FASCIST ITALY:
Origins and Rise of the Fascist Movement
Aims
1. Place fascism in its Italian context
2. Set out the origins of Mussolini’s rise to power:
What did Mussolini do?
What did others do/fail to do?
3. Explore the complexity of fascism as historical
and political phenomenon
4. Critically address the ideological ambiguity of
Italian fascism
Mussolini the Young
Leftist Radical
Mussolini the Dictator
Mussolini the Innovator
Mussolini the Man of the People
Mussolini the Statesman
Mussolini the Joke
Mussolini
the
Dead Dictator
Origins of Fascism
• Grievances from WWI
• Structural social weaknesses
• Structural political weaknesses
• Weakness of the Left
Grievances from WWI
• ‘The least of the great powers’ (R. Bosworth)
– Great War: 1915-1918
• Versailles
– Fiume (Rijeka) and Dalmatia
• Veterans
• Last War of Independence; First National
War
Structural social weaknesses
• Regionalism
– A National Identity?
• Economy
– Slow and uneven growth
• The ‘Southern Question’
– Mafia: an alternative State
Structural political weaknesses
• Legacy of 1861
– Trasformismo
• The political spectrum
– An inept Centre
– A new Right
– A divided Left
The Left
• The PCI-PSI split
• Interpreting international events
• Interpreting the Italian context
PART TWO: MUSSOLINI’S RISE TO POWER
The Fascist Movement(s)
• The Fascio:
– Ancient Roman Republican symbol
– Fascio=Bundle or Group
• A variety of organisations
• Rooted in WWI
• Membership:
– Students; Ex-servicemen; Urban MiddleClasses;
The Fasci di Combattimento
• Benito Mussolini
– Ideological path of a self-promoter
• From Anarchism to Fascism
via Socialism
– The power of the Media
• From L’Avanti to Il Popolo d’Italia
via WWI
The 1919 Manifesto
•
•
•
•
Universal Suffrage (from age 18)
Abolition of the Senate
40-hour week and Minimum Wage
Trade Unions representation in firm
management
• Land for peasants
Manifesto cont.
•
•
•
•
•
•
A progressive tax on capital
Active redistribution of wealth
Seizure of religious property
A National Militia
Nationalizing the weapons industry
Seizure of 85% of war profits from
contractors
Rise to power
• 1920-1925: from 2% to absolute power
• External events:
– Passive Liberal governments
– Proportional representation
– Strikes and Land Occupation
• The financial problem
• Squadrismo:
– Fascism as a paramilitary force
• The Popolo d’Italia
Early Fascism, an oxymoron?
Revolutionary Fascism:
Anti-establishment
Syndicalist
Anti-clerical
Republican
Urban
v. Reactionary Fascism:
Pro-establishment
Ensuring Law and Order
Catholic
Monarchic
Rural
Are there any points of contact?
Mussolini
• Mussolini as synthesis of opposing trends
– M. needed the squadrismo
• To threaten stability
• To show strength
– But M. needed equally to deplore squadrismo
• To promise stability
• To appear reliable
A masterfully ambiguous position.
Rise to power
• May 1921 elections
– New Partito Nazionale Fascista gains 36 seats
• 28 October 1922
– ‘March on Rome’
• 30 October 1922
– King Vittorio Emanuele III invites Mussolini to
form the government
Some questions on Fascism’s
seizure of power?
• Why did Liberal politicians not use force
against the fascist squads?
• Why did the King ask Mussolini to become
PM?
• Why was the Left incapable to stop him?
• An attempt to tame Fascism by bringing it
into the mainstream political fold.
Conclusion
Fascism’s mobilising “themes”
• Conservative social values
– Familism
– Catholicism
• Rhetoric of history, power and conquest
• Nationalism as the pursuit of National
identity
Conclusion cont.
• Fascism 1919-1925
– Long-term origins of Fascism
– Fascism’s rise aided by:
•
•
•
•
The State’s mistakes, inability, unwillingness to act
Tacit military support
Bourgeoisie’s desire for Law and Order
Failings of a bitterly divided Left
– From revolutionary movement to authoritarian
regime in defence of the social status quo
NAMES
GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO
GIUSEPPE GIOLITTI
AMEDEO BORDIGA
ANTONIO GRAMSCI
FILIPPO MARINETTI