IB Docs (2) Team
5. Italy: Part II (1918 - 1939)
Mussolini’s domestic policies were focused on consolidating and maintaining his control in the 1920s. However, he also had specific economic, social and political aims and he used a variety of methods and policies to achieve them.
Guiding questions
How successful were Mussolini's Economic policies?
What was the impact of Mussolini's social policies?
How successful were political policies?
What was the nature of the Fascist state?
What were the limitations of Mussolini’s domestic policies?
What were the limitations of Mussolini’s domestic policies?
How significant was opposition to the regime?
1. How successful were Mussolini's economic policies?
Initially, Mussolini pursued economic policies that would garner support from influential groups. He was not an economist and at first did not have a coherent economic policy. Nevertheless, as his political position became more secure Mussolini became more confident in pursuing a transformation of Italy. His ‘radical’ new way of organizing the economy was by establishing the first ‘Corporate State.’ This system was, according to Mussolini, superior to capitalist economies like the USA and communist economies like the USSR. After he had established the Corporate State Mussolini aimed to make Italy an ‘autarky’, or an economy that was self-sufficient.
Policies for Industry
Task One
ATL: Thinking skills
Read through the information below.
Note down
- Which sections of society benefitted from the economic reforms?
- Which sections of society did less well?
- What do you consider to be the successes of the economic reforms?
- What do you consider to be the failures?
At first Mussolini’s regime benefitted from a period of relative economic growth as exports of cars, textiles and agricultural goods doubled between 1922 and 1925. The appointment of an academic economist, Alberto De Stefani, as treasury minister, reassured skeptical big businessmen and his policies gained further support as he limited government spending which kept down inflation. As you have read on the previous page, his other policies of broadly reducing government intervention and outlawing socialist and communist trade unions [in the Vidoni Palace Pact of 1925] meant that the leading industrialists swung their support behind the regime. However once his position was more secure, Mussolini moved away from courting the industrialists. He dismissed de Stefani, and revalued the lira. The exchange rate for lira had been falling, as the period of boom slowed in Italy from 1926. Mussolini was appalled when its value dropped to 150 lira to one British pound. In response he announced the Battle for the lira and declared that ‘…our lira, which is a symbol of our nation… our sacrifices… our blood… will be defended’. Mussolini revalued the lira between 1926 and 1927. In December 1927 he set the value of the lira at 90 lira to one British pound, which was the value it had been when Mussolini came to power in 1922.
Nevertheless, this policy was popular at home and it increased Mussolini's prestige. It was also supported abroad as it suggested to international bankers that the regime intended to restrict government spending further. The owners of heavy industry benefitted as they depended on importing raw materials, which were now far cheaper. However, although the battle for the lira had some positive political outcomes for Mussolini, the policy caused significant economic problems. The revaluing made Italian exports twice as expensive for foreign buyers, and industries such as textiles went in to sharp decline. The policy had a knock on effect regarding unemployment, which trebled between 1926 and 1928. In addition, although the policy could have benefitted Italian consumers as imported goods became cheaper, this did not happen as Mussolini imposed high tariffs on imported goods in an attempt to protect the domestic market for Italian products. Thus, companies producing armaments and those making goods for the domestic market profited from the Duce’s battle for the lira whereas export industries stagnated and declined.
The Corporate State was the key new idea of the fascist regime. Essentially, the Corporate State was a model for the economy within which all industries would be part of a fascist led corporation that would arbitrate and resolve all disputes between owners, managers and employees. The system would assist with the organization of production, pay rates and working conditions. From 1926 Mussolini wanted to move forward with this revolutionary concept for transforming the economy. Each industry was to have a corporation and contain employers and fascist trade unions representing the workers. If the fascist trade unions and employees could not find agreement the dispute would be passed to a labour court. These courts, overseen by the new Ministry of Corporations, would find a quick and workable solution. The philosophy behind the Corporate State was that by working together workers and employers would maximize productivity for the good of the nation as a whole. This contrasted with capitalist economies as prolonged industrial disputes would be avoided, and it also contrasted with a communist economy as there would still be the value added by profit incentives and the entrepreneurial skills of the businessmen.
Initially, the fascist trades unions seemed to offer a voice for the workers. Indeed, the head of the fascist trade unions had attempted to champion the union members, but it soon became apparent that workers’ interests would be subordinated to those of the industrialists and big business. Mussolini did not want to alienate these powerful groups who rejected any power being given to unions. In addition, the head of the Ministry of Corporations, Guieseppe Bottai did not trust the fascist trade unions and wanted the corporations to be dominated by the employers and his own technical experts from the ministry. He believed this was the most effective means to increase productivity.
In 1927, Mussolini clarified the roles he wanted for his new Corporate State: he sided with Bottai’s vision and gave him the task of developing a ‘Labour Charter’ that would set out the rights of workers.
The resulting charter stated:
- Private ownership of businesses and industries was the most efficient way to run an economy
- Employers could change working hours without consultation
- Employers could offer annual holidays for workers, but this was not compulsory
In 1928 the influence of the fascist trade unions was further reduced when the single confederation of trade unions was divided up into six smaller confederations.
In 1929, The Ministry of Corporations claimed the new Corporate system a success. The economy was entering into a new era and class conflict had been removed. By 1934, 22 corporations had been set up and these had influence over nearly every aspect of the economy. For workers this new system meant:
- Workers could not choose their own union representative, fascist nominees were given to them
- Fascist representatives tended to side with the employers
- Workers interests regarding pay and conditions went unmet
Nevertheless, there were some limited changes in the interest of workers; for example sick pay and pay for national holidays was introduced in 1938. 0verall, however, the system favoured the industrialists who kept their non-fascist organization and could operate relatively oblivious to the new corporations.
The Corporate State was not immune to the impact of the global economic depression that took hold after the Wall Street Crash in the USA in October 1929. Many Italian companies collapsed, and key industries such as car manufacturing reduced production by 50%. Unemployment soared from half a million in 1928 to 2 million in 1933. In responding to the depression, Mussolini’s policies were not restrained by free market economics and ‘laissez-faire’ policies. He introduced massive public works programs, such as the land reclamation program of 'Battle for Land' that put people back to work. These programs meant that people had money to spend and this kept demand going in the domestic market; this then created more work. Mussolini also bailed out the Italian banks when business could not afford the debt repayments. The regime set up the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction [IRI] in January 1933, and took on the shares in companies held by the banks. This made the state the major share- holder in many key companies. The IRI also gave loans to industry. These policies meant that Italian society did not suffer the same degree of deprivations that many capitalist democracies did at this time, and some contemporaries even suggested that President Franklin D Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ package in the USA copied many these ideas.
Policies for agriculture
When Mussolini came to power there were considerable underlying problems in Italian agriculture. There was a large class of rural poor and calls for the redistribution of land to the peasants. In addition, Italy’s farming methods were backward and inefficient; Italy had to import grain to feed its people and this was a potential weakness should Italy become engaged in a war.
The Duce’s first main program for agriculture was part of his drive for autarky: the Battle for Grain in 1925. The plan was political in that it aimed to increase fascist power in rural areas, and economic as it aimed to increase grain production. The government gave grants to farmers to buy tractors and fertilizers and offered them advice on modern farming methods. The regime also guaranteed a high price for the grain produced. These incentives had positive results; the harvest rose over 10 years from 5.5 million tons to 7 million tons, and in turn this enabled Italy to reduce its grain imports by 75% in the same period. Mussolini, photographed getting ‘his hands dirty’ during the harvest, claimed personal success for this achievement and it certainly helped to strengthen his popular support. However, the real success of the Battle for Grain was limited. The land in the southern and central regions, forced to grow grain, was not suitable for this crop and should have been left to grow fruit, wine and olive oil all of which went into sharp decline.
Mussolini’s next program for agriculture was the land reclamation initiative. The regime funded the draining or irrigation of potential farmland. Malarial swamplands close to Rome were drained and small farms developed in what would be a ‘showcase’ of the initiative, the Pontine Marshes. Although the initiative was successful in that is provided thousands of jobs and improved public health the amount of land reclaimed was relatively small.
Overall, the lives of agricultural workers, as for industrial workers, did not improve under Mussolini. Agricultural workers suffered significant wage cuts, and in the 1920’s the USA implemented tight restrictions on immigration that meant the traditional route of escape from rural poverty had closed. Despite Mussolini’s attempt to prevent urban migration, half a million people migrated to the cities in search of work before the Second World War; in Rome the the population doubled. Mussolini wanted to ‘ruralise’ Italy and establish a class of pro-fascist wealthy peasants. However, his policies only benefitted the rich landowners and a proposed 1922 law to redistribute land was never implemented as the regime did not want to alienate the landowners. It was this failure to break up the huge estates that arrested the development of agriculture in the South. In this situation, the gap between the industrial north and the poor agricultural south continued to grow.
Task Two
ATL: Thinking skills
Work in groups to produce propaganda posters on each of the key economic policy areas in Fascist Italy:
- the Battle for Grain
- the Battle for Land
- the Battle for the Lira
- policies for industry and transport
(See below for examples of Fascist propaganda)
Task Three
ATL: Research and social skills
In groups research one of ‘Mussolini’s Wars in the 1930s’. Your class will consider two major military commitments, Italian imperial expansion in a war with Abyssinia from 1935 and its intervention in the Spanish Civil War from 1936. Both these wars put a considerable economic burden on Italy. Group A will research the Italian involvement in Abyssinia and Group B will investigate intervention in Spain.
Focus your research on the following key questions:
- Why did Mussolini take military action in A] Abyssinia or B] Spain?
- What military commitment was made by Italy in A] Abyssinia or B] Spain?
- To what extent did Mussolini achieve his aims in A] Abyssinia or B] Spain?
- What were the economic costs of involvement for Italy?
- What impact did the war have on Italian foreign relations?
Group A should then present its research to Group B, and then vice versa. This should be a brief 10 minute presentation. Make sure you support your main points with evidence. You must also cite your sources.
After both groups have presented discuss and reassess the impact of Mussolini’s policies, both domestic and foreign, on the Italian economy.
Historical Perspectives: Did Mussolini’s policies improve the Italian economy?
It has become a common conception that Mussolini did bring about some key improvements in the Italian economy, with foreign journalists praising his achievements at the time.
Nicholas Farrell, writing in Mussolini: A New Life, 2004, and Spencer DiScalia writing in Italy: From Revolution to Republic, 1995, emphasize the positive effects of fascist policies, modernizing industry, the vast public works programs and land reclamation initiatives which helped to make Italy a modern European state. Indeed, millions of hectares of land were developed into farmland, the infrastructure improved - the fascists had made ‘the trains run on time’ and built thousands of kilometres of roads. Overall, both historians argue that productivity increased.
However, Edward Tannenbaum, in Fascism in Italy, 1973, argues that ‘Economically Fascism was a failure.’ He suggests that the near autarky in grain production was at the expense of other key produce and that Italy’s overall economic performance in the 1930s was worse that any other major industrialized country. John Whittam, in Fascist Italy, 1995, also argues that businessmen were increasingly uneasy with the policies of autarky, and price and import controls. He highlights the fall in the standard of living for the working classes and how many people joined the PNF merely to secure a job as unemployment rose.
Most historians agree that the Corporate State as a whole had failed to transform the economy and trade relations. Martin Blinkhorn, in Mussolini and Fascist Italy, 1984, argues that in practice it was merely a disguise for the exploitation and oppression of labour.
2. What was the impact of Mussolini's social policies?
Mussolini’s social policies aimed to secure his own personal position as Duce, and ultimately to transform Italian society, away from ‘bourgeois mentalities’ and traditions that emphasized the church, family and a comfortable standard of living towards a focus on fascism and ‘the nation above all else’. Mussolini wanted to create a society obedient to him, and physically and psychologically ready for war.
The Church
To achieve these aims Mussolini had to address the power and influence of the Catholic Church. As you have seen, he adopted a conciliatory approach towards the Church, as he believed that with its backing his personal control would be strengthened, and the credibility of his fascist regime internationally would improve. As he consolidated his control, Mussolini restored Catholic control of education and increased the state payments to priests in return for the Pope’s withdrawal of support for the Populari. However, the key understanding with the church did not come until 1929, with the Lateran Agreements. There had been resentment, between the church and the Italian state since the period of unification when the Pope’s territories of Rome and the Papal states had been seized. The terms of the treaty component of the Lateran agreements set down terms to heal this rift; the Pope recognized the Italian state and its control of Rome and the Papal States, and in return the state recognized the Pope’s control over the Vatican City [part of Rome], its independence and gave financial compensation for the lost territories of £30 million.
The other component of the agreement was the Concordat and this established:
- Catholicism as the state religion.This meant that the Pope could appoint all bishops and the state would pay the clergy
- the clergy could not belong to political parties
- religious education would be compulsory in schools
- the church had to give its consent to divorce, and a church ceremony was sufficient to have a legal marriage (removing the requirement for a civil registration).
Mussolini had achieved his aim of gaining the support of the church for his regime. However, he had had to accept that the influence of the Catholic Church would remain in Italian society. In addition, as Mussolini moved to create a more fascist society in the 1930s tensions reemerged. When the regime tried to suppress Catholic Action in 1931 (Catholic youth groups and potential rivals to the fascist youth groups), it had to find a compromise. The Church agreed to ban political activity by Catholic Action but kept the organizations that were important to maintain its influence over the young; Radio Vatican continued to broadcast its own news and views during the 1930s. The Church also prevented fascist interference in Catholic schools and the Catholic University of Milan and even declared that the tenants set down by the fascist youth movement, the ONB, were ‘blasphemous’.
Task One
TL: Research and thinking skills
1. What is the message of the postcard above?
2. Create a chart or infographic to show why each side signed the agreement and the advantages and disadvantages that each side gained from this agreement.
3. In pairs discuss how far you agree with the following statement:
'The papacy gained more from the Lateran Pacts than Mussolini'
Task Two
ATL: Thinking skills
Source A
Pope Pius XI to the French ambassador Beyens. 1929.
Mussolini alone has a proper understanding of what is necessary for his country in order to rid it of the anarchy to which it has been reduced by an impotent [powerless] parliamentarianism and three years of war. You see that he has carried the nation with him. May he be able to regenerate Italy.
Quoted in J. Hite and C. Hinton. Fascist Italy. Hodder Murray. 1998. Page 75.
Source B
Extract from Mussolini’s memoirs, Benito Mussolini, My Autobiography. Hutchinsons & Co. 1939.
The clear-cut, uncompromising views of Mussolini made an agreement easier…
Peace of heart of the Italian people was the result of this agreement. An old problem was settled forever. Sons, educated to the love of new, forceful, active living, would not be in conflict with their fathers, who were attached to the traditions of the past. One could finally be both a good Italian, which is the same as being a Fascist, and a good Catholic. The Vatican itself found new dignity and new strength. The Lateran Treaty was, doubtlessly, one of the greatest achievements of the wise, realistic policies of Benito Mussolini
Read Source A and Source B. With a partner discuss how Source A supports the views expressed in Source B.
Many leading clergy had supported Mussolini’s wars in Spain and Abyssinia as the campaigns were seen as crusades to preserve and spread Christianity. However tension increased between the regime and the Church when the government passed anti-Jewish laws in 1938. By 1940 Pope Pius XI was distancing himself from Mussolini, and the alliance between church and state was over.
Anti-Jewish Laws
Mussolini had not pursued anti-Semitic policies such as those instituted by Hitler, but this changed in 1938. There were a number of reasons for this shift in policy. Firstly the relative ease of military success in Abyssinia was seen as proof of Italians as a confident, warlike and superior race; some leading fascists began to view the Jews in Italy as an inferior group, and this view was heavily influenced by the policies of Nazi Germany. Indeed, as Italy’s relationship with Nazi Germany developed in foreign policy so Nazi ideas gained ground in Italian society. Mussolini began to see the Jews as an obstacle to achieving fascist societies in Italy and Europe and, in July 1938, the regime backed the publication of the ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists’ that declared that Jews were not part of the Italian race. In August 1938 Jews born outside Italy were banned from state schools, and this was extended to all Jews in September. Then, in October, Jews were banned from the Fascist Party and from owning larger companies. In November Jews were forbidden to marry non-Jews and they were excluded from banking and the military.
However, although life certainly deteriorated for Italian Jews, and there were many racist fascists that wanted to pursue deportations, there was not a state policy of violence against Jews as in Nazi Germany. There were also exemptions from the banning laws for Jews who had served in the Italian army in the First World War and who had served the Fascist Party. Many fascist officials did not impose the new anti-Jewish laws, sometimes because they agreed with the Church’s position that persecution was wrong, or because they had personal or family connections with Jews.
Women
A poster for the ONMI (opera nazionale per la maternita ed infanzia - National work for maternity and infancy), 1939 entitled 'Mother's Day, Ways of the child'.
Starter: what is the message of this poster?
The Fascist perspective on the role of women was traditional and in many ways in line with the Church’s views.
Task One
ATL: Thinking and self-management skills
You will write 10 brief journal, diary or blog entries in the character / role of an Italian woman living either in a poor rural community or in a working class family in a city. You need to ensure that you cover the key policies and events that would impact your role in society and cover the period: 1922 up to 1940.
Use your own research and the diagram above to help you. The following links may also be useful:
The Youth
Mussolini was very keen to shape the thinking of Italy’s young, and ensure they supported the Duce’s regime. He aimed to create a pro-fascist, strong, disciplined and athletic youth. In 1923, the school reforms passed by the regime were more conservative than fascist in nature, and they focused on rigorous examinations for the children at elite schools and institutions. Radical fascists demanded a more coherent fascist program for education.
To achieve his aims, Mussolini needed to ensure schools promoted fascism in their curriculum and through their teachers. He focused on the teachers, many of who were viewed as either openly anti-fascist or unsympathetic to the regime. In 1925 all teachers that were deemed ‘suspect’ were dismissed from their jobs, and from 1929 teachers had to take an oath of loyalty to the Duce. The Fascist Teachers Association was established in 1931 and membership was made compulsory in 1937. To foster Mussolini’s cult of personality amongst the young, biographies celebrating Mussolini’s achievements were distributed to all schools and teachers were ordered to praise his genius in their lessons. The Duce’s portrait was hung next to that of the King. A textbook for 8 year olds made it clear that children should have total loyalty to the great leader: The eyes of the Duce are on every one of you… You must obey because you must. What is the duty of a child? Obedience! The second? Obedience! The third? Obedience! To foster fascist ideals students were taught about ‘Italian greatness’ while nationalism was promoted in the curriculum, especially in History. Textbooks and works of literature that were deemed insufficiently patriotic were banned and by 1936 only one official textbook could be used.
Mussolini not only wanted to indoctrinate children in school he also wanted to ensure their leisure time embraced fascist ideals. In 1926 the Opera Nazionale Balilla [ONB] was set up. The ONB organized youth groups and activities. During the 1930s membership was made compulsory for children from 8 years old and by 1937 it had 7 million members.
The activities run by the ONB were focused on fascist ideology, preparing the youth for war through military training, sports training and parades. Young girls were also involved, but their activities prepared them for the domestic roles fascism dictated; sewing, cooking and childcare. There was also an organization for university students, the Gruppi Universitari Fascisti [GUF] that aimed to create a Fascist elite by ensuring that older students continued to engage with fascist ideas and maintained their military training. The GUF organized the Littoriali Games that encouraged university students to compete with each other in sports and other activities such as art and music.
Task One
ATL: Thinking skills, Research skills and Social skills
Read through the Source A, B and C in small groups.
Discuss in your groups the content of each source and when they reveal about the impact of fascist groups on young people in Italy.
In the same group, use all three sources, the material above, and some research of your own, to write a foreign correspondent’s newspaper report on the ONB for a non-fascist newspaper in the 1930s.
Source A
Creed [statement of beliefs] of the Fascist youth movement. 1926.
I believe in Rome the Eternal, the mother of my country, and in Italy her eldest daughter, who was born in her virginal bosom by the grace of God; who suffered through the barbarian invasions, was crucified and buried, who descended to the grave and was raised from the dead in the nineteenth century, who ascended into heaven in her glory in 1918 and 1922. I believe in the genius of Mussolini, in our Holy Father Fascism, in the communion of its martyrs, in the conversion of Italians, and in the resurrection of the Empire.
Quoted in J. Hite and C. Sinton, Fascist Italy. John Murray. 1998. Page 153
Source B
A photograph of some young members of the ONB. c. 1936.
Source C
An extract from Historical Dictionary of Fascist Italy, by V. De Gazia, editor P. Cannistraro. Westport. 1982. Page 572
The Fascist youth organizations had a powerful impact on youth growing up under the regime, although membership itself was by no means universal. An estimated 30 to 40 percent of the population between the ages of eight and eighteen never joined at all, the vast majority of whom were probably working-class youth and young women, especially those who left school before the age of fourteen. However, even before the enrolment was made compulsory, the overwhelming majority of middle class children joined either out of conviction or because of the material advantages offered, or as a result of teacher pressure, parental fears, or a single desire not to be excluded from such a highly visible form of sociability. The generation born after World War I in Italy thus experienced Fascist regimentation as something entirely routine. Having had little or no contact with alternative organisations or cultural models, it was inevitably susceptible to propaganda that identified everything pre or anti fascist as decrepit or inept and the regime itself with dynamism and the energy of youth
Leisure time and the Dopolavoro
Mussolini also wanted to mold older Italians in order to transform society more quickly, and to this end the Dopolavoro was set up in 1925 to provide leisure activities that promoted fascist idea and values. It would fill the gap left by the defunct trade union clubs. By the mid 1930s, the Dopolavoro controlled all football clubs, 8,000 libraries and 1350 theatres. Membership of the Dopolavoro grew to a peak of 4 million in 1939, and there was little need to force people to join it as it gave subsidies to sports, entertainment and for holidays. Its emphasis was on having fun rather than indoctrination or military training.
How successful were political policies?
‘The nation is in our hands now and we swear to lead her back in her ways of ancient greatness’ Mussolini
Task One
ATL: Thinking skills
Read the following source.
In pairs identify the key points made in Source B regarding fascism’s early achievements in Italy.
With reference to origin, purpose and content, assess the value to the historian of this source for finding out about the success of Mussolini's internal policies.
An extract from the British newspaper The Times. 31st October, 1923.
Italy has never been so united as she is today… Fascismo has abolished the game of parliamentary chess; it has also simplified the taxation system and reduced the deficit to manageable proportions; it has vastly improved the public services, particularly the railways; it has reduced a superfluously large bureaucracy without any very bad results in the way of hardships or unemployment; it has pursued a vigorous and fairly successful colonial policy. All this represents hard and useful work, but the chief boons [achievements] it has conferred upon Italy are national security and national self-respect…
Fascismo had had a great deal of courage [and] very considerable wisdom…
As you have seen Mussolini had, by 1926, achieved his political aim of becoming dictator. He also aimed to remove or deter any potential opposition. Parliament was subservient, no longer able to debate his decrees and had become merely a forum for his fascist supporters to applaud him. The armed forces had pledged loyalty to the King who in turn was in thrall to Mussolini. His position seemed unassailable. He pursued personal power above all else and this disappointed radical fascist party members who wanted some movement towards a real fascist revolution.
The media
As a former newspaper editor Mussolini understood the power and influence of the press. In 1926 opposition newspapers were suppressed, and Mussolini’s press office handed down the ‘official version’ of new events for publication. The regime also harnessed radio and the cinema for propaganda purposes. The state ensured radios were distributed to schools and even into more remote villages to enable the state to broadcast Mussolini’s speeches and programs praising his genius and achievements.
Cult of Personality
‘I often would like to be wrong, but so far it has never happened and events have always turned out as I foresaw.’ Mussolini
Mussolini’s promotion of a cult of the Duce aimed to gain widespread support for his personal dictatorship. The development of this cult was dependent on the media consistently depicting him as a new ‘Caesar’, a genius and a great international statesman. The Italian public were consistently fed headlines such as: ‘Mussolini is always right’, ‘he works 20 hour days’ and ‘Mussolini is courageous and athletic’. Mussolini controlled all images of himself in the media and those printed included him horse-riding, skiing and flying airplanes. All photographs were carefully selected to show a youthful and energetic man. There were no images of him wearing glasses and no press reports stated specifically how old he was.
Mussolini also promoted himself as a highly cultured man, a man that read literature and philosophy and who was also a capable musician. He did not believe that the Italian masses were cultured, nor hard working. Indeed, he believed that most Italians could not engage in political debate and preferred to be told what to do.
Propaganda focused on the great successes of the Duce, particularly in foreign policy. The Italian public was promised a glorious future that would fulfill the greatness of classical Rome and the Italy of the Renaissance. Mussolini’s press office extended slowly and became a ministry controlling radio, film and all other cultural areas by the 1930s. It rolled out a vast propaganda campaign to support the war in Abyssinia [see research task on page xx] and in 1937 it was renamed the Ministry of Popular Culture.
The creation of a personal dictatorship
Mussolini achieved his political aims. After gaining power in 1922, he established unrivaled personal control over the National Fascist Party [PNF], and destroyed the power of the Ras. The Fascist squadristi were loyal to Mussolini, and when the Grand Council of Fascism was set up it reinforced his personal control. In the final Fascist party congress Mussolini asserted that there should be no internal divisions. By 1928 all party posts were appointed from the party headquarters in Rome. Mussolini had total control over his party, and he had demonstrated great political skill in overcoming the deeply factional PNF.
As Mussolini promoted only obedient followers in the party, the make up of the fascist party shifted from one of the working classes and peasants to a party of lower middle class state workers. Members of the party that attained any fame or notoriety were moved from the center of power to prevent them becoming a threat to Mussolini. High profile fascists such as Italo Balbo, and Dino Grandi were given posts with no real power (a post in Libya and ambassador to London respectively). His methods, coupled with the fact that the party needed Mussolini to hold it together, meant that no rivals emerged in the party before the Second World War.
Furthermore, the King was in awe of Mussolini and this enabled the Duce to deter him from any political involvement; he was never asked for his opinion. Mussolini did not share power with his government ministers and there was no cabinet or government team. In any case, Mussolini held the most important positions in foreign affairs, the interior and the armed forces. Parliament, as discussed earlier, became irrelevant after 1926; it abolished itself completely in 1939 and was replaced with the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations. Mussolini gained control over the civil service and other institutions of state, without drawing a direct confrontation; many key posts in the civil service, judiciary and in the armed forces were held by conservatives sympathetic to fascism. Mussolini used a system of patronage to promote trustworthy conservatives and to slowly remove those that were not actively pro-fascist.
The Party was given a key role in education, leisure and, of course, propaganda. When this led to disputes and disagreements between party organizations and government departments Mussolini’s own power increased. For example, a rivalry developed between the party and the ministry for education over control of the ONB, and the army argued with the fascist militia over the distribution of weapons and supplies. In these disputes the groups involved looked to Mussolini to resolve the issue. The Duce used these divisions to strengthen his personal control; for example he gave the control of the Dopolavoro to the party in 1927 but gave control of the ONB to the Ministry for National Education in 1929.
However, Mussolini adopted a different approach with the judiciary and here he implemented a purge. The Duce had to ensure the judiciary would enforce his laws and he sacked judges for being too independent or insufficiently pro-fascist. The Italian judiciary was no longer impartial, and imprisonment without trial became common. Mussolini also occasionally intervened to offer a verdict on a specific trial himself. At the local government level, self-government was abolished and elected mayors and town councilors were now appointed from Rome.
Task Two
Self-mangement skills
In pairs, copy out complete the grid below.
4. What was the nature of the Fascist state?
Task One
ATL: Thinking and self-management skills
In pairs read through the information below on the mind map. Copy out and add examples, dates and details from the material you have covered and researched in this unit (or create your own infographic) to explain the nature of Mussolini’s fascist state.
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5. What were the limitations of Mussolini’s domestic policies?
The main aims of Mussolini’s domestic policies were to set up the Corporate State, drive the Italian economy into greater productivity and ultimately autarky, establish a fascist society and consolidate the Duce’s personal control. The successes of his initiatives and programs were emphasized, such as the infrastructure projects and sporting achievements e.g. Italian victories in the football world cups of 1934 and 1938), whereas the failures were not mentioned. Some historians view his only real achievement in domestic policy as being the agreement with the Church.
The fact that Mussolini had to make the final decision on so many different issues led to serious delays in the system. It not only led to bad decisions, it also meant that the Duce could not make sure his decisions were being carried out. Ultimately, the regime suffered from ‘confusion, delay and incompetence.’ [Robson. Page 75].
Indeed, Mussolini never really changed Italian attitudes, and there seems to have been much outward conformity to the fascist state without much real conviction. He tried to break ‘bourgeois thinking’ in Italian society and promote fascisation by, for example, making it compulsory in 1937 to replace the traditional greeting of a handshake with a fascist salute, and he even attempted to change the calendar, taking 1922 as the new year 1. However, these dictates were met with apathy and irritation. and directives on how women should dress (not to wear makeup or trousers) were derided. In addition, there was resistance to the ‘Battle for Births’ program, and although the Dopolavoro was generally popular, Mussolini’s other social initiatives were not. Most young people left school when they were 11 years old, many Catholic schools did not pursue the fascist curriculum, and membership of the ONB was not enforced. It is also important to note that despite the best efforts of the Ministry of Popular Culture, often ridiculed and called ‘Minculpop’, fascist newspapers never achieved more than 10% of circulation. The Vatican’s newspaper remained more popular and actually increased its readership from 20,000 to 250,000 in the late 1930s. Therefore, although Mussolini remained generally popular with the Italian public he was unable to enact a ‘fascist revolution’ in society.
Furthermore, some estimates have suggested that only 15% of the civil service was fascist in 1927. Although the number of fascist party members increased in the 1930s, as people became aware that this was the only way to get promoted, the reality was that there was no ‘fascist revolution’ in government.
6. How significant was opposition to the regime?
Task One
ATL: Thinking skills
Read the following extract by historian H Kedward. To what extent do you agree with claims?
Any account of European Fascism in the twentieth century must begin by saying that its strength lay in the willingness and enthusiasm with which large numbers of ordinary people welcomed it ideals, believed in its claims and endorsed its methods. In Italy in 1921 this was historical reality. In Germany in 1933 it was even more true. The wide appeal and attraction of Fascism is something which must first be admitted before any understanding of it can emerge.’
Read the following extract from Fascism in Western Europe by the British historian Harry R Kedward. Blackie. 1969. Page 43.
The weakness of the political opposition to the fascist regime was not only due to repression by the state, but also because Mussolini ensured the support of political journalists that would have normally championed the opposition by offering them pay incentives and grants. He offered similar sweeteners to academics, including titles and generous pensions. Any criticism of the state would lead to the immediate removal of all benefits.
However, there was also a lack of cohesion and division within the opponents of the regime. The Communists, for example, refused to work with any other group. Moreover, opposition to Mussolini was dangerous. Historians have estimated that by 1926 fascist squads killed around 2,000 people and the murder of Matteotti in 1924 had sent a clear warning that the fascists were prepared to use violence to silence their opponents. The regime’s secret police, the OVRA, tracked possible dissidents and had the support of thousands of informers. It also had its own court that had tried more than 4,000 defendants by the end of the 1930s handing down more than 30 death sentences. 12,000 Italians were sentenced to house arrest, usually in isolated villages. Prison camps were set up on islands such as Lampedusa and these camps held up to 5,000 political prisoners.; however although conditions were harsh and there was sometimes torture of inmates, these camps were nothing on the scale of the concentration camps in Nazi Germany.
Despite this intimidation the Communists maintained an underground resistance with 7,000 activists. It published its own newspaper, L’Unita, and distributed anti-fascist propaganda. As well as the Communists, another opposition party, Justice and Liberty, was founded by Carolo Roselli who aimed to form an alliance between the Socialists and Liberals. Based in Paris, he attempted to brief the international press about the real situation of oppression in Mussolini’s Italy. Pamphlets were smuggled into Italy to spread anti-fascist ideas, however the group had only a few thousand supporters. Nevertheless, the regime took Justice and Liberty seriously enough to have Roselli murdered in 1937.
Historical Perspectives
As you will have read in the source above, historian Harry Kedward, believed that Mussolini's regime had popular appeal This view is also supported bythe Italian historian Renzo de Felice, who in Interpretations of Fascism, 1977, also argued that Mussolini’s regime was genuinely popular, particularly in the period 1929 and 1936. He suggests that popular support for Mussolini continued until the invasion of Greece during the Second World War. Felice’s book was controversial in Italy when it was published, but the historian Nicholas Farrell, writing in Mussolini: A New Life, 2004, cincurs with Felice’s view that ‘That the truth is that a critical mass of people in Italy did actively support Mussolini.’ [page 216]5.
However, the British historian R J B Bosworth, in Mussolini’s Italy, 2006, has suggested that support for the regime was far more limited and that pro-fascist and pro-Mussolini public displays were essentially engineered by the oppressive state.
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