Fascist League of North America
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The Fascist League of North America (FLNA) was an umbrella group for
fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...
organizations founded in 1924. With the rise of fascism in Italy, grassroots ''Fasci'' clubs started to form in
Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...
communities in the United States. Despite hostility from Italian diplomatic officialdom, who saw such a move as counterproductive, nearly forty such groups had been organized by mid-1923. In 1924, the groups came together under the umbrella of the FLNA. During the early years of
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
's rule, when the fascist dictatorship had not yet been consolidated and there were still outstanding diplomatic questions between the United States and Italy regarding war debts and emigration, the Italian
National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...
did not seek an official connection with the American fascists. But by the mid-to late 1920s, the party decided to extend its suzerainty over the foreign fascist groups through the Fasci Italiani all'Estero, or Fascists Abroad organization.
Paolo Ignazio Maria Thaon di Revel Paolo Ignazio Maria Thaon di Revel (2 May 1888 – 1 June 1973) was an Italian politician and fencer. He was the son of Count Vittorio Thaon di Revel and Elfrida Maria Atkinson. He fought in the First World War. He was also Mayor of Torino ( ...
was sent to the US to organize the Fasci into the FLNA. Despite the continuing hostility of the Italian diplomatic corps, the FLNA had the support of fascist ideologues on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States it could count in particular on the support of two Italian-American newspapers, Domenico Trombetta's '' Il Grido della Stirpe'' in New York and Francesco Macaluso's ''
Giovinezza "Giovinezza" ( – ) is the official hymn of the Italian National Fascist Party, regime, and army, and was an unofficial national anthem of the Kingdom of Italy between 1924 and 1943.Farrell, Nicholas. 2005. ''Mussolini: a New Life''. Sterling Pub ...
'' in Boston. The
United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
was ambivalent, initially viewing the FLNA as a group committed to law and order and
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 ...
, and seeing no reason to ask for its disestablishment despite the Italian ambassador's offer to do so. The presence of the FLNA provoked a counter-response by Italian-Americans of liberal, socialist, communist and anarchist persuasion, and an Anti-Fascist Alliance of North America was formed as early as 1923 and continued into the 1930s. Clashes between pro- and anti-fascist Italian-Americans became more common, ending in at least a dozen fatalities evenly divided between the two factions. The final death knell was a sensationalistic article published in November 1929, by ''
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'', "Mussolini's American empire" by Marcus Duffield claiming the FLNA was part of Mussolini's plot to control the Italian-American community in the United States and raise "soldiers for Fascism". The Italian government concluded that the American Fasci did Italy more harm than good. Mussolini instructed Ambassador de Martino to dissolve the FLNA, using the public outcry as a pretext.Iorizzo, Luciano ''Fascism: The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia'', 217.


See also

*
German-American Bund The German American Bund, or the German American Federation (german: Amerikadeutscher Bund; Amerikadeutscher Volksbund, AV), was a German-American Nazi organization which was established in 1936 as a successor to the Friends of New Germany (FoN ...


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''The Roman accord''
by Beniamino De Ritis {{Authority control Italian Fascism 1924 establishments in New York (state) Italian-American history 1929 disestablishments in New York (state) 1920s in the United States Fascist parties Diaspora organizations of political parties American fascist movements Organizations established in 1924 Organizations disestablished in 1929