How successful was M at creating a nation of fascists?

Question 1

Give a joke told in the early 1940s that shows how the regime achieved nothing more than passive consent from the people

Answer 1

M asked a friend what the Milanese think of the regime. The friend answered that 3/4 are socialists, and the other 1/4 are communists and catholics. M slammed his on the table and asked where the fascists were. Then the friends says that they are all fascist

Question 2

What makes it so difficult to discover the popular reaction to the regime?

Answer 2

• Public expression of opinion was limited
• Italians were divided by regional, class and gender differences, so they therefore experienced the regime in different ways. The experience of a schoolteacher in Milan was very different to that of a peasant in Sicily. Different people had different experiences at different times

Question 3

How do plebiscites show support for the regime?

Answer 3

In 1929, 90% expressed support, while in 1934 97% expressed support, with turnout at over 90%

Question 4

How are these plebiscite results limited as an indication of support?

Answer 4

Voters had to ask for a certain colour of ballot paper depending on whether they were going to vote yes or no

Question 5

How do PNF membership figures illustrate support for the regime?

Answer 5

In 1933 it was 1.4 million. In 1939 it was 2.6 million. In 1943 it was 4.8 million

Question 6

Why are these figures perhaps misleading?

Answer 6

Because PNF membership was a ticket to employment and promotion, meaning that not every member became one due to genuine support for the regime

Question 7

How does government expenditure on the police, including OVRA, indicate support for the regime?

Answer 7

Between 1924-6 it made up 7.5% of state expenditure. B7 1926-36 this had dropped to 6.1%. By 1936-40 this had dropped to 4.6%

Question 8

Why does this not necessarily indicate support for the regime?

Answer 8

Because it does not rule out the idea that passive opposition was prominent

Question 9

What did British commentator B King say about support for M in ‘Fascism in Italy’?

Answer 9

The crowds which cheered M in Tuscany and Lombardy last summer are quoted as evidence of his popularity among the masses; the reports did not mention that 15 trainloads of blackshirts followed him to swell and overawe the crowd, that workshops were closed and that men were driven to meetings under pain of dismissal and that his arrival at the towns was preluded by the dismissal of hundreds of suspects

Question 10

How did women show genuine commitment to the regime during the Abyssinian campaign?

Answer 10

They donated their wedding rings to the war effort and they were replaced with tin rings

Question 11

Give some accounts from ordinary Italians about how they experienced passive consent

Answer 11

• They said that they saw a bunch of humble people who liked the quiet life adapting themselves to living day to day without making waves. They did this by donning the fascist boots and uniform in an attempt to keep their position or gain some privilege that would allow them to live in a less sordid way and lord it over the people worse off than them
• My wife’s family were never fascist, but they accepted material help from the fascist social services
• What the Duce did wrong was the war - apart from that the government was alright, it was him that brought in the pension

Question 12

Give an account from an ordinary Italian that explains how there was a divide between real fascists and tactical fascists

Answer 12

They said that it split their village in two. On the one side there were the real fascists and on the other were those were forced to be fascists, the ‘meal ticket’ fascists. He said that in his village people were no longer free to say what they wanted, as it only took a word out of place to get you in trouble

Question 13

Give an account from an ordinary Italian that suggests people didn’t even understand fascism

Answer 13

Says that until their last year of high school, they could not say that fascism for them was much more than a word, as they lacked any sense of its opposite, as their only experience had been living within the regime

Question 14

Give an account from an ordinary Italian that suggests that youths were genuinely committed to the regime

Answer 14

We had to make Italy a great country. Get rid of the rich, do away with cowards, go to the people. What youth does not love to see justice where there is injustice, who does not love his country, who does not shiver with pride when he is called to make history? These great immense words - history, fatherland, justice - filled us with enthusiasm

Question 15

What did a socialist mother of a son joining the Ballila say to indicate passive consent?

Answer 15

‘What can you do? His teacher is sold on fascism. There’s no way out. Better than having him fail for a whole year’

Question 16

Give some police reports that demonstrate passive consent

Answer 16

‘Everyone belongs. Few, however are really enthusiastic’

‘Until now fascists penetration has been relatively ineffectual. On the other hand, we have only 13 subversives on file, and they are constantly under surveillance

Question 17

What does de Felize and many other historians say about how support for the regime declined over time?

Answer 17

They argue that for the first half of the 1930s that regime was supported by a broad consensus due to the Concordat and success in Abyssinia. From 1936, closer ties with the Nazis and more radical policies alienated both the elites and ordinary Italians

Question 18

What is there considerable evidence to suggest M failed to do amongst the young?

Answer 18

Win their commitment. This meant that the ageing leadership was not replaced by a new fascist elite

Question 19

Describe the lack of popularity of fascist leaders

Answer 19

Many Italians, even PNF members, complained about their corruption and lack of bold spirit

Question 20

How can it be considered that while M enjoyed popularity and their was broad support for the regime, this still did not mean there was commitment to fascism?

Answer 20

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that M enjoyed much popularity, and that most politically minded Italians supported the regime. Many took pride in Italy’s foreign policy and sporting successes, and welcomed some of the services that state provided. However, the poor response to the radical domestic and foreign policies in the late 1930s showed that they had not been transformed into the new fascists M had hoped to create. M turned Italy into a nation, but not a nation of fascists

Question 21

What does Tannenbaum say in support of the idea that M failed indoctrinate the people?

Answer 21

Society was dominated by fascist slogans but not fascist ideals. A large proportion of Italains were simply unable to grasp such abstract notions as the nation, the state, fascism and the empire

Question 22

What does Leeds say about how support for the regime declined over time?

Answer 22

During the 1920s fascism was widely accepted by people pleased that it provided ordered rule and an end to class conflict. Many joined the PNF due to the special advantages it offered. The numerous colourful street parades gave people opportunities to engage in national self admiration. Industrialists enjoyed special treatment. Many workers and peasants were never reconciled to fascism but they did not speak out because they knew they would be sent into exile

Open criticism of the regime became evident in the late 1930s. People resented the increased interference in private life. They resented the anti semitic laws and the close ties M had with Hitler. The wealthy and industrial classes became frustrated at the extravagancy and bureaucracy of fascism. Formerly fascism had been accepted for its efficiency and ability to deal with strikes, but it now seemed corrupt and inefficient. By 1939 most Italians were fed up with M and fascism, but could not find a way to overthrow the government

Question 23

Give a quote from Clark where he states that while fascism may have achieved passive support and consensus, it did not achieve active support and commitment

Answer 23

He says that the regime’s claims to be totalitarian were laughable. He says that such things as religion, family sentiment, individual ambition and local concerns all survived and flourished. The fascist totally failed to arouse warlike zeal amongst the population, and this failure became very evident in the late 1930s. There was acceptance but not devotion, consensus but not commitment, let alone hegemony.

However, the fascist consensus was a great deal more than most Italian regimes had achieved. On balance, the ideological efforts paid off. It took years for most people to see through fascism

Question 24

What does Payne say about the regime caused its own downfall?

Answer 24

By the late 1930s public opinion and political support no longer had the same importance in M’s thinking during the first decade of the regime. He seems to have failed to notice the lack of response to the more militaristic propaganda. Younger fascist grew restive due anti semitic legislation and closer ties with the Nazis. The increasing military activism was disconcerting for millions of Italians. Conservatives grew increasingly sceptical of the regime. There was no particular increase in opposition as a result of this. Instead, a kind of growing uneasiness and internal psychological distancing from the radicalisation of the regime developed amongst the people. If the regime had enjoyed continued foreign policy and military successes and economic growth then this might have been overcome

Question 25

What does Ipsen say in Dictating Demography in support of the idea that while M may have achieved popularity, he did not set up a totalitarian state?

Answer 25

Fascism enjoyed broad support at times, particularly following great foreign policy successes. This consensus was pursued by propaganda, policy and new and old institutions intended to organise Italian society under fascist authority. When it came to testing the depth of this consensus by challenging the internal enemy through the race laws and the foreign enemy when entering the war, the Italians showed themselves to be insufficiently committed to fascism and the fragility of the consensus was exposed

The Italian revolution failed. M neither achieved a profound consensus, nor created a new civilisation, nor erected a totalitarian state, all of which show his failure to fascistise society

Question 26

Give some quotes from M during the war that show even him recognising the regime’s failure to fascistise the people

Answer 26

• This was is not for Italians. They do not have the maturity or consistency for a challenge so grave and decisive. This war is for Germany and Japan, not us
• A people who have for 16 centuries been an anvil cannot become a hammer overnight
• A tenacious therapy of 20 years has succeeded only in modifying superficially the Italian character
• ## I must recognise that the Italians of 1914 were better than these. It is not flattering for the regime, that’s just the way it is

Question 27

Why did the radical rhethoric of fascism mean little when it came to the class structure?

Answer 27

It reinforced the existing class structure rather than changing it

Question 28

What was the main reason for this?

Answer 28

M recognise his power rested on the support of the elites so he didn’t want to threaten their position

Question 29

How did this dynamic change in the late 1930s?

Answer 29

M shifted his interests away from the elites to trying to win the support of the masses

Question 30

Why was it natural for M to do this once he had secured the regime?

Answer 30

He was more naturally a man of the people than the elites

Question 31

Why can the going to the people policy of the 1930s be seen as a failure?

Answer 31

Because the policy managed to disturb his former supporters, but did not to enough to engender genuine commitment from the masses

Question 32

What was the other reason fascism had a limited impact on class structure?

Answer 32

M’ s priorities. He was more concerned with the attitudes and behaviour of Italians rather than their social standing. Fascism claimed to transcend class interests; reconciling Italians into one unified nation. Class divisions were unimportant and the corporate state would ensure that they collaborate, subordinating their own individual interests for the the good of the nation

Question 33

Give an example of a historian who support the idea that fascism had a major role in modernising Italy

Answer 33

AJ Gregor in ‘Italian Fascism and Developmental Dictatorship’

Question 34

What evidence does he use to back up this idea?

Answer 34

• The development of a mixed economy, with the IRI working alongside private companies
• Land reclamation
• The overall rate of economic growth, particularly in the electrical and chemical industries
• Improvements in both agricultural and industrial productivity

Question 35

Give some further evidence to back up this claim

Answer 35

• The nationalisation of the masses, helped by improved communication systems and propaganda techniques and the development of a system of state welfare and mass leisure
• The advance of literacy
• The growth of female employment

Question 36

Why are these last two points disputable in terms of how far they prove that the regime was responsible for modernisation?

Answer 36

Because they seem to have happened in spite of rather than because of the regime

Question 37

Give some examples of policies that display the regime’s preference for a conservative approach over modernising it?

Answer 37

• The increased role of the church
• Policies on women
• Pro rural cities

Question 38

What has challenged Gregor’s optimistic assessment of the economy?

Answer 38

A series of specialised studies

Question 39

Why can we not say that the regime had a clear modernisation programme?

Answer 39

Because fascist policies, just like the liberal policies that preceded them, seemed to be improvised

Question 40

Why does the fact that their were trends of modernisation while the regime was in power not necessarily mean that the regime brought about modernisation?

Answer 40

Because many have argued that these changes would have happened during such a long period anyway, regardless of who was in power

Question 41

What does Czech writer Milan Kundera say about how totalitarianism gains initial support but then becomes a terrible system to live under over time?

Answer 41

He says that totalitarianism is not only hell, but the dream of paradise - the age old dream where everybody would live in harmony, united by a single common will and faith. If totalitarianism did not exploit these archetypes which are deep inside us all, it could not attract so many people during the early phases of its existence. Once the dream of paradise starts to turn into reality, people begin to crop up who stand in its way, and so the rulers of paradise must build a little gulag on the side of Eden. In the course of time this gulag grows bigger, while the adjoining paradise gets even smaller and poorer

Question 42

What will an economy look like in a totalitarian state?

Answer 42

• Government exercises control over things like prices, wages and investment
• State ownership of large parts of the economy (IRI, corporate state)
• Economy geared towards the ideological aims of the government (rearmament, autarky)

Question 43

What will ideology and culture look like in a totalitarian regime?

Answer 43

• Media controlled by the government (press censorship, LUCE)
• Official ideology propagated by the state
• No alternative ideological beliefs can be formally expressed (Lateran Pacts)
• The arts and other aspects controlled by the state
• Chauvanist nationalism (race laws and imperial campaigns)

Question 44

What will politics look like in a totalitarian regime?

Answer 44

• Dictatorship, rule by decrees
• One party state
• All major institutions dominated by the party (IRI supports this, Lateran Pacts contradict)
• Individual liberties suppressed in favour of the nation (article II of the Charter of Labour)
• Local government controlled by central government (podestas)
• Free TUs and strikes banned (Vidoni Palace Pact)
• Parliament abolished or sidelined (replaced with the chamber of fasces and corporations)
• Secret police (OVRA)
• Powerful paramilitary organisations (NVSM)
• Arbitrary arrest (Roselli brothers)
• Judges and courts influenced by the government (sometimes M would personally decide on sentences)
• Censorship
• Widespread concentration camps, execution (confino and only 31 executions)
• Masses required to actively support the regime (requirements for government workers and the plebiscites where voting against required asking for a different colour ballot paper)
• Free elections replaced by plesbiscites
• Purge undesirable elements within the ruling party (statisisation of the party, Balbo sent away)
• Cult of personality around the leader
• Led by one person alone

Question 45

What does society look like in a totalitarian regime?

Answer 45

• Government organises various welfare schemes (OND)
• Alternative bodies taken over or closed (Vidoni Palace Pact support, CA contradicts)
• Education as propaganda, control of cirriculum and teachers (Bottai took over too late in 1938, only control of the cirriculum in lower education, teachers only showed superficial support)
• State monopoly of youth movements (Ballila supports, CA contradicts)
• Fostering of militaristic values (support for the Abyssinian campaign but not for WWII)
• People seen as part of a united nation with divisions unimportant (Article II of the Charter of Labour)
• Official view of the role of women

Question 46

What do DMS and Griffin see as being the main reason why Italy was less totalitarian than Germany?

Answer 46

Due to the differences in character between Italians and Germans

Question 47

What does Leeds say in support of the idea that the regime failed to set up a totalitarian regime?

Answer 47

Fascism never penetrated the roots of society. It was tolerable because it accepted superficial support and didn’t demand genuine commitment. Although the state claimed to be totalitarian it did not achieve its goal of controlling public and private life, with people retaining significant independence. It had to compromise with traditional forces. Various groups were neutralised, but neither absored nor destroyed. They included the monarchy, the military, the landowners, the industrialists and the Vatican

Question 48

What does Blinkhorn say in support of the idea that the regime was not totalitarian and was instead a distinctive dictatorship that existed at the good will of conservative forces within Italy?

Answer 48

Fascism obtained power not through revolution but rather as a result of M’s compromise with conservative interests. While many of fascism’s activists achieved office, status and elements of power within the regime, the total revolution of which some dreamed of never materialised. Instead the regime evolved into one strongly fascist in internal appearances, but limited in its supposed totalitarianism by the survival of autonomous, mainly conservative forces, and distinguished by the personal power of the Duce. If the regime served the interests and conservative allies in some respects. this was not consistent, intended or bound to prove permanent. By the 1930s the decisions liable to impact Italy’s future lay in the realm of foreign policy and lay not in the hands of either the capitalists or the militant fascists, but rather M himself. It was those decisions, taken independently and increasingly against the wishes of the conservatives, which led to his downfall and the collapse of fascism

Question 49

What does Cassels say?

Answer 49

• When M used the word totalitarian, he did so in a limited sense. He meant no more than the supremacy of fascist organs in all walks of life, especially economics. This goal was attained by M’s one party state. However, for a regime to be totalitarian, party influence must extend everywhere, and the regime did not achieve this. They fell far short of Hitler and Stalin’s totalitarianism
• The Encyclopeadia Italiana defines totalitarianism as ‘nothing outside the state’. Groups, classes and institutions did retain their institutions outside of the state, most obviously the church. Behind the facade of the corporative state, the confindustria and the latifondisti perpetuated their oligarchy. The armed forces, especially the navy, retained a good deal of autonomy. The civilian bureaucracy came pretty heavily under fascist control. The campaign against the mafia being followed by its reemergence after the allies took control supports the idea that certain groups may have been neutralised but not defeated or absorbed into the regime
• The fact that groups like the monarchy and the mafia existed before the regime, survived it and then reemerged after counters the idea the regime was totalitarian
• A totalitarian state cannot be satisfied with outward conformity. A totalitarian state requires the mental allegiance of its subjects. Following WWII, Germany had to undergo the shock of the Nuremburg trails and a large amount of Denazification, while in Italy a mild dose of defascistisation sufficised
• The nature of the regime’s consensus ruled out totalitarianism. They came to power due to a series of compromises with interest groups rather than due to grass roots enthusiasm and mass mobilisation. This hybrid phenomenon could not have a clear cut ideology by definition. A totalitarian regime requires a quintessential set of ideas to justify its decisions, and it is difficult to isolate any such driving faith at the core of Italian Fascism
• Since 1915, the most consistent thread running through M’s career had been his attachment to nationalism. This makes us wonder whether totalitarianism was not so much an end in itself but was rather a means towards the service of Italian nationalism. Totalitarian unity at home was required as this nationalist foreign policy was expected to land Italy in war sooner or later. Ironically, the involvement in WWII exposed the shortcomings of fascist totalitarianism

Question 50

What does Hannah Arendt say in support of the idea that M failed to set up a totalitarian regime?

Answer 50

‘Not totalitarian, just an ordinary nationalist dictatorship’

Question 51

What does Alberto Aquarone say in support of the idea that the regime was not totalitarian?

Answer 51

The fascist state claimed to be totalitarian, but remained until the end a dynastic (monarchical) and Catholic state, and therefore not totalitarian