Rise of Facists

Question 1

What was the Fasci di Combattimento?

Answer 1

Organisation of ex soldiers who were extreme nationalists.

Led by Benito Mussolini

Question 2

What was trincerocrazia?

Answer 2

The rule of the trenches

It divided the Italian people into those who fought in the war and those who didn’t.

Mussolini believed that through trincerocrazia, Italy could destroy the liberal order and restore Italy as a great power.

Question 3

What were some policies of the Fasci di Combattimento?

Answer 3

• they were anti-clerical
• they were anti-monarchal
• they wanted suffrage for women and children
• they wanted an 8-hour day
• they wanted the abolition of the senate
• they wanted the nationalisation of the arms industry
• progressive taxation to be introduced

Question 4

How many members of the Fasci di Combattimento were there by June 1919?

Answer 4

3,000 members

Question 5

Where did the concept of blackshirts originate from?

Answer 5

The Fasci di Combattimento was made up of mostly Arditi who were commandos in the war. They wore black uniforms and had a black flag with a skull. Other members adopted these ideas and so members of the Facist Party became known as Blackshirts.

Question 6

What were the Squadistri?

Answer 6

Squads of facist thugs who attacked socialists and communists through extreme violence

Question 7

What happened to the offices of Avanti?

Answer 7

On 15 April 1919, 200-300 squadistri burned down the offices of the Avanti socialist newspaper in Milan.

3 socialists and 1 fascist were killed.

Question 8

How were the squads organised?

Answer 8

They had commanding officers called ras

They all wore black uniform

They all carried pistols and manganellos (clubs)
These were supplied by the police

Used torture by castor oil to intimidate socialists

Question 9

Why were the police, army, judiciary and government supportive of the squadistri?

Answer 9

They were all scared of the socialists and saw the squads as a way to get rid of them…

Question 10

Why were wealthy industrialists supportive of the fascists?

Answer 10

They wanted an end to strikes which were led by socialists across the country.

Question 11

Why were wealthy landowners in the countryside supportive of the squads?

Answer 11

They wanted an end to socialist land leagues and any sort of land reform which may hurt the interests of the wealthy

Question 12

What was the result of the 1921 election?

Answer 12

The fascists got 7% of the vote and 35 seats (including Mussolini)

As Mussolini was now a deputy, he gained more respect from the Italian people. He was also now immune from persecution.

Question 13

What was the new programme?

Answer 13

Introduced in May 1920

Dropped any anti-clerical and anti-monarchist views in favour for a more right-wing conservative approach.

A more pro-business attitude was to be taken with the fascists promising to sell any nationally owned businesses to private investors.

Called for compulsory military service, a better education system in the military and the reclamation of the irredente lands.

Question 14

What was the PNF?

Answer 14

In October 1921, the fascists organised themselves into a more official party called the PNF.

Question 15

What did the formation of the PNF allow Mussolini to do?

Answer 15

He had now centralised the fascist movement and had set up local branches to recruit more respectable members for the fascist cause.

Question 16

By the end of 1921 how large was the fascist support?

Answer 16

200,000 members

Question 17

Who did the PNF appeal to?

Answer 17

• the urban middle class
• professional white-collar workers
• small businesses
• wealthy landowners

Question 18

How did Giolitti solve Bennio Rosso?

Answer 18

He used transformismo by creating a compromise with the socialists. He pressured banks to withdraw support for companies going against the strikers. He also encouraged big businesses to have worker representatives in both their shares and their boards.

Question 19

When did Bennio Rosso end?

Answer 19

25 Septemer 1920

Question 20

What happened to the PSI?

Answer 20

It split into two:
The PSI
The PCI (communist)

Question 21

What was the PCI?

Answer 21

It was the Italian communist party. It was more radical than the PSI and even had support from Russia.

Question 22

What did this split do to the Socialists?

Answer 22

It weakened their political power. The PCI were too small to be a political threat and the PSI had lost the majority of it’s supporters to the PCI or other parties.

Question 23

How did Mussolini use the PCI to garner more hate towards the Socialists?

Answer 23

He used them as propaganda. He said that they were planning a communist revolution and were being financed by Russia. This would have put off many Italians from supporting them.

Question 24

What happened to the Liberals?

Answer 24

The Liberals, led by Giolitti, were still hanging on to their tactic of compromise an absrobtion. However, this no longer worked as the newly formed parties (PNF, PPI and PCI) all had strong ideologies which were strongly against Giolitti and his party.

Also with the increase in the number of parties it became difficult for Giolitti to even try to use transformismo…

Question 25

What did Giolitti do in the 1921 election?

Answer 25

Giolitti tried to absorb the fascists by joining forces with them. However, once the Fascists were elected, Mussolini announced that he would join the opposition which was a blow to Giolitti. Giolitti ended up resigning…

Question 26

What was the Dual Policy?

Answer 26

Mussolini was looking for a legal way of becoming Prime Minister. He would have to balance the radical PNF as well as the elite conservatives.

Question 27

What did Mussolini do as a part of the Dual Policy?

Answer 27

• He ended squadistri violence

- Signed the Pact of Pacification in August

Question 28

What was the Pact of Pacification?

Answer 28

It was a pact between the PNF and the socialists as well as trade unions. This was done to achieve social peace in Italy after the aftermath of Biennio Rosso.

However Mussolini’s main reason for signing the pact was to anger the Catholics and Liberals into signing a treaty with him to stop working with the Socialists.

Question 29

What was Mussolini’s key issue in his movement?

Answer 29

The squads showed more loyalty to their ras than Mussolini himself.

Question 30

How did the ras react to Mussolini signing the Pact of Pacification and the end of squadistri violence?

Answer 30

They were angered and called for him to end the deal with the Socialists.

Question 31

Who were the 3 most powerful ras?

Answer 31

• Dino Grandi
• Italo Balbo
• Roberto Farinacci

Question 32

When and why did Mussolini resign as the leader of the PNF?

Answer 32

On 18 August 1922, Mussolini resigned from the PNF. He had threatened to do so after his ras were not willing to follow his political direction.

The party struggled without Mussolini and the ras could not control the politics side of the PNF.

Question 33

How did Mussolini regain control over his party?

Answer 33

He bought some of the ras off by offering them high positions in the party (Grandi) and in return they pledged their allegiance to Mussolini.

Question 34

What happened at the PNF conference of November 1921?

Answer 34

Fascists voted Mussolini as leader. This whole affair now showed the party that the ras were inferior to Mussolini and that without Mussolini the PNF would fail

Question 35

What did Mussolini have to drop to keep power?

Answer 35

He had to drop the Pact of Pacification however Mussolini had realised that Squadistri violence was the best way to take power. So Mussolini started to encourage squadistri violence again…