Italian Fascism
Section 20.103
Differences between Dictatorship and
Totalitarianism
• Dictatorship
• Older & only a theory
of government
• Expedient
• Designed for
emergencies
• Believed to be
temporary
• Totalitarianism
• Created after WWI
• Not just a government
but theory of life and
human nature
• Permanent form of
society and
civilization
• An everlasting
emergency
The Birth of Fascimo
• Advancement of Democracy still held in
1920
– Russia, Turkey, China’s failure to
develop liberal institutions didn’t count
as they were “backwards” nations
• But democracy was jolted when Italy
(major force in European history and
parliamentary since 1861) became fascist
in 1922
• Mussolini
– Born in 1883
– Son of a blacksmith
– Followed the career of professional
revolutionary
– Influenced by Sorel’s Reflections on
Violence, Nietzsche
• Became intensely nationalist during WWI
• Wanted Italy to join the Allies and wanted
Austrian territory of Italia irredenta
(unredeemed Italy)
• Only reached rank of corporal during war
Fascio di combattimento
• March 1919 organized his first
fascio di combattimento
– Fighting band of ex-soldiers
• Fascio: bunch or bundle (or rods)
– Carried by the lectors (ancient
Rome) as a symbol of state
power and meant to conjure up
ancient glories
• Italy went to the treaty
negotiations believing they would
receive ample compensation for
the 600,000 lives they lost in WWI
• Had been promised territory in
secret treaty of London in 1915
• Received some of the Austrian
territories they wanted
• Received none of the Turkish
territories they wanted
Social Unrest
• After WWI depression and unemployment led
to social unrest
• Tenant farmers seized land and refused to pay
rents
• Peasants burned crops, killed livestock
• Workers staged sit down strikes
• Communist (Left wing socialists) of the
Comintern (after the 3rd International) spread
discontentment
• Blackshirts or Fascists fell into conflict with
the communists
– Brawling in the streets and other acts of
violence persisted
• 1919 election the Catholic Popular (Christian
Socialist) party had impressive showing
• 1921 elections Mussolini’s Fascists won 35
seats out of 500
– Fascists ranks were growing
Mussolini: Upholding Order & Property
• At first encouraged factory seizures and seemed anti
capitalistic
• Although there was not a real threat of “Bolshevik”
style revolution, the propertied interests felt
threatened
• Mussolini tossed out idealism and pledged to uphold
law and order
– IE to protect propertied class
• Gave financial support to Mussolini
• Nationalists, unemployed and discouraged (from
unionism) lower middle classes joined
• Blackshirts abused Communists and Socialists in
various ways to stifle their movements
– Forced feedings of castor oil
• Moved against labor unions as well
– Squadristi (vigilante fascists squadrons) broke up
strikes, committed arson, murder
• Reinforced his claim as paladin of law and church
– A few years earlier he was republican and
anticlerical
March on Rome
• Blackshirts marched on Rome from various
directions (October 1922)
• Mussolini waited in Milan
• Coalition government (liberal dem) had allowed
fascism to exist (as it rid nation of leftist
troublemakers)
• Tried to enforce martial law but king backed down
• Forced the cabinet to resign
• Under the Kings authority Mussolini (Premier) and
his coalition were granted emergency powers to
restore order in Italy for 1 year
• Before the year was up Muss forced through
Parliament a law
– Party that wins the most votes in an election receives
2/3 of the seats in the Parliament
• This was his solution to the instability of coalitions
• Fascists won 3/5 of the seats anyway (Why?)
– His gov. controlled the political machinery
– His cronies (Squadristi) greeted voters at the polls
Matteotti’s Murder
• Well respected Socialist deputy Matteotti
exposed hundreds of cases of the heavy
handed tactics (fraud, violence) of the
Fascists
– was murdered
• Italian press called for Mussolini’s
resignation
• At first Muss said he would punish the
perpetrators but later took responsibility
• refused to resign and began to centralize
his power
–
–
–
–
–
Reduced the Italian parliament to a nonentity
Put the press under censorship
Destroyed the labor unions
Deprived labor of the right to strike
Abolished all political parties
El Duce
• Criticized democracy as factional
– Out of date government that only
accentuated class struggle
• Led to selfishness, futility, empty talk
• Preached the need of vigorous action
under a strong leader
• El Duce (The Leader)
• Denounced liberalism, free trade,
laissez-faire capitalism, Marxism,
materialism, socialism, and class
consciousness
– Said these were evil offspring of capitalism
and liberalism
• Preached national solidarity and state
managed economy
• Brought a certain efficiency to Italy that
was missing (trains always on time)
The Cooperative State
• Mussolini began what had been contemplated by
Left and Right since lat 1800s
– Left wing syndical organization called for labor
to control sectors of the economy
– Conservative syndical organization called for
state control of sectors of the economy
• Supported by Catholic Church after the
Lateran accord (1929)
• Seemed a revival of the guild system
– Except Mussolini’s state controlled
virtually everything
• Similar to a corporate board of directors
• Divided all economic life into 22 major sectors
– Each had its own corporation
• Division leaders (made up of labor,
employers, and government) were to direct
the activities within their sector
– directed labor, Organized the employers,
Monitored working conditions
– Determined wages, prices, and policies
State Control of Economic Life
• National council of division leaders
were to plan the economic activities
of the nation
– Focus on self-sufficiency
• Said that the state should be
organized around the nations
economic occupations
• IE. State determined all answers to
economic questions (What to
produce, Who makes it, gets it, at
what price, …?) but allowed private
enterprise (profit) to exist
• Mussolini called it a dictatorship of
the state over many classes
cooperating
Depression
• Mussolini blamed the world for the
depression
• Called for self sufficiency
• Started public works projects
– Hydroelectric power
– “Battle of wheat” proclaimed to increase wheat
production
• Little reform was made between the social
extremes of wealth and poverty
• Fascism failed to provide economic security
or material well being for those it demanded
so much sacrifice of individual freedom
• Spirit of recapturing the past glories of Rome
was enough distraction for the population
that it was less critical of Fascism
• Imperialist adventures gave a sense of
greatness & distracted the Italians
The Appeal of Fascism
• A possible alternative to
democratic or parliamentary
government
• Communists, socialists, labor
leaders, and liberals hated
fascism
• Wealthier or established people
liked it because it reduced the
threat of Bolshevism
• Tentative democracies in Eastern
Europe that struggled under the
concepts of majority vote were
attracted to fascism
• Mussolini said fascism “was born
of the need for action”
Mussolini 1933 by Diego Rivera
from DR Museum