Strategies of Survival: Reviving the Neo-Fascist Network Through a Transnational Magazine

Abstract

In the late 1970s, a group of far-right activists launched a geo-political magazine named Confidentiel and published in Paris. Far from being a domestic project, the magazine was also launched in Spain, Italy and Argentina, thanks to the wide transnational network of which its founders formed a part. Although the magazine was relatively short-lived and enjoyed a modest circulation (despite its transnational reach), its history illuminates the trajectories of some key nodes of the neo-fascist transnational network after the fall of Franco's regime in Spain, where distinct generations of far-right activists had found a safe sanctuary. By exploring the personal trajectories of its founders and examining material published in the magazine, this article argues that members of the neo-fascist transnational network developed Confidentiel as part of a survival strategy and used it to maintain a stable presence in Europe after the mid-1970s, as well as to revitalize the network itself. Our analysis of Confidentiel shows that its founders’ choice to rely on cultural tools to revitalize their network was crucially influenced by the Nouvelle Droite's meta-political turn, which allows us to place the magazine within the European right-wing milieu. The magazine echoed neo-fascism's Pan-European vocation and the call for an independent, sovereign Europe. Nonetheless, its main goal was not to develop comprehensive and innovative geo-political analysis: as the vagueness of its political elaboration reflects. Instead Confidentiel was mainly a survival tool. The existence of several editorial seats across Europe and Latin America justified the network's movements and relations, significantly allowing them to support their allies by using the magazine to counter negative propaganda. In this sense, Confidentiel helps illuminate fascism's transnational dynamism and activism after 1945.