PNF and Nationalists

Question 1

1925

Answer 1

Mussolini aimed to minimise the power of PNF

1925: appointed Roberto Farinacci to purge party of those who did not agree with Mussolini’s direction

Question 2

Farinacci

Answer 2

Farinacci was an extremist; continued to encourage squad violence in provinces against socialists, Catholics and PPI

Question 3

October 1925

Answer 3

fascist squads murdered eight liberals in Florence; this violence was increasingly unpopular with Italians and hindered Mussolini’s ability to stay in power
Mussolini purged the Florence Fiasco
Dismissed Farinacci six months later; appointed more bureaucratic and reliable Augusto Turati

Question 4

Turati

Answer 4

Turati ensured PNF was more than means to fulfil Mussolini’s personal policies

Question 5

expulsions

Answer 5

Mass expulsions of older, hard line fascists
50-60,000 members thrown out of party by 1929
110,000 left voluntarily, unhappy with Mussolini’s direction

Question 6

1931

Answer 6

Giuriati replaced Turati in 1931

Question 7

Giuriati

Answer 7

oversaw purge of 120,000 members replaced with 800,000 new fascists (clerks, civil servants, white-collar workers)
New fascists had little interest in fascist revolution or challenging Mussolini; most joined because of employment opportunities and benefits

Question 8

1933

Answer 8

PNF membership compulsory for workers; party dominated by middle-class members with no interest in challenging Mussolini

Question 9

Nationalist merger with PNF

Answer 9

Nationalists like Luigi Federzoni appointed minister of the interior on June 17 1924; placated old conservative elites after Matteotti crisis

Question 10

ANI merger

Answer 10

ANI accepted merger, members tended to follow Mussolini’s directions and posed no political challenge
former ANI, Cantalupo and Border played role in influencing fascist education direction
Costanzo Ciano: ex-Nationalist, minister of communications 1924-1934; longest serving fascist minister

Question 11

1930s

Answer 11

1930’s: Mussolini’s direction more radical, nationalist ideas more prominent
Nationalist concern: Italy viewed too much as having great history but little else. Mussolini felt this too; he said any real ally of Italy should understand its military power in present, not in Rome or Renaissance
Mussolini’s aggressive foreign policy from mid 1930’s owed to nationalist thought, expansion and imperialism