Essay About Mussolini Rise And Fascist Party

Mussolini Rise to Power
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Section 14 (Paper 3): Mussolini Notes Factors that led to the Rise of MussoliniWithin Mussolini’s controlOutside FactorsRole of The WarWW1IdeologyEconomic FactorsUse of ForceSocial DivisionsPropagandaWeakness of Political SystemEconomic FactorsReturning Unemployed Soldiers1920- 2 Million (Unemployed Soldiers)Social FactorsPSI: Because of “total war”, Italian Industrial workers grew, as did unionsUnemployment rose to 2 million leading to the biennio rosso (Red Years) (Red = Communist)Government would push firms to accept labor demands to avoid a communist apprisingBecause of the businessmen and industrialists believe the government doesn’t support their interests, so they begin to look for someone to support their interests. War : Impact of WW1        Polarized the country with those who critisized the management of the government (600,000)Maybe if we hadn’t left Germany we would’ve wonWe didn’t even get anything out of the WarDuring PPC they walked out, made people angry because they didn’t try to negotiate the Italians rightsTreaty of St. Germain (1919):Italy is not given the territory promised by the Treaty of London (1915)Fiume Affair (1919): In protest of Treaty of St.Germain, 2,000 German soldiers occupy Fiume (one of the states they were promised) and didn’t leave until the PM was replacedThis showed that the government didn’t have control of the military wasn’t the supreme command in the eyes of the soldiers, and the general was aslan a decorated military generalThis reflects on the people, if the military doesn’t respect the gov then the people also obviously don’t Mussolini FactorsLegal Means Mussolini attempted to merge all right wing groups forming Fascio di CombattimentoBy 1919, 70 towns in Italy had these groups 1919 Elections: win 0 seats Not yet popular enoughMay 1921 Elections: Receive 38 seats in Parliament less than 7% of seats while the socialists are the largest party with 123 seatsShows in just two years how much well he’s doing.August 1921: Offered to sign a Pact of Pacification with the Socialists to end the violenceOpposition within the Fascist Party supported by businessmen and industrialists, opposed this and Mussolini didn’t sign This showed that Mussolini didn’t have control over the partyMussolini tried not to play a dirty game and tried to play fair, but his supporters didn’t want the fair in fear that the Socialists would gain power.Use of ForcePSI: Mussolini offered to send the Squadrismos to violently aid the industrialists in the North to break the strikers1921: Squadre D’Azione killed 100 socialistsIndustrialists and land owners saw the Fascists fighting against the SocialistsAnd saw that the gov is asking them to listen to the socialists and give them their demands and also incompetent fa it made them even more angry at govPropagandaIl Popolo D’Italia: Newspapaer founded by Mussolini promoted anti-socialist and pro-fascist ideas Mussolini’s speechesWeak Liberal GovernmentsMay 21-October 22, 3 week coalition governments ruledSpark – Use of ForceMarch on Rome (October 1922):40,000 Blackshirts marched on Rome to seize power, but were stopped by 400 policemen at the train stationPM wished to declare a state of emergency, King Victor Emmanuel the Third (aka Italian Hindenburg)HistoriansWhy Mussolini came to power?Liberal Thought (Structuralism)Renzo de FeliceFascism was a “momentary contagion” as a result of the shock of WW1 and Russian RevolutionFascism was Popular (Structuralism)Nicholas FarrellFascism represented a return to order after the Red Year (1922: 300,000 members, 1923: 783,000 members)Fear of Socialism(Structuralism)Alexander de GrandAfter 1919 elections which socialists won the rich and the middle class became scared and liberal governments did nothing to stop themIntentionalistDennis Mack SmithMussolini took advantage of the situation (ex. In Il Popolo d’Italia), he exaggerated the threat of Socialists and portrayed the Fascists representing peace and stability.refused; he resigns and the King names Mussolini PMConsolidation of PowerLegal Means Acerbo Law (July 1923): passed a law that would give 2/3 of seats in parliament to the party that won the most votesLiberal supported the law out of fear of Sociliams and their belief that Mussolini would restore parliamentary power after1942 Elections: Fascists win 66%, Major Parliament seats increase from 35 to 374 Won due to violence, ballot ringing and popularity after the Corfy incident Communists and Socialists receive 2.5 million votes Church supports Mussolini Mussolini promised to ban contraception and make religious education compulsoryContraception is “against the will of God”Allows churches to have Sunday schoolsPope removes support for Popolari asking it’s leader Priest Sturzo to leave the country1929: Lateran PactCreated an independent Vatican StateCatholicism named as the official religionOutlawed divorceExtended religious education to schoolsMussolini gains domestic and international prestige Against the Socialist Effect which is anti-religiousFascist Ground Council is established1928 – Fascist Council provides a list of candidates for electionsEx – All appointments would be made from the party headquarters in Rome (Mussolini)Sent potential rivals out of the Country Ex – Italo Balbo was sent to Libya for fear that he may rival MussoliniCreated his own National Militia of 30,000 men to defend the Fascist Revolution but also endures the loyalty of the sqadristiPropagandaTwo Goals:Pride in NationMussolini is a great leaderHow?Built the cult of personalityPortrayed as the savior of Italy, new CaesarEx. Would also leave the light in his office on to create the idea he worked 20 hours a day Education – 1928 – Standardized textbooks where sayings such as, “I believe in the genius of Mussolini and in our Holy Father Fascism”Sports – Italy hosted the 1934 FIFA World Cup Ex. Newspaper wrote, “abroad, our superiority is recognized, admired and envied.”Matteotti Crisis Matteotti was a popular Socialist in parliament, he was criticizing Mussolini for all the violence that he was using under the fascist groupThis affected Mussolini because it made him less popularPeople didn’t like the violence because it showed instability to the Italians, which was the reason they turned to the fascists in the first place because they wanted stabilityWhen he said that the Squadrismo killed Matteotti because of their loyalty to him, and to the people this was shocking because this showed that he had no control of his people and he was PMThe reason why the King let it go, was because Matteotti was a Socialist June 10, 1925, Matteotti is killed in broad daylightAventists Succession: many leftist wingers left parliament while it was in session in order to protest Mussolini and try to force the king to remove himJuly 1924- Press CensorshipNovember 1924- Liberal Leaders join the opposition in protestDecember 1924- leading Fascists demand that Mussolini take dictatorial powers and end the Matteotti CrisisJanuary 1925- Leggi Fascitissime is passed banning opposition political partiesCensorship tighter secret police (OVRA) was set up January 1926- Mussolini given the ability to make laws (the equivalent of the Enabling Act)1928- The king lost the right to choose the Prime MinisterOppositionCommunists Published their own newspaper L’Unita Estimated 7000 active supportersJustice and Liberty Stationed in Paris, published repression and abuses within Italy for the international presss1937- Leader Rosseli was murdered by fascistsWhy was there no further opposition?Journalists and Intellectuals were given extra pay to not criticize the government Felice – “ Mussolini was genuinely popular”Bosworth – “Italians were more suspicious than believingSassoon – “Life continued to be easy or difficult, but politics had little to do with it”