Republican Fascist Party


The Republican Fascist Party was a political party in Italy led by Benito Mussolini during the German occupation of Central and Northern Italy and was the sole legal and ruling party of the Italian Social Republic. It was founded as the successor of former National Fascist Party as an anti-monarchist party. It considered King Victor Emmanuel III to be a traitor after he had signed the surrender to the Allies.

History

After the Nazi-engineered Gran Sasso raid liberated Mussolini, the National Fascist Party was revived on 13 September 1943 as the Republican Fascist Party and as the single party of the Northern and Nazi-protected Italian Social Republic, informally known as the Salò Republic. Its secretary was Alessandro Pavolini.
The PFR did not outlast Mussolini's execution and the disappearance of the Salò state in April 1945. However, it inspired the creation of the Italian Social Movement and the MSI has been seen as the successor to the PFR and the PNF. The MSI was formed by former Fascist leaders and veterans of the National Republican Army of the Salò republic. The party tried to modernise and revise fascist doctrine into a more moderate and sophisticated direction.
led the PFR organization in Rome until April 1944, when he was named Deputy Secretary of the national party organization.

Ideology

PFR sought to reconnect the new party with the pre-1922 early radical fascism. This move attracted parts of the fascist 'Old Guard', who had been sidelined after Mussolini had come to power in 1922. The new party was, however, internally divided with different internal tendencies vying for Mussolini's support. And whilst the PFR revived some of the early revolutionary fascist discourse, it did not return to the anti-clericalism positions of the early fascist movement.

Secretary of the Republican Fascist Party