Mussolinis relationship with Italys political and economic elite Flashcards
When was the facist grand council granted the right to nominate future PMs and advise the king on future royal succession ?
December 1928
When did Mussolini take complete control of the military ?
1940
In what year did Mussolini and the King share the highest rank in the military ?
1938 (king previously was supreme military commander)
In the ministry of cooperations how many senior members had been civil servants since 1916 ? And in 1927 what percentage of civil service servants were actually facists ?
All of them (evidence of compromise with the conservative elite)
15%
When did the structure of central gov change M taking new position as head of gov ?
1925
When was the facist grand council formalised in the constitution ?
1928 - formalised as the most important legal body in the state and all matters had to be discussed and approved by the council
( but in reality not that important - M had the power and FGC were not consulted on key policies eg church (1929) or Italys entry to WW1 (1940)
What was the highest state authority in each Italian province ?
The traditional role of prefect (these were mostly career civil servants appointed by M )
Who were the local councils within each province run by ?
The podesta ( role of podesta was usually given to existing conservative elite rather than facists - also helped M maintain control over the Ras )
Who were the podesta appointed by ?
prefect
Who was appointed in 1925 to purge the party of those who did not agree with the direction pursued by Mussolini ?
Roberto Farinacci
By 1929 how many members had been thrown out the facist party ?
50,000-60,000 (and another 110,00 left voluntarily)
How many facists were purged in the 1930s under Achille Starce ?
120,000
Who were the purged facists replaced by ?
800,000 new members who had little intest in facist revolution/ callanging M
Name two men of power (in PNF) who were sent away / removed from from centre of power
Italo Balbo- sent to occupy post in Libya
Dino Grandi (same lad who helps overthrow Mussolini)- sent to London as Italian ambassador ( a post of honour but little power )
What is an example of Mussolini tranfering control of the state to the facist party ?
1927 : he transferred control over the OND from the ministry of National economy to the party.
What is an example of Mussolini transfering control of the facists to control of the state ?
1929 : he took the ONB out of the hands of the party organisation and handed control to the ministry of education.
Give an example of ANI (who had merged with facists ) playing an influential role in gov.
Nationalists like Roberto Catalupo and Emilio Boderero would play a role in influencing education policy.
Costazo Ciano- influential as minister of communications - longest serving minister in history of facist regime.
When was the facist grand council originally formed ?
Dec 1922
What powers did parliment loose when Mussolini came to power ?
The ability to discuss policy, to debate and change proposed legislation and to criticise the governement. Only M could initiate legislation
1939 parliment bolished itself all together and was replaced by the equally meanigless chamber of fasces and cooperations
What happened to elections ?
Free election ceased to exist and the electorate was reduced to exclude most of the working classes
All candidates had to be approved by the facists and the results were rigged to show over 98 % approval for the regime
What area of central gov did Mussolini leave unchanged ?
The senate. In 1932 , 148 senators were not members of the PNF. This was another example of Mussolini accomodating the existing political elite in order to cement his dictatorship
