Creation of Fascism & Early Failure

Question 1

What was Mussolini’s job pre-1919

Answer 1

• Editor of Il Popolo d’Italia

Question 2

What was Mussolini’s beliefs pre-1919

Answer 2

• Shared D’Annuzio’s contempt for Liberalism and hatred for Socialism
• He broken with socialism, despite editing a small socialist newspaper, due to socialist opposition to the war
• Believed that Italy needed new dynamic leadership at home and abroad – something different from the Liberals

Question 3

Describe 1914 Mussolini

Answer 3

• expelled from socialist party & sets up his own paper 1914

Question 4

Describe 1915 Mussolini

Answer 4

• conscripted into the army in 1915 experienced trench warfare

Question 5

What was the outcome for Mussolini of his experiences in WW1 by 1917

Answer 5

• released from army on medical grounds in 1917
• continued to be critical of the govts handling of the war
• claimed there must be a strong leader to direct the war effectively

Question 6

What did Mussolini do in March 1919

Answer 6

• Mussolini called a meeting of the Fasci di Combattimento (or ‘combat groups’) in Milan
• Those at the meeting represented a wide range of views, from republicans, anarchists, radical poets to nationalists
• They spoke about their hatred for the Liberal State and the class struggle rhetoric of the socialists

Question 7

What did those attending the Fasci di Combattimento have in common

Answer 7

• little except a hatred for the liberal state & contempt for the socialists

Question 8

What was the March 1919 programme

Answer 8

• a leftist, socialist agenda/ statement of intent

Question 9

What were the socialist aspects of 1919 programme

Answer 9

• anticlerical, wanted confiscation of church property,
• called for an end to the monarchy & the formation of a republic,
• suffrage to be extended to women and younger Italians
• and the establishment of an 8-hour working day
• nationalisation of the armaments war
• progressive taxation and the confiscation of profits from those companies that had made large profits

Question 10

Ho was Mussolini’s ideology already beggining to shift to the right

Answer 10

• Mussolini’s experiences in the trenches translated into trincerocrazia,
• the rule of the trenches where men were linked by the idea of fighting for Italy and each other
• the trinceristi, the returned soldiers, who had the strength and moral right to destroy the Liberal state
• and lead a new Italy that would reproduce the patriotic feeling of togetherness they had experienced in the war

Question 11

What was includedin the March 1919 programme

Answer 11

1. National assembly to be established;
2. Italian Republic (end of monarchy);
3. Abolition of all nobles;
4. Suppression of all major companies;
5. Control of taxation and private wealth;
6. Workers to have a significant share in the profits of the businesses they work with

Question 12

What was the order of the party’s percenntile in the 1919 elections

Answer 12

• socialists 32%
• christian democrats 20%
• liberals 15%
• social democracy 10%

Question 13

what was the outcome of the 1919 election

Answer 13

• the Socialists and the Christian Democrats would not work together leaving the Liberals leading an extremely weak coalition government

Question 14

How did Mussolini fair in the 1919 election

Answer 14

• November 1919 election – Mussolini failed to become a deputy (only 5000 of the 270,000 votes cast in Milan)
• Not a single seat was won in the parliament
• By the end of the year, only 4000 Fascist supporters in Italy. The Fascists appeared to be on the verge of obscurity

Question 15

What created a strong culture among returning soldiers

Answer 15

• WW1 nurtured a strong culture of violence among the returning soldiers
• They perceived the socialists and workers on strike as no different from the enemy they had fought in WWI;
• they were an internal enemy who were as much a threat to the Italian state as the Austrians had been