The priority of the social question within CasaPound—the way that it sees itself as the defender of the national community and “shield” of the people—takes for its major inspiration the fascist experience, especially its dimension as a “social revolution,” in the words of Adriano Scianca, which are tied to its original “intersecting strands of the immense and red fascism [in the expression of Brasillach], its Sorelian, syndicalist, and popular roots.”
“The dictatorship of the free market, the short-sighted and servile policies of various governments so far,” reads its political platform, “succeeded in dismantling the welfare state created during Fascism, forcing Italians to suffer unemployment, job insecurity, forced proletarianization and uncontrolled immigration.” Within this logic, CasaPound’s policy of national preference—“Italians first” in matters of housing, work, school and the welfare state—is to be expected.
“We believe in a strong Europe, self-sufficient,” states its political program, “which does not expose European workers to competition from countries whose populations do not have the same protection, working hours and wages as European workers. In short, a sort of commercial State closed on a continental scale.”
