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ITALY AND FASCISM IN THE 20TH C.
FASCISM CHARACTERISTICS
Belief in action over thought (pragmatism)
 Ruled out morals/principled reasoning
Belief in extreme nationalism
 Strong leadership, collective identity (unity)
Belief that the purpose of the individual is to serve the state
 Obedience and service are duties of the citizen
Firmly anti-communist
Ultimate goal of the nation is an imperial war of conquest
 Military strength needed to build proud, united country
 War glorified as way to keep nation strong

BENITO MUSSOLINI (1883-1945)
Child of a blacksmith and schoolmistress
 Comfortable childhood
Would exaggerate poverty of childhood
Violent nature; bullied people
 Expelled from school for stabbing another student with penknife
As a young man; became a revolutionary in Switzerland
Became newspaper editor 1912 (age 29), then his own socialist newspaper, Il Popolo
D’Italia
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Urged Italy’s entry into WWI
 Kicked out of Socialist Party
War declared,1915
 Claimed it was “Italy’s baptism as a great power.”
Hated Italy’s politicians and democratic gov’t
Mood become more violent
ITALY 1919
Basically in a bad mood
In Treaties, received
 South Tyrol, Istria, and Trieste
 Wilson refused handing over of Dalmatia and several Aegean Islands
Most Italians concerned over Italy’s economic situation
 Extreme poverty existed in the south
Landless peasants scratched living off infertile land
Began seizing land
 North was more industrialized, but unemployment was increasing
inflation had set in (540% price rise from 1914-1921
Socialists organised strikes (2000 in 1921) and factory occupations (280 in Milan in
1919)
Factory owners and landowners convinced a Bolshevik style revolution was beginning
Blame for situation placed on democratic form of gov’t
ITALY’S ELECTORAL SYSTEM
Government was notorious for being impotent
 Those able to vote represented 2% of population (600,000 ppl.)
Reason was proportional representation system
 Result was that no single party could ever govern on its own
How it works:
 If party got 10% of the vote, they got 10% of the seats on parliament
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 If party got 10% of the vote, they got 10% of the seats on parliament
Encouraged large number of parties to be set up
Resulted in situation where no one party could ever win 51% of the seats
Coalition gov’ts had to be formed to make sure they had support of 51% of
parliament
Coalitions constantly quarreled, forcing gov’t to resign
b/w 1919 and 1922, Italy went through 5 different governments
MUSSOLINI SEES HIS CHANCE
Abandoned socialist ideas
 Promised landowners and factory owners to smash socialist organized land and
factory seizures
Also promised to provide discipline law and order
1919; Mussolini set up his Fascist Party
 Used the ‘fasces’ as a symbol of the party
Use of charisma in speeches promising a return to glories of Roman Empire
 Would acquire empire she deserved
 Mediterranean would be an Italian lake
MUSSOLINI’S FASCISTS MAKE HEADWAY
Fascist Party consisted of many angry former soldiers, looking for a fight
 Mussolini set them loose on workers and peasants
These “Combat Squads”, set out to break the workers movement
 Would club their victims – often to death
 Or force them to drink castor oil (makes you violently sick)
Industrialists and landowners showed gratitude with money
 Banks alone gave £1.5 million
Fascists won 35 seats in 1921
Stopped making anit-Catholic speeches and gave up anti-monarchy views
 King Victor Emmanuel II and Pope Pius XI became more sympathetic to fascism
PROVING THEIR LOYALTY TO ITALY
Party membership rose to 320,000
1922, socialists and Communist party called a general strike
 Disastrous failure
Fascists took over public services in Milan
 Made sure everything kept running
MARCH ON ROME, 1922
Mussolini demanded to be made PM
Assembled 50,000 Blackshirts (thugs in uniform) in Florence
 Poorly equipped and badly trained
 Prepared to march on Rome
PM asked the king for special powers to deal with threat
 Victor Emmanuel feared civil war (small and weak man)
 Refused to give PM control of 12,000 regular troops
Fascists seized control of several cities
29 Oct. 1922, Mussolini was asked to become the PM
 Took power legally, only threatened force
MOVING CAUTIOUSLY
Mussolini’s new gov’t features members from all major political parties (except
Socialists and Communists)
Passed Acerbo Law in 1923
 Allowed the party with the most votes (as long as over 25%) to take 66% of seats
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 Allowed the party with the most votes (as long as over 25%) to take 66% of seats
in Parliament
Meanwhile, Blackshirts’ brutality continued against opponents
Elections called for April 1924
 Mussolini promised strong, not extreme gov’t
Won over moderate and middle class people
Fascists won 65% of vote
Mussolini now called, ‘Il Duce’ (the leader)

SPOT OF BOTHER
Socialist leader, Matteotti was kidnapped and murdered
 opponent of Mussolini
Mussolini hesitated in how to deal with situation
 Condemn murder, or take responsibility but refuse to punish murderers
Why hesitate?
Fascist support dwindled
 News readership only 300,000, compared to Liberal news’ 4 million
31 Dec. 1924
 50 Blackshirts burst into Mussolini’s office
 Demand dictatorship or he would be removed
3 Jan. 1925
 Mussolini told Parliament, if Fascism was a gang of thugs, then he was its head
 No apology for Matteotti murder

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MUSSOLINI IN POWER
Freedom of press, assembly, speech, from arbitrary arrest and political parties
disappeared by end of 1925
News offices had:
 Offices burnt down; presses destroyed (ie: Avanti, socialist paper – Mussolini once
editor)
 Others told the change editors, and were told what to write
Politics
 Hostile/oppositional parties abolished
 Secret police established (OVRA) to harass opponents
Some beaten to death, others forced to leave country
4000 imprisoned (many died there)
 Only 10 executions were carried out up to 1940
Most deaths were of the unofficial kind (beatings and murders)
No concentration camps established
CHANGES BEGIN
“Battle for Wheat”, 1925
 Wheat production was to expand
cut down Italy’s reliance on imported wheat
 In 10 years, wheat imports were cut by 75%
 Problem:
Crops profitable for export ignored
Prices rose especially for bread
Unions outlawed; replaced by ‘Corporations’ – Corporate State)
 Organizations set up in each industry to represent workers and employers
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 Organizations set up in each industry to represent workers and employers
Settle disputes b/w the two
 Bosses interests came out on top
 Workers living standards decreased
Unemployment rose – 1.1 million in 1932
 10 times the 1925 figures
“Battle for Births” was a complete failure as birthrate dropped
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‘BATTLE FOR THE LIRA’
Desire to restore purchasing power the lira once had
Trying to create image of powerful nation
 Strong nations don’t have weak currencies
Revalued lira at 90 per pound instead of usual 150
 Caused export to be more costly; demand for Italian goods fell
Unemployment rose
 Many factories went to 3 day work week
Huge sums of money squandered
 Invasion of Abyssinia, 1935
 Spanish Civil War
Helping Franco
‘BATTLE FOR LAND’
Reclaim and clear marshland
 Make it suitable for farming
One such area was the Pontine Marshes
 Mosquito infested bog, planned for housing
Labour intensive and created many jobs
Led to other public works projects
 Road building
Increased modernization resulted
 By 1930, iron and steel production doubled
 By 1937, hydro-electric power had also doubled

POPE PROBLEMS
Pope had forbidden catholic involvement in Italy’s politics since 1870
 Mussolini desired the prestige and support resulting from ending dispute
Lateran Treaty, 1929
 b/w Mussolini and Pope Pius XI
Terms
 Pope recognized Kingdom of Italy, and gave up claim to lost territory
 Mussolini
Made Catholicism official religion of Italy
Vatican City became independent state in Rome
Relations deteriorated
 Catholic youth groups rivaled fascist youth group (Ballila)
 1938 – anti-Jewish laws introduced
Largely ignored by Italians
Italian troops in WWII saved 240,000 in France and Greece, refusing to give
them to Germans
MOTIVATION FOR BUILDING UP ITALY
Mussolini was a megalomaniac
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Mussolini was a megalomaniac
Desired to reclaim and rebuild the glories of the Roman Empire
 Make Italy into The New Roman Empire
Wanted Italy to be taken seriously in international stage
Serious efforts made to
excavate Ancient
Roman architecture
 Symbolic of the
greatness he wanted to
achieve
 Added side effect of
boosting tourism
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Only an aggressive Italy would be respected (in Il Duce’s mind)
Invaded Corfu, after some Italian troops got killed while mapping border of Albania
and Greece
 Demanded apology and compensation
Supported terror groups in Albania and Yugoslavia
 Albania became totally economically dependant on Italy
 Eventually invaded Albania anyway
Dollfuss Murder
 Austrian Chancellor, Dollfuss, murdered by Austrian Nazis
 Sent 3 tank division to defend Austria’s independence against Hitler
 Hitler backed down
IMPERIALISM
Italian empire consisted of Libya, Eretria, and Italian Somaliland
Invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
Sanctions were imposed
 Weak as they left coal, oil and steel untouched
Still infuriated Mussolini
Germany offered to trade normally
 Hitler and Mussolini enter alliance
 Alliance not popular with most Italians
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