Who Really Ruled Italy in 1926-40?
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Mussolini is considered as one of the most important European dictators of the twenties
century. If he is a dictator he would be the absolute ruler of Italy, but a man can not
do everything himself. So how important were the other protagonists: the fascist party
and the establishment? Their strength would be measured in power.
Mussolini through his political situation was the most powerful man in Italy. He was
prime minister and held up to 8 ministries at once. The parliament had very restrained
powers, Mussolini decided and the parliament could only agree as the members all
belonged to Mussolini’s party. It was used as a security valve. He would give tasks to
the independent members such as Farinacci to keep them occupied and on is side. Even
if the members of the parliament and of the government were members of the fascist
party their influence and power was limited.
Not only was Mussolini the leader of the country he was also from 1926 the chairman of
the Fascist party. This meant that he had much more power over the party than he
had before when he was representing the party in the Government. Mussolini was also
The Essay on Mussolini And Fascism Web Fascist War
Fascism is the philosophy that exercises a dictatorship through the use of violence. There are two main areas fascism deals with. An elitist approach that makes the peoples' will on a select group with a supreme leader who governs all. The other approach is the populist approach in which the government wishes to have all its people act out against the government's oppressors. (Baradat) Fascism ...
able to appoint people whilst before for candidates to take posts the party had to vote
for them. Mussolini by being the chairman absorbed a main part of the fascist party
power. The symbiosis of the Mussolini’s power as Prime minister and as leader of the
fascist party diminished the influence of all other powers.
Unlike Russia, the party did not take the state over. It was Mussolini who took over the
country and the fascist party almost followed him. Mussolini was chosen Prime Minister
and by his reforms he increased the importance of the Fascist political party. The party
was still Mussolini accessory.
Mussolini over-centralised Italy in Rome to limit the power and independence of the raj.
Mussolini acted like a 17th century king; he kept everyone under his eyes. Mussolini
wanted to be able to rule the whole of Italy from Rome. This increased his importance
in the towns of Italy. It was almost as if he was the mayor of each town.
The corporate State increased his control of the workers and employers. Mussolini was
aware that even if he had banned all trade unions strikes were possible. His solution
was to install twenty-two corporations, which acted as mediator between the workers,
who thought that this was in their favour, and the industrials. This seemed to have
saved Mussolini from major strikes, which could have been the end of his quite fragile
party. Mussolini even if he was the leader of the party he still needed it to keep him in
power. When he was forced to leave in 1941 it was not the fascist party that put him
back in power but the Nazi army.
The fascist party had many important roles in the Italian social life. Mussolini relied on
this party for the propaganda. Propaganda was and is very important in a dictatorship;
it had to create the illusion of a strong Italy. An example of the role of the fascist party
would be the numerous military displays. Organising the propaganda was in actual fact
quite easy since a strict censorship had been installed and Italy became more isolated.
The Essay on To what extent was fascist control of Italy 1925-1943 the result of the effective use of propaganda?
... also other factors that maintained fascist control over Italy, including Mussolini’s link with the church, the ... allowed clerical salaries to be increased. These actions show Mussolini’s eagerness to be associated with ... banned. This allowed the Fascist party to be the leading party without threat from other ... an important step in securing Mussolini’s position in power. He proposed various ways to ...
The fascist party failed in understanding the need of a scapegoat.
The fascist party was also responsible for organising the fascist parallel powers, which
were the OVRA (secret fascist police) and its militia. With these two tools the fascist
party increased its’ role and also Mussolini’s dependence of the party. Mussolini would
rely on the party through the militia to keep him in place. But these organisations were
only parallel to the more independent police and army.
The fascist party organised the education and the indoctrination of the Italian youth.
This was important for the future of the fascist and Mussolini’s regime. The fascist
party decided of the programme, wrote out new textbooks to glorify Mussolini and the
fascist party and also obliged teachers to support Mussolini.
The fascist party even with the mild purges increased, it reached 2,5 million members.
The sheer size of the party greatened its influence but it also diluted its essence. It
also turned middle class because it was believed that a fascist party member would
have a pay or social situation increase. The Fascist Party was divided and breaches
appeared. As there were no other parties, some non-fascist politicians joined the
fascist party but still had their previous beliefs, and most of all they did not have the
same ambition for the party. This situation was in favour of Mussolini because a weaker
party meant that Mussolini would be stronger.
Constitutionally Mussolini was not the highest ranked person in Italy. The King
appointed him and could also appoint someone else. Of course this was not a real
threat to Mussolini since the royal family was supporting the fascist party, the royal
party had more a figurative role and it would be risky for a king to dismiss a poplar
prime minister specially if the prime minister had is militia.
The Term Paper on Mussolini Government Fascist Party
Was Mussolini's seizure of power due to his own skill or the incompetence of his opponents On the 23 March 1919 after a series of Communist demonstrations, the almost forgotten Mussolini decided to attempt to revive hisFasci movement. A meeting was held in a hall in a Milan and was attended by some fifty malcontents. From this seemingly small and insignificant event the Fascia di Combattimento' ( ...
The army and Police stayed independent even if the fascist party had infiltrated them.
Mussolini knew that they did not conflict with his power or rule. If anything the army
would be pleased to have a Prime Minister wanting to develop their profession. As
Mussolini’s propaganda made people believe that he has developed this army, they
would be more critical in case of a defeat. The police on the other hand was put in
competition with the militia. On the whole between the army police and Mussolini there
was more a relationship of complaisance.
The church wasn’t after the Lateran accords opposed to the fascist party. From then
on the Pope and the Catholic Church concentrated more on the religious than on the
politics. Mussolini managed to corrupt the Pope by handing back some land taken in the
Italian unification so that there could be a papal state and Mussolini also granted
indemnities for the land kept. After this agreement Mussolini was sure that the Catholic
Church, which was the religion of a vast majority of Italians, would no longer criticise
the fascist regime Also the Catholic Church was almost a political party, the last one to
not have been banned by the fascists. This is probably Mussolini’s greatest
accomplishment. He managed to calm down the opposition of the only institution he
could not destroy.
Mussolini’s ambition was to make Italy an autarky. His failure meant that Italy suffered
the 1929 crisis in a much more dramatical way than a country, which had almost
reached total autarky like Russia. Mussolini then couldn’t rule Italy as he wanted he had
to rule accordingly to Italian economy influenced by the world’s economy. Mussolini
from 1935 was also relying on Hitler for coal, steel and petrol. Hitler’s importance in the
Italian political life increase and reached its apex in 1942 when he was maintaining
Mussolini in power and dictating to the dictator what he should do.
The Mafia had strong influence in the south; it almost ruled it. Even if Mussolini did a lot
The Essay on Benito Mussolini Italy Fascist Made
Benito Mussolini, the Fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943. He centralized all power in himself as the leader of the Fascist party and attempted to create an Italian empire, ultimately in alliance with Germany. The defeat of Italian arms in World War 2 brought an end to his imperial dream and led to his downfall. Benito had a miserable young life who then made his future adult life ...
to destroy this organisation it still existed under cover. The Mafia did not accompany
Mussolini and the fascist party’s power but it replaced it. Indeed the south of Italy
remained mainly in rural area independent of Fascist influence. This independence was
nevertheless unimportant because the southern part of Italy was poor, lightly
populated and not industrialised. Mussolini neglected the south in his efforts to
dynamise the industry and economy of the country.
We can say that Mussolini had ultimate power but not absolute power. He really ruled
Italy from 1926-37 when Hitler’s influence was increasingly important. Mussolini never
had the power of Hitler or Stalin. His strength is only in comparison with the other weak
political parties in Italy. One could almost say that he is only a violent Prime Minister
who didn’t respect the democratic rules.
