o Consent and control Flashcards
What factors need to be considered when assessing how successful Mussolini’s attempts to control the Italian population were?
The indoctrination of education and the youth
Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro
Press control and censorship
Propaganda
The Cult of il Duce
Influence of Fascist culture
Repression and Terror
Anti-semitic decrees
How successful were Mussolini’s attempts to control the Italian Population? (Indoctrination of education and the youth)
One of his goals was to create a loyal generation of Italian fascists, December 1921 - the Fascist Youth Front had been formed for 14-17 y/o boys.
Following his appointment in March 1923 the Balilla formed for 8-14 y/o’s and later broken down into 3 structures, The Sons of the She Wolf, Balilla and Avanguardisti.
By 1924 3,000 children actively involved in fascist youth groups, April 1926 (after becoming dictator) he created a more formalised version called ONB - Opera Nazionale Balilla for 8-18y/o boys - ‘for the physical and moral benefit of youth’.
Girls were also included via Daughters of the She Wolf (6-8 y/o) etc.
ONB was linked to the formal education system and was compulsory for all boys and girls from 6-11 in elementary school. Membership w/ ONB provided jobs and scholarships and not having membership meant barred employment.
All other Youth Organisations except Catholic Church banned. For boys the programme aim was to produce young fascist soldiers and for girls it was to ensure they become fit mothers, antifascist teachers banned only PNF teachers. lessons were taught on patriotic Italians from classical Rome through to the fascist regime. By 1937 fascist youth organisations has 7 million members,
Many kids found youth group fun (enjoyment of being outdoors rather than sitting in classrooms+employment restrictions non-membership had) and difference b/w North and South meant that it was harder for children of south and girls to get into them because they didn’t stay in education past 11 y/o.
The success of of the Fascist youth policy was incomplete and hindered by regional and demographic differences.
Anti-fascist forces were predominately made up of young people as well, who had been brought up in the same fascist educational system.
How successful were Mussolini’s attempts to control the Italian Population? (OND - Opera nazionale dopolavoro)
OND - A popular aspect of the fascist regime.
Created in 1925 to replace the worker recreation and welfare, provided workers w/ recreation like sports, popular films, bars, cycling groups, football teams, liberaries and radios.
OND membership entitled workers to discounts ie) on train tickets and other consumer benefits.
also provided holidays (costless) and excursions and by 1939 had around 4 million members.
OND was purposely made ideologically free? so impact not really measurable.
But, workers could benefit from it w/o any commitment to ideals of fascism.
OND never directly used to indoctrinate - just bought Mussolini popular support.
How successful were Mussolini’s attempts to control the Italian Population? (Press Control and Censorship)
B/w 1923-25, PNF introduced censorship decrees on press. At end of 1926 these decrees were formalised into laws.
Prefects had the power to suspend publication ie) done with Avanti or Partito Popolare - and any newspaper, journal or magazine that produced material that could be judged as unfavourable to the fascist regime.
Self-censorship as journalists forced to be in a fascist union and told not to print stories on social problems (crime, suicides or traffic accents). Mussolini sent strict instructions about what to write about the Duce and how it should be written.
Fascist newspapers only accounted for 10% of the entire newspaper sales therefore there was increased subsides used for newspapers that printed on positive stories of Mussolini.
Fascist government was strong at controlling the image of fascist society - making it almost impossible for the Italian people to view any alternative narrative than the one presented to them by the fascists.
How successful were Mussolini’s attempts to control the Italian Population? (Propaganda)
focused on unifying ideals to create patriotism - transforming Italians into ‘true’ fascists.
The cult of Ancient Rome was popularised by propaganda by celebrating greatness of Rome, its leaders, destroying medieval buildings to better display Rome and in 1937 a celebration held to commemorate 2,000th anniversary of Augustus Ceasar held in Rome. Mussolini linked as the heir of Augustus, rebuilding Italy.
Propaganda disseminated via newspapers, radio, sport, cinema, mass rallies etc. Italian supremacy demonstrated via their sporting glory ie) winning the 1934 world cup.
Ministry of Press formed in 1935 (renamed Ministry of popular culture 1937), but hadn’t had massive impact and the lack of mass media in South made it even more difficult.
How successful were Mussolini’s attempts to control the Italian Population? (Cult of il Duce)
the most powerful and successful aspect of fascist propaganda
image of Mussolini as a great leader - with immense ability who was leading Italy to greatness clear in the Fascist slogan ‘Mussolini is always right’, 30 million pictures of il Duce in 2,500 poses spread around Italy.
Portrayed Mussolini as modern, dynamic leader as well as an internationally respected statesman and a great sportsman - often photographed shirtless - portraying a leader of physical strength - appealed to everybody.
key problems associated w/ the propaganda:
- cult of il Duce didn’t push idea of Fascist militaristic Italy and instead pushed idea of Mussolini the one ideal dictator
- As Mussolini aged his image as a leader was hard to keep up w/ - seemed as if fascism would not survive without Mussolini.
- Towards the 1930s Mussolini began to adopt the myth of il Duce as being a truth about himself.
How successful were Mussolini’s attempts to control the Italian Population? (Influence of fascist culture)
PNF believed a cultural revolution was a key part in the transformation of the Italian people into loyal fascists
between 1925-26 PNF produced policies for artists and intellectuals ie) that all art should serve goals of fascist state, sustaining the Fascist myths and images and introduced the National Institute of Fascist Culture in 1926 - free concerts and publications that would encourage mass Italian participation in fascist cultural propaganda (but Mussolini never attempted to control artistic styles)
They funded the Italian film industry and created the complex, Film City.
Architecture: neo-classical Roman style buildings created to show Fascist connection with Rome.
Plays: Giuseppe Forzano made Julius Caesar, and plays like The Seize of Alcazar all glorified fascism, reinforcing the cult of il Duce.
However, 87% of all box-office takings in Italy came from the showings of Hollywood-produced films.
Influence of fascist culture was successful, but PNF never focused on a key message all Italian people could resonate with and lacked an intellectual giant who could inspire people ie) Gabrielle D’Annunzio.
How successful were Mussolini’s attempts to control the Italian Population? (Repression and Terror) PAGE 222 3rd paragraph
November 1926 M introduced legislation that: banned all other political parties and meant death penalty for anyone who tried to assassinate him, the King or state authority, and the Special Tribunals could send political dissidents into exile for as long as they wanted - a process known as Confino. Aimed at anti-fascist groups even if there wasn’t any concrete evidence of anti-fascist association or activity.
Late 1926 Arturo Bocchini created the Political Police.
June 1937 Political Police work with SIM to assassinate antifascists, Carlo and Nello Rosselini in Paris.
1927 Italian secret police formed called ORVA which was successful in stopping the formation of antifascist groups - consisting of 5000 spies to ensure order within the Fascist Italy. OVRA spies infiltrated universities, businesses, fascist unions.
Special Reserve Service examined mail and infiltrated calls.
Bocchini had files on over 130,000 Italians, Special Tribunals prosecuted over 13,000 cases and imposed around 27,742 years of jail time, around 10,000 Italians sent to Confino.
Mussolini’s greatest worry of security wasn’t antifascists as they all fled mostly to Paris, but the Slovenes were the worry who lived within Italian borders.
Difficult to assess extent to which fascism relied on repression as numbers arrested and sent to Confino make it difficult to judge antifascist feeling in Italy.
How successful were Mussolini’s attempts to control the Italian Population? (Antisemitic decrees)
1936 fascism goes into decline and cult of il Duce reaches its height. Economic issues and the relationship with Germany was the main worry - M unable to fulfill the grand promises he had made to the nation contributed to growing disillusionment with the dictatorship.
Key issue = 1937 anti-Jewish policy. 45,000 Jews in the country making up 1% of the population. The policy forbade Italian Jews from marrying ‘pure Italians’, holding public office jobs such as teaching etc or owning over 50 hectares of land, owning businesses with over 100 employees and were forbidden to employ ‘pure Italians’ as servants.
Foreign Jews to be deported and in 3 years 6,000 Jews left the country. Jewish businesses closed, Jewish children expelled from schools, Jewish University lecturers lost their jobs.
Mussolini implemented anti-Jewish policy so that Italy would become a more racially focused society - giving them a sense of their superiority over foreign races and their ability to conquer and rule other nations (similar to that of the totalitarian German society) able to deal w/ the war he was sure was soon coming.
This policy was ignored and resented by the Italian people, the pope also condemned it, and it worried the population that Italy was very quickly becoming weak and subordinate to Germany.
Lost support from conservative elites of the Church, businesses and the judiciary along with causing the direction of fascist policy being questioned - FAILURE
