Sacrifice: My Life in a Fascist Militia
Alessandro Orsini
Abstract
This book's author is one of Italy's premier analysts of political extremism. His investigation of the beliefs and mindsets of Europe's political fringe has largely focused on anarchist and far-left groups, but this book turns inquiry to the rapidly expanding neofascist movement. The author joined local groups of a neofascist organization he names Sacrifice in two neighboring cities with very different political cultures. This “insider” book, which features dialogues with various militia members, shows how fascists live day to day, how they understand their world, and how they build a parallel ... More
This book's author is one of Italy's premier analysts of political extremism. His investigation of the beliefs and mindsets of Europe's political fringe has largely focused on anarchist and far-left groups, but this book turns inquiry to the rapidly expanding neofascist movement. The author joined local groups of a neofascist organization he names Sacrifice in two neighboring cities with very different political cultures. This “insider” book, which features dialogues with various militia members, shows how fascists live day to day, how they understand their world, and how they build a parallel universe in which the correctness and probity of their attitudes are clear. The book describes the long, troubled process by which these two groups slowly accepted the author as an investigator-activist and later expelled him for his ideologically uncommitted stance and refusal to subject his observations to censorship. The author's activities as a fascist were often mundane: leafleting, distributing food parcels to the indigent, and attending public rallies. This book describes from within the masculine ethos of the militias, the groups' relations with local police and politicians, and the central role of violence and anticommunist actions in building a sense of fascist community.
Keywords:
political extremism,
neofascist movement,
fascists,
censorship,
public rallies,
militias,
masculine ethos,
violence,
anticommunism,
fascist community
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2017 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781501709838 |
| Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: May 2018 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9781501709838.001.0001 |
