Partito Fascista Repubblicano | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | PFR |
Duce | Benito Mussolini |
Secretary | Alessandro Pavolini |
Founded | 13 September 1943 |
Dissolved | 2 May 1945 (Disbanded) 22 December 1947 (Banned) |
Preceded by | National Fascist Party |
Succeeded by | Italian Social Movement (Not legal successor) |
Headquarters | Piazza San Sepolcro, 20123 Milan, Lombardy, Italian Social Republic |
Paramilitary wing | Black Brigades |
Armed wing | National Republican Army |
Membership (1943) | 900,000 |
Ideology | Italian Fascism • Italian nationalism[1][2][3][4] • National conservatism[1][2][3][5] • Social conservatism[6][7][8] • Revolutionary nationalism[9][10] • Antisemitism[11][12] • Anti-liberalism[13][14] • Anti-communism[15] • Anti-capitalism[16] • Anti-monarchism • Republicanism[citation needed] |
Political position | Far-right[17] |
Colours | Black |
Party flag | |
The Republican Fascist Party (Italian: Partito Fascista Repubblicano, PFR) was a political party in Italy led by Benito Mussolini during the German occupation of Central and Northern Italy and was the sole legal and ruling party of the Italian Social Republic. It was founded as the successor to the National Fascist Party while incorporating anti-monarchism, as they considered King Victor Emmanuel III to be a traitor after his signing of the surrender to the Allies.
After the Nazi-engineered Gran Sasso raid liberated Mussolini, the National Fascist Party (PNF) was revived on 13 September 1943 as the Republican Fascist Party (PFR) and as the single party of the Northern and Nazi-protected Italian Social Republic, informally known as the Salò Republic. Its secretary was Alessandro Pavolini.
Due to the strong control of the Germans, the power of the party in the context of the Republic of Salò was always very limited. In order to obviate this inherent weakness, the party tried to obtain the support of the few strata of the population who still sympathized with fascism.[18] In the provinces under the control of the Germans it was organized into three entities called Administrative, Assistance and Political.[19] The Assistance, also called the National Fascist Assistance Body, was formed in early October 1943. In the minds of the party leaders, the Assistance was to be a continuation of the powerful cadres of militants and volunteers of the former National Fascist Party.[19]
The PFR did not outlast Mussolini's execution and the disappearance of the Salò state in April 1945. However, it inspired the creation of the Italian Social Movement (MSI)[20] and the MSI has been seen as the successor to the PFR and the PNF.[21] The MSI was formed by former Fascist leaders and veterans of the National Republican Army of the Salò republic.[22] The party tried to modernise and revise fascist doctrine into a more moderate and sophisticated direction.[23]
Giuseppe PizziraniRome until April 1944, when he was named Deputy Secretary of the national party organization.[24]
led the PFR organization inPFR sought to reconnect the new party with the pre-1922 early radical fascism. This move attracted parts of the fascist 'Old Guard', who had been sidelined after Mussolini had come to power in 1922. The new party was, however, internally divided with different internal tendencies vying for Mussolini's support. And whilst the PFR revived some of the early revolutionary fascist discourse, it did not return to the anti-clerical positions of the early fascist movement.[25]
Main article: List of secretaries of Italian Fascist parties |