What is Nazi-Maoism?

A short explanation of one of the fastest growing trends in Neofascism.

Nazi-Maoism is an ideology that emerged in 1968 Italy among organizations of Fascist students and led by Franco Freda. Freda and the Nazi-Maoists were alleged to have committed many acts of terrorism (which they probably were.) Because of this Freda was jailed many times but was eventually acquitted. In 1969 Freda laid out his concepts, ideology, methods, and beliefs in his manifesto called: Disintegration of the System.

picture of Freda

In this work Freda broke from the traditional Fascist and Far-Right concept of ultra-anticommunism by supporting a strategic alliance with the revolutionary Left to destroy the Liberal establishment. Freda saw the Centrist establishment as the biggest opponent to Fascism. Because of this he opposed the moderate wing of the Italian Social Movement (MSI) and attempted to ally with the Communists. Some Communist groups had a similar approach and wanted Fascism to take power so that the Communists could become “the party of resistance” again. Nazi-Maoists allied with Communist and Leftist governments and rebel groups in Argentina, Africa, China, North Vietnam ,Palestine, Korea , and other areas of the world. Freda wanted Italy to reject allying with the Atlanticist powers of NATO and the Soviet Warsaw Pact and instead to ally with the Non-Aligned Movement and the third world. This rejection of both the Warsaw Pact and NATO along with his endorsing of Maoist guerilla strategies was what got him labeled a Nazi-Maoist. He eventually embraced the term.

Freda didn’t just want to ally with the Communists for strategic reasons but also for his ideological similarity with Marxism-Leninism. Freda strongly opposed the bourgeoisie class and considered it the greatest threat and vermin in Italy. He broke from the old Fascist conception of class collaboration and instead advocated for the destruction of the bourgeoisie class and the implementation of a proletarian popular state that would be of, by, and for the proletariat. 

Freda wanted a Maoist-style economy. He, unlike most Fascists historically, wanted to abolish private property, barring small personal goods, and put all property into the hands of the state. Small personal goods would become the patrimony of the state. He said in Disintegration of the System:

“For the organization of the popular state, the elimination of private property under all its forms will be necessary, the sole exceptions being represented by individual consumable goods. Property should only be public and particular goods will become part of the patrimony of the state.”

 He wanted all small farming properties to be socialized into “agricultural combines” which would be run by workers and the state and would function as co-operatives. Industrial factories would be run by workers and the state. The agricultural combines and the factories would have their economic affairs managed by a regional presidium. Freda explained this by saying in Disintegration of the System:

“The operative units represented by Industrial Enterprises, Agricultural Combines, and Centers of Consumption, articulated in organic territorial units, will converge - on the level of each region - in the REGIONAL PRESIDIUM, the organ that should coordinate the different activities and guarantee the functional equilibrium of the regional unit”

Freda supported the idea of the Political Soldier which Italian esotericist and traditionalist explains in his 1934 book Revolt Against the Modern World: 

“Be radical, have principles, be absolute, be that which the bourgeoisie calls an extremist: give yourself without counting or calculating, don't accept what they call ‘the reality of life' and act in such a way that you won't be accepted by that kind of ‘life', never abandon the principle of struggle”

Freda supported this to a new extreme. His support for terrorism from both Left and Right against the Center shows us this. Freda believes (yes believes, he’s still alive) that people should be completely devoted to the revolution and Fascism even to the point of death. This idea is nothing new and is ancient and was also believed by the interwar fascists. Freda restated this idea of martyrdom because of the strong reformist and moderate tendencies of the “Extreme” Rightist organizations such as the MSI. Freda was an Accelerationist and wanted to disintegrate the system as soon as possible through terrorism and violent destabilization. Freda and his group Ordine Nuovo (New Order) were even alleged of being responsible for the Piazza Fontana bombing and other terrorist activities in Italy in the “Years of Lead” period which lasted from 1968 to 1988.

In conclusion Nazi-Maoism is a revolutionary proletarian Fascist ideology that emerged with students in North Italy in the late 60s. It is a syncretization of Marxist-Leninist and Fascist policies and tactics and aims for the complete Disintegration of the System.