Fascism

In the years immediat¬ely after the First World War, a promising new era of democracy seemed to be unfolding. The autocratic regimes in Russia, Germany and Austria, were all overthrown and replaced by republics. The seven newly created states in Europe all adopted the republican form of government. Democracy seemed triumphant in the post-war world. Yet within two decades, many democratic countries in Europe were taken over by some kind of dictatorship. Italy became a fascist state.

Italy achieved her unification in 1870. She had a constitutional monarchy like that of Great Britain, but democratic society failed to develop in Italy because the government was controlled by corrupt politicians, called the party bosses. They controlled the elections by bribing the voters. Once they were in power, they were more interested in achieving personal gains for themselves than in solving the social and economic problems of the people. As a result of this political corruption, Italy remained a poor country. Industrial progress was slow. Italy was poor in natural resources and lack of fertile land. Many of the farm laborers were landless and were often unemployed, so millions of Italians were forced to emigrate.

The Italian government was faced with many new problems after the First World War. The first one was the Italian dissatisfaction with the territorial settlement made at the Paris Peace Conference. Most of the Italians had expected a big territorial gain when they entered the war. According to the Treaty of London, Italy was promised: Trentino, Trieste, Southern Tyrol, Istria, Dalmatia, the coastal districts of Albania, a share in the division of the Ottoman Empire and of the German colonies in Africa. Although the Italians fought bravely and lost 600,000 men, the territories that surrendered to Italy in the Pairs Peace Conference were not as many as had originally been promised.

Italy was a poor nation. She could only support her war effort by obtaining foreign loans. Immediately after the war, as Europe became exhausted, the Italian tourist trade and export trade came to a standstill and there was large scale unemployment throughout the country. The problem of unemployment was aggravated by the return of millions of ex-soldiers to Italy and a new immigration law of the U.S. government which restricted entry of immigrants. Runaway inflation added to the sufferings of the Italians. The lira (the Italian dollar) had only one fifth of its pre war value. Encouraged by the success of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the unemployed workers and peasants stirred up riots and strikes throughout the country.

The fear of a revolution and the desire for national glory were used to the advantage of a new political group, the Fascists, led by Benito Mussolini. He was born in 1883. His father was a blacksmith and also an anarchist. His mother was a school teacher. His birthplace, Romagna, was known for its rebellious spirit. When he was young, Mussolini did not make much achievement in education. From 1902 and on, he picked up socialist ideas, mainly the syndicalism of Sorel. After 1904, he became a famous socialist journalist. His literary and speaking ability made him the editor of a socialist newspaper, Avanti, which would later on help him in politics. Mussolini was never a convinced socialist. The views expressed in his newspaper were not consistent. When anarchism was popular among the Italian workers, Mussolini advocated anarchist ideas in his newspaper. This seemed to signify that he was an opportunist, very interested in winning followers and power.

In Spring of 1919, he formed the Milan fascio. The Milan fascio had no clear views except a belief in action. It only had unclear ideas about radical reforms. For the purpose of propaganda, Mussolini advocated universal suffrage, the abolition of the Senate, land for the peasants, improvement of workers' conditions and a strong foreign policy.

After his first success, Mussolini became more violent and anti-Bolshevik than ever in order to win more support from the property class. He stopped attacking the monarchy, the Catholics and capitalists. He promised a strong government which could suppress the socialists' disturbances and a strong foreign policy which could bring national glory to Italy. Economically, he won economic liberalism and a improvement in the conditions of the workers. As a result of Mussolini's tactics, finances poured in from the industrialists.

From the early spring of 1921, the Fascists, also know as the Black Shirts, carried out a systematic terrorist campaign against the Socialist and Communist groups. During 1922 the Black Shirts and Communists fought bitter street battles against each other. The government army officers were friendly to the Black Shirts and gave them weapons. Soon after the armed Black Shirts were ruling some small towns.

The Socialists and Communists set up a general strike in August 1922, against the Black Shirts. The strike was not well planned. The government and the Black Shirts ended the strike with force. After the strike, the property class relied more and more upon the Black Shirts to stop Socialism and Communism by force.

On October 26, 1922, Mussolini decided to take advantage of the chaotic situation to snatch power. He threatened a March on Rome if he was not accepted into the cabinet. Armed Fascists marched to Rome from various parts of the country. This threat caused an alarm to the politicians in Rome who failed to deal with the emergency. The Liberal Prime Minister resigned almost as soon as he heard of the march. The King, Victor Emmanuel, refused to call the army to oppose the Fascists partly because he was anxious to avoid civil war and partly because he wanted a strong government to restore law and order. The King asked Mussolini to form a new government. On October 31, Mussolini became Prime Minister of Italy.

Mussolini was not satisfied with a coalition government. He aimed to be the ruler of a one party totalitarian state. In the 1920's, he destroyed all effective opposition at home. He placed loyal Black Shirts in key government positions, created the Voluntary Fascist Militia for National Security, and promoted the Grand Council of Fascism into a part of the state. In July 1923, Mussolini was able to secure a new electoral law from the parliament. In an atmosphere of intimidation and violence, with the Fascist Militia using strong arm methods, the 'National List' presented by the Fascists. In June 1924 when the new Parliament convened, the Socialist leader, Giacomo Matteotti, denounced the Fascists of the use of force in the recent elections. Right after he denounced the use of force, he was murdered by the Fascists.

Matteotti's murder led to an outcry against Mussolini. The