Far-right transnationalization: the example of the revolutionary movement Terza posizione

Far-right movements and parties after 1945 in Europe cannot be fully understood without the transnational dimension (Albanese and Hierro 2014). Even though the transnational level is crucial to studying this network, the majority of the historical and political science literature focusing on far right-wing movements is still national-oriented (Fenner and Weitz 2004 ; Mammone, Godin and Jenkins 2012 ; Moffitt 2017). The transnational aspect of a movement refers to different dimensions of it: issues, targets, mobilization, and organized networks across national borders characterized by exchanges, information flows, and ties between groups and individuals. Even when one of those takes a transnational dimension, the others may remain national. Since the 1980s, far-right movements have reorganized and brought the complex network of European far-right actors (groups and organizations) to a new level of transnational integration. If 1980s marked the transition from extreme far-right terrorism to the “battle for minds” (i.e. Nouvelle droite) and coincided with electoral and parliamentary success for the far right; the 1990s are characterised by the geopolitical transition that sees the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of bipolarism. Far-right has had to change and adapt itself to the international context; accordingly, the understanding of structural conditions cannot be separated from the cultural turns. Indeed, from 1980s transnational network of far-right parties and movements are part of a large mobilisation process by which they managed to politicise issues previously neglected by mainstream parties (e.g. immigration, ‘law and order’, welfare chauvinism; see Meguid 2005 ; Pirro 2014b). My paper will discuss this transnationalization of far-right through the example of the movement Terza posizione on three levels: macro (e.g. events analysis, the socio-political context), meso (e.g. organisational network, dynamics, choices, and strategies, meta-politicization and circulation of ideas), and micro levels (e.g. militant trajectories, individual motivations, life histories and experiences). Cult icon of the Italian extreme Right of the 70's, Tp was able to conjugate the juvenile rebellion with the hierarchy, the recalls to fascism with the support to the revolutionary thrusts in every corner of the world. Tp represented the culmination of a generational youth and student restlessness of the neo-fascist matrix. It introduced innovative ideas both in terms of anti-imperialist themes linked to the role of Europe as a Nation and in terms of organisation and militancy. It attracted hundreds of very young people among its ranks between 1976 and 1980 and, despite its short life, it certainly represented a moment of discontinuity and novelty compared to the extra-parliamentary experiences that had preceded it. Tp advocated European geopolitical independence through a careful equidistance between the US and the USSR. The leaders of Tp earned their share of experience with revolutionary internationalism. After the judicial and law enforcement actions some members took refuge in France and Uk. The diaspora allowed the members of Tp to forge lasting and productive links with the entire European neo-fascist world as such. Through the example of the revolutionary neo-fascist movement Terza posizione, my paper aims to explore the transnationalization of european far-right