Mussolini’s pre-war domestic policies (economic, social, political)

List economic policies

• Battle for Grain

• Battle for Lira

• Battle for Births

• Public works and land reclamation

• Autarky drive

Describe Battle for Grain

Battle for Grain (1925):

• Subsidies and tariffs boosted wheat output to 7.2 million tonnes (1931)

• reducing imports by 75%.

• However, southern farmers suffered as subsidies favoured the north, and production of dairy and olives declined, worsening Italian diets.

Describe Battle for Lira

Battle for the Lira (1926):

• Mussolini revalued the currency to “Quota 90” (₤90 = £1).

• While prestige rose internationally, the policy caused

  • export collapse

  • rising unemployment

  • 20% fall in real wages

    => undermining workers’ living standards.

Describe Battle for Births

Battle for Births (1927):

• Mussolini aimed to boost population from 40m to 60m by 1950.

• Incentives included marriage loans and tax breaks for large families,

• female employment was restricted.

• By 1939, the birth rate had not risen, and labour shortages worsened — a clear policy failure.

Describe public works and land reclamation

• Projects such as draining the Pontine Marshes employed tens of thousands,

• showcasing Fascist “modernisation”

• strengthening Mussolini’s propaganda image,

• though the economic impact was limited.

Describe autarky drive

Autarky drive (1935–39):

• League of Nations sanctions after the Abyssinian war spurred self-sufficiency campaigns.

• Imports were cut

• synthetic substitutes promoted

• but by 1939 Italy still relied heavily on German coal, oil, and raw materials, exposing strategic weakness.

Evaluate Mussolini’s economic policies

Mussolini’s economic policies prioritised prestige and propaganda over practicality.

Grain output rose and public works projected dynamism, but the “Battles” largely failed: the lira damaged trade, birth policy backfired, and autarky proved unachievable.

By 1939, Italy’s economy remained fragile and dependent, undermining the regime’s ambitions for great-power status.

List social policies

• youth and leisure

• education

• women

• religion

Describe youth and leisure

• The Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) and later the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (GIL) indoctrinated millions of young Italians through paramilitary training and Fascist ideology.

• The Dopolavoro (1925) extended control into leisure, enrolling 4 million members by 1939, and offering subsidised sports, trips, and concerts.

  • Was more a recreational thing than genuine indoctrination

Describe education

• Teachers were required to swear oaths of loyalty to the regime

• curricula glorified Romanità (Roman heritage) and the cult of Il Duce.

• By the late 1920s, Fascist-approved textbooks were universal, embedding regime ideology in classrooms.

Describe women

• The regime promoted domesticity and motherhood as women’s roles,

  • linking to the Battle for Births.

• Yet by 1939, 33% of the workforce were women,

  • reflecting labour needs that contradicted Fascist gender ideology.

Describe religion

• The Lateran Pacts (1929) bolstered Mussolini’s legitimacy by reconciling with the Catholic Church.

• However, the Church retained significant influence over education and marriage law,

  • exposing the limits of Fascist claims to “totalitarian” control.

Evaluate social policies

Mussolini’s social policies succeeded in shaping youth culture and projecting regime presence into leisure and education, but contradictions persisted.

The Church constrained totalitarian ambitions, while women’s continued economic role undermined ideological goals. Fascist social control was thus broad but never absolute.

List political policies

• One party rule

• Control of elites

• Police state

• Propaganda and cult of Il Duce

Describe one party rule

• By 1928, parliament was effectively abolished.

• The Grand Council of Fascism was enshrined as a constitutional body,

  • formally approving succession and symbolising the regime’s consolidation into a one-party dictatorship.

Describe control of elites

• Mussolini relied on cooperation rather than elimination.

• The monarchy and army were preserved, with the King remaining Head of State,

  • limiting Mussolini’s power to a personal dictatorship within elite constraints.

• Industrialists, meanwhile, benefited from the destruction of unions and the ban on strikes,

  • tying their interests to the regime.

Describe police state

• The OVRA conducted widespread surveillance, monitoring opposition.

• Repression was effective but comparatively lighter than Nazi Germany:

  • between 1926–40, thousands were jailed or exiled,

  • but mass killings were rare,

  • reflecting intimidation over terror.

Describe propaganda and the cult of Il Duce

• Mussolini was glorified as “Il Duce”, the embodiment of the nation.

• State control over media (through Minculpop, 1937) ensured censorship and saturation of regime messaging,

  • fostering loyalty and compliance.

Evaluate political policies

Mussolini’s political system was a dictatorship reinforced by repression and propaganda, but it retained elements of compromise with traditional elites.

Unlike Hitler’s radicalism, Mussolini’s rule was shaped by pragmatism and accommodation, creating a regime authoritarian in form but not fully totalitarian in scope.