Relations between party and state

Question 1

How did the party lose its previous dynamism?

Answer 1

It became a bloated bureaucracy offering secure, undemanding jobs to fascist supporters

Question 2

What did it still have despite this?

Answer 2

A role in M’s state

Question 3

What did he hope that the party could do?

Answer 3

Tranform ordinary Italians into obedient, disciplined fascists

Question 4

What did he do in pursuit of this?

Answer 4

Gave it a significant role, particularly in the areas of leisure, education and propaganda

Question 5

What did the PNF therefore come to represent?

Answer 5

A rival authority to the institutions of state

Question 6

What was the result of this?

Answer 6

There were tensions and arguements between party organisations and government departments

Question 7

How was there disagreement over the fascist youth group?

Answer 7

Should the OMB be controlled by the party or by the government’s ministry of education?

Question 8

How did a similar question take place over leisure?

Answer 8

There was a question over who should run the organisation for adult leisure activities

Question 9

What was the organisation

Answer 9

The Dopolavaro

Question 10

What does Dopolavaro translate to?

Answer 10

After work

Question 11

How was there a rivalry in terms of industry?

Answer 11

There was a rivalry between the government economics ministry and the fascist bureaucracy controlling the new fascist Corporations

Question 12

Where was there rivalry in the armed forces?

Answer 12

Between the fascist militia and the regular army

Question 13

Where did the rivarly stem from?

Answer 13

The regular army rejected the idea that the blackshirts were of equal status to them. They also argued about the distribution of weapons between them

Question 14

What was this rivalry not confined to?

Answer 14

National politics

Question 15

Explain this

Answer 15

In the provinces local party secretaries would compete with provincial prefects who, according to the Ministry of the Interior in Rome, had responsibility for local government

Question 16

How did conflicts like this benefit M?

Answer 16

Because in these disputes over jurisdiction both sides looked to him to solve the disputes, giving him great power

Question 17

Give an example of him favouring the party

Answer 17

In 1927 he transferred control over the dopolavaro organisation from the Ministry of National Economy to the party

Question 18

Give an example of him favouring the state

Answer 18

In 1929 he took the youth organisation (OMB) out of the hands of the party and handed control to the Ministry of National Education

Question 19

What was the downside of these disputes?

Answer 19

Disputes between party organisations and government departments made government slow and inefficient

Question 20

Why was this?

Answer 20

Delays were unavoidable as so many matters awaited the personal decision of man who, despite his pretence, did not work 20 hours a day

Question 21

How did M make matters worse?

Answer 21

Because of his determination that he should personally occupy the most important ministries of state

Question 22

How was decision making poor?

Answer 22

They were often taken without proper thought or consultation

Question 23

Give an example of M doing this

Answer 23

When he selected the air force’s new fighter plane after only a most cursory glance at the relevant info

Question 24

What did his tenure of so many ministries mean?

Answer 24

That he found it impossible to ensure that his decisions were actually being carried out as he intended

Question 25

What can we therefore conclude about fascist government?

Answer 25

That it was not nearly as streamlined and efficient as M and his foreign admirers liked to suggest

Question 26

What undermined M’s position of supreme power?

Answer 26

Because below him there was all too often confusion, delay and incompetence