The Common Man's Front ( it, Fronte dell'Uomo Qualunque, UQ), also translated as Front of the Ordinary Man, was a short-lived

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establ ...

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

and anti-communist political party in Italy. It was formed shortly after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and participated in the first post-war election for the constituent assembly in 1946. Its leader was the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

writer

Guglielmo Giannini Guglielmo Giannini (14 October 1891 – 10 October 1960) was an Italian politician, journalist, writer, director and dramaturge. Biography Guglielmo Giannini was born in Pozzuoli, by Federico Giannini and Mary Jackson, and grew up in Naples ...

, and its symbol was the banner of Giannini's newspaper ''L'Uomo qualunque'' ("The Common Man").

Position and structure

The party opposed the broad alliance of anti-fascist parties united in the

National Liberation Committee The National Liberation Committee ( it, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against Nazi Germany’s forces during the German occup ...

s (CLN) and ranging from the

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

to the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

as well as the occupation by the Allies. Leader Giannini found the difference between the disempowered fascists and the new rulers of the anti-fascist parties in the CLN negligible. For him, both camps were interested in abstract ideologies and social engineering rather than in the actual needs of the ordinary people. His newspaper attacked and ridiculed politicians of all democratic and anti-fascist parties. After the fascist totalitarianism in which politics dominated all aspects of the society, the Front promoted an

apolitical Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased po ...

position. It mainly attracted voters from the middle classes, especially in Southern Italy, who were tired of politics and ideologies. Moreover, it appealed to southern peasants. In parts, it was a vehicle for its financial backers who were established southern dignitaries and ex-fascists who had not been admitted to the

Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy. The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor part ...

. The party rejected the partial and ineffective cleansing of the public service of former fascists, which they perceived as unfair, because important persons and institutions compromised with the old regime were spared. The success of the party reflected many Italians' refusal to think about the rise and resilience of fascism and to accept their responsibility. It could benefit from the southerners' long-established dislike of the central government and the twenty years of political diseducation by the Fascists. In the constitutional referendum of 1946 it advocated to maintain the monarchy, but the majority of voters opted for the establishment of a republic. The Front presented itself as an anti-party movement. It was characterized by a very loose structure based only on highly autonomous local committees, the ''Friends of the Common Man''. Its political enemies accused the party to be a hiding place for former fascists. Although Giannini himself was not a pro-Fascist, the grassroots, anti-hierarchical organization of the party allowed the infiltration of many former fascists into its structure.

Establishment and development

Giannini founded his journal in late 1944, after the liberation of Rome by the Allies. By May 1945 it was sold in more than 850 thousands copies, a huge number for that time. The newspaper was directed against the political class in general, which was accused of oppressing the average man. One of the slogans of the journal was ''Abbasso tutti!'' or "Down with everyone!". By 1946, many local committees were formed around the journal platform, mostly in central and northern Italy and in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. Giannini organized these committees in a loose party structure, consciously differentiating itself from the rigid hierarchical system of the mass parties that dominated the Italian politics at the time. The party had a minimal program, but left the strategic decision about party politics to be decided by the local committees themselves. The party opposed both the professionalization of politics and ideological politics. It demanded a purely administrative type of politics, led by clerks who would be directly accountable to the voters. It demanded a minimal state and opposed state interventionism in social matters. It was characterized by

anti-communism Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

, anti-etatism and populism. In the 1946 general election the party took 4.4% (more than a million votes) and 30 members of the

Italian Constituent Assembly The Italian Constituent Assembly (Italian: ''Assemblea Costituente della Repubblica Italiana'') was a parliamentary chamber which existed in Italy from 25 June 1946 until 31 January 1948. It was tasked with writing a constitution for the Italian ...

. It gained considerable support in the south of Italy. In August 1946 a group of dissatisfied former partisans and auxiliary police revolted in

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and demanded, amongst other things, the ban of the Common Man's Front. In the local elections of November 1946, the Front was successful, particularly in the city of Rome. The achievement was at the expense of the Christian Democracy (DC) and partly thanks to the endorsement by a number of Catholic priests who were sceptical that the DC would sufficiently enforce the interests of the Church. Afterwards, the party suffered for its light structure. After the Christian Democracy ejected the Communists from the government coalition in 1947 and the stabilisation of the economic situation, most of the Front's supporters became voters of the Christian Democrats, making them the dominant force in Italian politics. In 1947 ten MPs left the party founding the ''National Union'' group, slowly moving towards the

. Later, the whole party accepted to join forces with the Liberals in the National Bloc, and fell into decline. Some of its initial proponents became adherents of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI). The last remnants of the organisation merged into the MSI in 1972.

''Qualunquismo''

Whereas the party's history was quite short, it left one long-lasting influence in the Italian political discourse: even today, ''qualunquismo'' is a common

derogatory term A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...

for a non-committal attitude, cynical political disinterest, lack of social responsibility or anti-political populism. ''Qualunquismo'' has been compared to the similar movement of ''Poujadism'' in France, named after Pierre Poujade, leader of the middle-class populist and anti-establishment "Union for the Defence of Shopkeepers and Craftsmen" (UDCA) that had its peak in the mid-1950s.

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

References

{{Authority control Political parties established in 1946 Political parties disestablished in 1950 Defunct political parties in Italy Monarchist parties in Italy 1946 establishments in Italy 1950 disestablishments in Italy