The rise of Political extremism from the Left and the Right - 1919-1922 Flashcards
What was formed in Jan 1919?
PPI - Catholic party led by Don Luigi Sturzo
What was introduced in December 1918?
Universal Male Suffrage
What was introduced in August 1919?
Proportional representation = 54 constituencies and 508 deputies
What were the results of the 1919 election?
Anti-socialist coalition - PPI, Liberals, Social Democracy, Liberal union (Giolitti), Radicals and Italian Reformist socialists
BUT socialists won the most seats
What were the consequences of the 1919 election?
Socialists angry because they think democracy has failed them
Events of Biennio Rosso
June 1919: Food riots broke out in Piedmont , Nitti solved it = no violence
Late 1919: Liguria - shipbuilders and metalworkers occupied and ran their factories for 4 days
April 1920: Workers and anarchists occupied FIAT factory in Piedmont
June 1920: Tuscany - 710,000 agricultural workers staged a month long strike and won a contract
Summer 1920: Apulia - famers demanded higher wages for their crops - very violent
Nov 1920: Socialists won Bologna council, fascists waited for the socialists and fights broke out. 10 socialists dead
How many were unemployed by November 1919?
2 million
How big were socialist trade unions by late 1920?
2 million
Was 250,000 in 1918
Could there have been a socialist revolution in Italy?
No
Lack of unification - PSI not popular in South, too focused on industrial sector AND PSI divided between moderates and maximalists
Socialists too maximalist - nobody will work with them
How many people had the fascists in Bologna recruited by Sept 1920?
300 men
How many people had the fascists recruited in Bologna by the end of 1921?
3000 families
What happened in July 1921?
Giolitti resigned - introduced a tax on Vatican so PPI pulled support
What was signed in August 1921?
Pact of Pacification
What was the pact of pacification?
End of fascist violence and transformation of fascism into a political movement
What happened in August 1920?
Socialist general strike, 2 million workers mobilised
Giolitti used military to stop it
What did Mussolini do in August 1921?
Attempted to resign, fascists wouldn’t accept resignation
What was founded in October 1921?
National fascist party (PCI) established which allowed him to control the Ras.
1921 Election results
National Bloc formed - Fascists part of it. Foot in the door
How many members did the fascist party have by 1922?
250,000
What happened in February 1922?
Bonomi resigned because he could not control fascism
What happened in May 1922?
Balbo organised squads and occupied Ferrara, demanded the government create jobs for the labourers in his ‘syndacite’
What did Faranacci do in July 1922?
Led his squads on a rampage through Cremona and damaged the homes of local PPI politicians
What happened in July-Aug 1922?
PSI called a general strike in the hopes that the economy would crash and the Liberals would remove the fascists
Consequences of the 1922 general strike
PSI were too divided and the strike was not well organised
Fascists broke up the strikes
Liberals did nothing
What happened on 30th October 1922?
March on Rome
What happened in the March in Rome?
10,000 fascist squads assembled
They took Pisa, Florence, Venice, Bologna and Naples
Facta resigned and Salandra’s government failed to gain support - Mussolini said he would join as PM or nothing
What caused the rise of fascism?
Liberal failings - 1919 PR, Bonomi, past failings, WW1
Fear of socialism - 1920&22 general strike, Biennio Rosso, Pact of pacification
State failure - King appointed Mussolini as PM, transformismo system
