Mussolini's Rise to power and pre-war domestic policies

Context for Mussolini's Foreign policy

Mussolini’s rise to power

Mussolini’s rise to power

Italy disatisfied with gains from WW1- felt like they weren’t treated fairly- ‘mutilated peace’

Political, economic + cultural factors led to his rise to power

Political factors leading to his rise to power

Italy’s political system after the war was made of governments with liberal polititans who did deals to rule amongst themselves. ‘transformismo’ to mainly keep socialists out of power.

- the socialist party (PSI) had grown from 50,000 to 200,000 members, while the Italian bourgeois was rejected.

-post-war Italy can be categorized as a failed state: high levels of violence and existence of paramilitary groups

-The socialists formed the biggest political party at the time but were unable to form a government. Since the electoral system followed a proportional representation structure, it allowed for smaller parties such as Mussolini’s Fascists to gain parliamentary representation.

-Mussolini’s fascists were able to gain respectability and a national platform. Mussolini refused to join any government unless appointed as its leader.

Economic factors leading to his rise to power

• Large estates in the south were owned by the rich elite, southern population was generally poor and landless

• The economy was devastated by the war

• The south grew richer because of iron and chemical weapons while the south became poorer as more people were conscripted to war

• National debt increased from 16 Billion to 85 billion lire

• Government began printing more money to counteract the debt, which resulted in an inflation increase of 400% between 1915 and 1918.

• Workers decreased wages

• Industry was down

• Mussolini believed in government ownership and control of the economy.

• He was supportive of the Italian entry into World War One

• Half a million million men were killed in WW1, much of the workforce was injured

• Many strikes

• Landlords were forced to sell plots

• There were both pro-fascists and anti-fascist strikes

Cultural factors leading to his rise to power

-Lack of well-established ‘democratic’ political culture -> little understanding or support for liberal behaviours and organizations

-Populist ideas evolved in 1919 around the incomplete status of the unification project

-Fascists were sought after by landowners to try to fight against the left from taking their land

-Businessmen hoped the Fascist party could protect their economic interests, thus gaining the fascists more votes

Mussolini’s consolidation of power

1922: Mussolini utilizes threat of Fascists outside parliment to recieve powers, Fascist grand council created

1923: National security guard created, Acerbo Law implemented (Largest party with over 25% votes recieves 2/3 of parliamentary seats)

1924: Election held, violence and vote rigging used to secure Mussolini's control under the Acerbo Law. Giacomo Matteotti, one of Mussolini’s most outspoken critics/opponents is assassinated

1925: Opposition party meetings banned

1926: Mussolini acquires the power to pass laws by decree, All non-Fascist parties are banned, Trade unions banned, Political court (Special tribunal) is established

1928: Vote restricted to only males who were members of a fascist syndicate. Votes held in an open ballot with only party approved candidates

Economic pre-war domestic policies

Italy’s (Mussolini’s) overall economic aim was to become self sufficient in both food and raw materials for industry- the policy was known as ‘Autarky’

Overall policies inevitably influenced by the Great Depression- divided into 20s and 30s.

1920s

•Mussolini launched ‘Battles’: a series of ambitious state led campaigns. E.g. in 1924 the Battle over the Southern Problem; in 1925 the Battle for Grain; in 1926, the Battle for Land and the Battle for the Lira

•Results of battles were mixed- focusing resources and power onto one problem often negatively affected the other.

•Battle for Grain- success. Doubled cereal production by 1939- Italy self sufficient in wheat.

•BUT this involved misallocation of resources (not as efficient- not maximizing resources).

•WHICH resulted in Italy having to import olive oil- exports of fruit, wine + sheep dropped.

•Battle for the Lira (artificially raising lira value) resulted in declining exports-

increased unemployment (goods became more expensive)

 

Before the Depression, Mussolini favoured large companies and heavy industry.

1930s

After Depression-  he began to consider state intervention.

1933 (IRI) set up. Began with unprofitable industries- by 1939, became a massive state company + controlled most iron/steel industries, merchant shipping, electrical industry + telephone system.

Mussolini didn’t want industries like these to be permanently nationalized

SO… parts of them were regularly sold off to larger industries still under private ownership- resulted in formation of HUGE capitalist monopolies.

E.g. large firms Montecatini + SINAViscasa which owned nearly all of Italian chemical industry

Later on… as Mussolini involved Italy in more military actions- ‘Autarky’ emphasized, and with it the problems in getting it.

Some achievments still in place:

1928-1939- raw materials imports + industrial goods dropped significantly

1940- industrial production increased by 9%- first time in history where industry overtook agriculture in Italian GNP (gross national product)

Overall result of pre war economic policies

‘fascist economic policy’ didn’t lead to significant modernization of economy or increased productivity levels.

Italy experienced slower Depression recovery than other EU states- this only became apparent when Italy became involved in WW2

Social pre-war domestic policies

No sweeping program of social change.

Lateran accords: Church to state relations: agreement with Catholic Church (1929), Catholicism established as sole Italian religion + Vatican established as new independent state

Effect on labor

• workers banned to protest- blamed as anti-patriotic

Effect on women

• status continuously downgraded. battle for Births in 1927 attempted to increase italian population to expand army and empire.

• fascists encouraged early marriage, offered generous maternity benefits, and gave jobs to married fathers in preference over single men.

Racism and antisemitism

• underlying racial attitude towards italian expansion

• social darwinism

• Hitler pressured antisematic laws- caused internal distress in italy- laws strongly opposed by the pope

Fascist education and indoctrination

• all education and materials heavily reviewed

• Organisations for children to impose fascism

Mussolini’s pre-WW1 foreign policy

Peaceful diplomacy 

• Italy built good relations with Britain and France during Mussolini's first year in power. This is because at this time they were the biggest powers in Europe and Mussolini needed support because he wanted the Treaty of Versailles to be revised.

Corfu crisis 1923

• Italy was trying to delineate Albanian and Greek boarders to stop Greece from taking territory which lead to:

• The murder of an Italian general on the Greek and Albanian border: the Greeks were blamed- Italy demanded compensation of 50 million lira from the Greek government and ordered the army to occupy the territory. These actions received strong opposition from Britain and the League. The League imposed moral condemnation and Italy chose to withdraw its troops as it wanted to maintain good relations with Britain due to it being a major power of the time.

Albania

• Mussolini’s control had continued growing since 1923. In 1934 Albania was struggling economically and took a loan from Italy in this agreement Mussolini demanded that Albania facilitate the Italian navy and prevented them from making any alliances with other countries. Italy sent an ultimatum to Albania in 1939 and finally annexed it later that year. Britain and France were preoccupied with Germany’s aggression and the League of Nations had been proved to be ineffective, thus, this annexation was left unchallenged.

Throughout the 1920’s Italy continued to gain territories and follow its aim to grow into a major power and create an empire. It mainly focused on ”friendly politics” which is shown by its Treaty of ‘friendship’ with Abyssinia. 

Abyssinian crisis  

• Hitler’s rise to power and support gave Mussolini more diplomatic bargaining power as the British and French wanted to maintain good relations. 

• Mussolini was still determined to expand Italy’s potential and influence but Italy was suffering economically after the depression. He therefore, chose to ask Britain and France for permission to invade Abyssinia before he invaded in 1934 and a war broke out, this forced the League to intervene. 

Spanish civil war  

• As a show of power Mussolini sent weapons aircraft and 70,000 Italian troops, to the Rebels, even though it would bring no direct reward to Italy and the country was still struggling economically. 

Rome Berlin axis

• Mussolini came to the conclusion that 'decedent democracy's' as he referred to them were weak and the future was with the fascist powers. This lead him to solidify his relations with Germany with their first agreement in 1936, this ultimately lead to Germany becoming the bigger power and strongly influencing Italy's actions.