‘From Brest to Bucharest’: Neofascist transnational networks during the long 1970s

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the transnational neofascist network during the long 1970s. Specifically, it revolves around the period between the consolidation of the generational change (made explicit in 1968), and the beginning of the 1980s, when many of these political actors decided to migrate to South America, increasingly aware of the shortcomings of their European project. From a spatial perspective, this paper concentrates on the concept of a ‘Third Force Europe’, paying particular attention to Latin connections, especially France, Italy, Spain and Portugal – countries which remained at the forefront of the network. The main premise will be that the new generation of neofascist militants that was beginning to dominate the political stage during the 1960s was dissatisfied with the old ways in which neofascist groups were conducting politics, thus becoming determined to find a place to be politically active outside the traditional parties; in fact, they needed to find their own political space vis-à-vis the more nostalgic older generation. This physical space would eventually be found in Italy, Spain, Portugal and many Latin American countries which had offered a safe refuge for the older fascists who had wanted not only to escape, but also to settle down and consolidate a series of political and personal relationships which they had established over the past two decades. From a strategic perspective, the growing dissatisfaction would also create a new form of struggle: black terrorism. This terrorism became widespread in Europe in the late 1960s and 1970s and, as a result of this, many neofascists were forced to flee their countries to find refuge, once again, in Spain, Portugal and Latin America. This diaspora would further enhance transnational neofascist cooperation that would reach one of its high points between 1969 and 1981.