On March 23, 2019, Italy's neo-fascist community celebrated the centennial of the founding of Benito Mussolini's Fasci italiani di combattimento (Italian Fighting Squads) movement in Milan's Piazza San Sepolcro, which marked the beginning of Fascism's march to power in Italy.
This poster, produced by CasaPound Italia's (House of [Ezra] Pound Italy, CPI) neo-fascist youth group, Blocco Studentesco (Student Bloc, BS), features a collage of different images from both the interwar decades and the twenty-first century (see also Fig. 2). In the foreground, the viewer is presented with a 1930s-era illustration of one of the Duce's militiamen, who is seen gripping onto what appears to be a gladius – a type of sword used by Roman soldiers dating back to the third century BCE – while delivering a Roman salute, which is cropped just beyond the poster's upper-right border. Above said gladius, a Lictor's Fasces – the symbol of interwar Fascism, which, although originating in ancient Rome, stood for both national strength and the power of the Fascist State to execute its "totalitarian" will over the body politic – hovers over an outlined map of the Italian peninsula, subtly suggesting an imagined synonymy between Fascism and the national community (N/D). Behind this interwar illustration, the viewer is presented with a number of scenes from BS' various twenty-first-century demonstrations, rallies, and marches. Just below these images, the viewer is shown the dates of Fascism's centennial – 1919-2019 – along with BS' official symbol, the so-called "flash and circle," which originated with Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists (Fig. 3). Lastly, a prominent quote by Mussolini is emblazoned across the top-left-hand-side of the poster, reading: Fascism is "La più audace, la più originale e la più mediterannea ed europea delle idee" (The most audacious, the most original and the most Mediterranean and European of ideas).* When all of these separate elements are interpreted together, this poster's carefully-staged ideological statement is unmistakable: Not only is Fascism viewed as a national heritage, proudly shared in common by all Italians, but Italy's neo-fascist community is responsible for keeping the tricolor flame of Fascism alive in the officially anti-fascist Italian Republic.
BS' poster was not the only way in which CPI and Italy's other neo-fascist organizations celebrated the centennial of the founding of Mussolini's Italian Fighting Squads (Figs. 4 and 5). For example, Zetazeroalfa – a neo-fascist rock 'n roll band closely affiliated with CPI – produced a commemorative poster, which is featured in this collection.
* The Italian word "mediterranea" is spelled with two R's and one N, as opposed to how BS' poster spells it, with one R and two N's.
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