Key aspects of fascism's development

Question 1

Foundation of the Fasci di Combattimento

Answer 1

• March 23rd, 1919 = Mussolini (soldier and PSI) called the representatives of 20 ex-servicemen leagues to Milan to form the national organisation, Fasci.
• Appealed to war veterans from across the political spectrum to create a soldier-driven movement to create a new Italy, destroying the liberal order.
• Believed in trincerocrazia - soldiers were linked by their war consciousness and sense of belonging that removed all divisions geographically and economically.

Question 2

Mussolini’s June 1919 Programme

Answer 2

Vague but affected by Mussolini’s socialist background:

• Anti-clerical
• Anti-monarchy
• Extending to suffrage to women and younger Italians.
• Increasing worker rights.
• Demanded nationalisation, progressive taxation and consfiscation of profits of companies that greatly benefited from the war.

Question 3

Membership of the fascist di combattimeto

Answer 3

• Initially 50 attended the party’s meetings but it grew to around 3000 by June.
• Made up of arditi (elite assault troops of the Royal Italian Army) during the Battle of Caporetto during WWI.

Question 4

Squadrismo and the move to the right

Squadrismo

Answer 4

• WWI created a strong culture of violence in returning soldiers who saw the socialists and communists as an internal enemy, like Austria in WWI. These soldiers formed into smaller military units known as squadrismo.
• April 15th 1919 = the fascist squad of 200-300 attacked a socialist demonstration in Milan, burning down the offices of the Avanti! newspapers
• in the first five months of 1921, 200 people were killed and 1000 were wounded in violence against the socialists.

Question 5

What did the successes of the squadristi violence reveal to Mussolini?

Answer 5

• Despite the fascists doing poorly in the 1919 election, squad success revealed a different path to power.
• After Milan, the govt made no attempt to close down the fascists or arrest squads - REVEALED the govt was prepared to tolerate the fascist violence because of their fears of a socialist revolution.
• Encouraged the formation of more armed squads under the leadership of commander officers (ras), attacking socialist councils and supporters across Italy to try weaken their power with weapons supplied by the local police and army barracks.

Question 6

Impact of the squadristi violence on support for the fascists

Answer 6

• Spread the myth that Italy was being saved from a socialist revolution.
• For example, it Increased support from the countryside - wealthy landowners were happy to see the socialist land leagues destroyed, stopping attempts to bring land reform for the peasants.

Question 7

Why did Mussolini move to the right?

Answer 7

Because of the failure in the 1919 election and his popularity through taking action against the socialists, from the middle class and military who feared a revolution.

Question 8

Political legitimacty in the lead up to May 1921 GE

Answer 8

• Achieved this as respectable liberals shared the belief that the squads were restoring law and order and saved Italy from a socialist revolution.
• Success of violence and shift to the right demonstrated in May 1921 GE, in which squads attacked socialist campaign meetings and intimidated voters with police providing vehicles, army supplied weapons and the judiciary’s leniency to any fascists brought to court for violence.

Question 9

Election of May 1921

Answer 9

• PSI won the highest vote but the fascists achieved an electoral breakthrough, winning 7% and 35 seats - not the highest share but was crucial because:

1) Gave Mussolini authority as a deputy, legitimising fascism as a political force.
2) Benefited from immunity from prosecution - dropped charge accusing him for ‘intending to overthrow the govt by violence’.

Question 10

PNF and the new programme

Mussolini’s May 1920 programme

What was different about the new Programme

Answer 10

More conservative and right-wing:

• Dropped any mention of removing the monarchy or attacking the power of the pope.
• Removed any references to nationalisation, taking a more pro-business stance.
• More militaristic - called for compulsory military service, unification of Italian irredente and an education system to provide future soldiers with physical and moral training.

Question 11

PNF and the new programme

How Mussolini tried to appear to be a respectable participant in govt and did this work?

Answer 11

• Tried making a deal with the socialists to end the violence against each other - posed a problem as the Ras disliked this curb on their power and protested until Mussolini resigned as leader.
• Eventually Mussolini gave in to demands in Nov 1921, renouncing the PSI and organised the movement into a formal party, the PNF.

Question 12

What did Mussolini try to do by forming the PNF

Answer 12

• Centralise his control over the movement, as opposed to a wide disparate conglomeration of radical squads.
• Found local branches and tried to recruiting more ‘respectable members’ to help advance fascism’s appeal beyond certain classes because of the violence used against socialists.

Question 13

Nature and extent of fascist support

Answer 13

• PNF gained 200,000 members by 1921 and could call itself a national party, appealing to both men and women across differing ages, classes and regions.
• Popular because of strong Italian patriotism, dislike of socialism and the weak lib govt, and they saw Mussolini’s potential to revitalise Italy into becoming a stronger, united country that could reclaim the glory of WWI.

Question 14

Which groups supported Mussolini and the PNF

Answer 14

• Urban middle class, professional white-collar workers and small businesses - feared a socialist revolution and Increased local taxes.
• Countryside = middle/upper classes of landowners, wealthy farmers and peasants - protecting their lifestyle from socialism’s agitation for land reform.
• Financial support came from the richer land owners and industrialists - fascist’s attempts to break union power and socialism.
• Some workers and peasant farmers - opposed socialisms’ strength and the violence against those labourers choosing to work during the strikes.
• Young Italians - angered by the corruption and lethargy of the old liberal order and saw fascism as a new, dynamic alternative.