Right Wing Subversive Organizations
The threat posed by terrorist organizations of neo-Fascist inspiration was second only to that of their Communist-oriented counterparts. This was true with respect to both the number of stable or occasional groupings and the seriousness of their actions). It should be noted, however, thnt the neo-Fascist (or rightist) component did not constitute a close runner-up.
Moreover, the neo-Fascist component possessed neither the clear-cut ideology and revolutionary fervor peculiar to the Communist component nor an equal sophistication in its organization and dynamics. At the same time, many of its militants dedicated themselves to the commission of common crimes as a form of adventurous living in no way related to revolutionary or otherwise ideological goals. Significantly, the terrorist right lacked the supportive structures available to its leftist counterpart.
While it is customary to refer to this sector as neo-Fascist or rightist, its cultural points of reference appear to be outside of the humanistic tradition. Its symbols, in fact, are borrowed from Nordic history and mythology. For this reason a number of qualified observers prefer to classify this component as neo-Nazi. Be that as it may, the common objective of the organizations that made up this component is the violent uprooting of the system as it now exists and its substitution with a totalitarian regime that would combine nationalistic and socialistic elements.
The contemplated new regime would presumbaly constitute the antithesis of both communism and capitalism. However, insofar as these rightist organizations have failed to produce a systematic body of theoreticalor doctrinal tracts comparable to those of the Communist organizations ranging from the BR to AUTOP, their ideology and goals surface in a very fragmented and often contradictory fashion and are generally expressed through grammatically impeachable leaflets and graffiti scrawled on the walls of city streets.
By and large, the rightist organizations variously display attitudes indicative of nationalism, anti-communism, anti-capitalism, racial superiority, anti-clericalism, rigid order, and romantic adventurism. But, notwithstanding their self-attributed status of revolutionaries, it is far from clear how the revolution is expected to come about. This was why their violent symbols and actions were looked upon as the product of "mere conceptual necessity."
Press accounts have hypothesized terrorist links between groups professing a Marxist-Leninist ideology and neo-Fascist organizations. Whereas there were no reliable reports to substantiate the existence of "red-black cells," as they have been colorfully termed, evidence emerged regarding what might be called a tacit non belligerence pact between the two ideological components.
If followed by operational developments, this might constitute an initial step toward a plan conceptualized in the late 1960's by rightist extremist Franco Freda to combine the revolutionary efforts of the right and of the left into a military strategy. Freda's design, formerly referred to in the media as "Nazi-Maoism," was subsequently espoused by Professors Claudio Mutti and Paolo Signorelli, the two best known ideologues of rightist extremism.
With respect to the terrorist right in particular, it is important not to lose sight of the distinction between political violence, which was not necessarily perpetrated through clandestine structures, and terrorism which, by current definition or connotation, always was. The Italian extreme right frequently resorted to open violence - in the form of provoctltive or retaliatory clashes with political adversaries - before as well as after the outburst of terrorism in the late 1960's. However, that practice was not part of the terrorist phenomenon. It is also worth noting that open clashes of the traditional type had become rather sporadic by the early 1980s.
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