Giorgio Almirante

Giorgio Almirante (June 27, 1914 - May 22, 1988) was an Italian politician, the founder and leader of the Italian Social Movement until his retirement in 1987.

Almirante was born at Salsomaggiore Terme, in Emilia Romagna. He spent his childhood following his parents, who worked in the stage world, in Turin and Rome. Here he studied under Giovanni Gentile, the then pre-eminent pro-fascist philosopher. He graduated in Literature in 1937.

He began his political career as a journalist for "Il Tevere", a fascist newspaper published in Rome. A minor figure in the Fascist Party, whose only claim to fame was a venomous polemic with Julius Evola on how fascist racism was to be implemented (he maintained the materialistic view of "biological racism", while his opponent preferred a more "spiritual" take on the matter) Almirante helped to organise the Italian Social Republic, being appointed Chief of Cabinet of the Minister of Culture in 1944.A second-tier figure at best even in the last throes of the Italian fascist regime Almirante was mentioned in the memoirs of an RSI veteran as "eating and talking all the way through an official dinner speaking in grandiose and cryptic terms of secret weapons and smiling to himself as he did know secrets beyond his guests' comprehension". After the collapse of the Salò Republic, Almirante, who was seen as a minor figure, set about forming the Social Movement and immediately made himself leader.

Almirante fell out of the leadership for a long period between 1954 and 1969, when Arturo Michelini took charge and began to move the party more towards the Monarchists and Christian Democrats. During this time he became leader of what was sometimes called the 'leftist' faction within the party, that sought to establish Fascism as a cure for economic woes. By this time Almirante had largely broken with the spiritual dimensions of Julius Evola, a man of whom he had previously been a staunch follower (evidently having negotiated a truce with the paralytic far-right "wizard" after their late 30s polemic; leadership of the Evola wing fell to terrorist agitator Pino Rauti).

After Michelini's death in 1969, Almirante returned to the leadership and demonstrated a new moderation in leadership, removing Fascist symbols in 1970, declaring an acceptance of the democratic system in Italy and overseeing a merger with some monarchist groups in 1973. Guiding the party in the 1970s and 1980s, Almirante also groomed his successor Gianfranco Fini.

Feeling that the party was being run as Almirante's private property, Rauti challenged the veteran leader in 1987, but was defeated at the party's annual conference. Following his victory, Almirante stepped down and handed over the reins to his protege Fini. Fini initially mismanaged the old leader's legacy, being voted out of office by the revived Rauti who held the reins of the party for a brief tenure (1990-1991). The young "dolphin" however regained the upper hand after a disastrous electoral debacle.

Almirante was thrice relieved from parliamentary immunity; in 1979, he was charged with trying to revive the Fascist Party; in 1981 and 1984, he was charged with aiding and abetting Carlo Cicuttini, who fled Italy after a 1972 Peteano car bomb that killed three policemen, but Almirante received amnesty under a 1987 law. [cite news | title = Italian Neo-Fascist Leader Loses Parliamentary Immunity | publisher = Associated Press | date = 1984-01-18] [cite news | title = Giorgio Almirante, Italian Neo-Fascist, Dies at 73 | publisher = The New York Times | date = 1988-05-23]

He died in Rome on May 22 1988 aged 73.

References

External links

* [http://biografie.leonardo.it/biografia.htm?BioID=195&biografia=Giorgio+Almirante Biography and photo] it icon

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