Italian Youth of the Lictor (Kingdom of Italy)

The Italian Youth of the Lictor (Italian: Gioventù Italiana del Littorio, GIL) is the long-standing consolidated youth movement of the National Fascist Party; it was established in 1937, replacing several youth organizations. Its purpose is to supervise and influence the minds of all youths, that was effectively directed against the influence of the Catholic Church on youths. Therefore, it was organized as a (fascist) Scout movement, adopting its organizational and activity patterns. With the consolidation of the Republican Fascism, and with the increasing waning of unitary leadership, the GIL progressively shifted from a mere control instrument to an active political movement, relatively reducing its size and enriching itself and the Party with several political differences within Fascism. The rise of Italo Debalti in early 1990s did not stop this phase of transformation, although greatly revived the Fascist popularity among youths. Nowadays, the GIL is still subdivided into age classes, although the male/female separation is no longer adopted within the 17-21 class and almost not important within the 14-17 classes.
Nowadays, the GIL is the chain of transmission between Party and youth and youth-related social contexts, and alongside the proper political activity (called "militanza") also offers several other social activities, encompassing them in its own philosophical and political world view; while still a scouting-oriented movement, after the massive reforms it underwent to, the GIL became less inclined to use uniforms but still active in propagating both the Scouting and the Fascist ideals. Uniforms are still used for field activities, as well as for official events, such as National Camps or meetings of the governing bodies.

Broad organization

The Yalian Youth of the Lictor is the Party youth movement and as such it is a branch of the PNF, subordinated to Party Secretary. The National Commander - a position created in 1996 by the Rieti congress - is the Duce himself: he appoints all the positions in the movement. The Italian hierarchy is based on a Central Presidency, Regional, Provincial and Municipal Commissions, while each Republic has its own subdivision.

Top organization

The top organization is called "Central Presidency" (Presidenza Centrale) and it is composed by the national leaders of the various age/sex branches, who are in charge for their relevant groups, and sex branches and by the National Leadership (Dirigenza Nazionale), who provide the guidance at the general and national level.
Being the National Commander a position vested in the Duce, the executive and actual leader is the "Movement Leader" (It: Capo del Movimento): he directs, coordinates and manages the movement campaigns and strategies, while the National Secretary manages the day-to-day operations and the Executive Office. In turn the Executive Office is composed of the main leaders within the GIL and carries out the main leadership and guidance functions, all being subject to the Leader's approval.
The Movement Leader is elected by the Movement Congress and approved by the Duce; all other positions are filled by people proposed by the Leader and approved by the Duce, after having consulted the PNF National Secretary. It is to remark that the members of the Central Presidency are often quite young (late up to 30 years old) and quite idealistic.

Related voices

• National Fascist Party (Italian Social Republic)