Fascism in Italy, 1919-1939 Notes

Fascism in Italy, 1919-1939

Origins

  • Post-unification: Italy was a failed colonial power dealing with the “Southern Question.”
  • After World War I:
    • Dissatisfaction with military performance.
    • Territorial changes occurred.
    • Treaties of London and St. Germain (1915, 1919) impacted Italy.
    • High debt, economic downturn, and high unemployment plagued the country.
    • Parliamentary crisis arose under PM Giolitti.
    • Social crisis: the Biennio Rosso (“Red Two Years”).

Benito Mussolini

  • Born in 1883, originally a radical socialist (syndicalist).
  • Gained fame as an intellectual journalist for the socialist newspaper Avanti prior to WW1.
  • Broke with socialists over Italy’s involvement in WW1 in 1914.
  • Founded a nationalist newspaper, Il Popolo d’Italia, which became the mouthpiece of Italian fascism.
  • Fought in WW1 but was discharged in 1917.
  • Founded the Fascist Combat Group in 1919, later became the Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF), or National Fascist Party in 1921.

Fascist Ideology

  • Combination of radical socialist ideas, ultra-nationalism, and anti-democracy.
  • Ideology was often malleable.
  • June 1919: Mussolini published the Fascist Manifesto, detailing fascist beliefs and objectives.
  • Heavy use of Roman history and symbols, e.g., fasces.
  • The role of ideology in the rise to power is heavily debated.

Rise to Power

  • 1919: Formation of the Fascist Combat Group; early members were mostly veterans; electoral failure; Blackshirts formed.
  • 1919-1921: Violence against socialists and communists during the Biennio Rosso by the squadre d’azione.
  • Struggle between Mussolini and the ras, regional fascist leaders.
  • 1921: Fascists won 38 seats in parliament and reorganized into PNF, a national party.
  • Mussolini took the title, “Il Duce.”
  • 1922: the March on Rome
    • October 29: Fascists marched into the city and demanded power; Mussolini remained in Milan.
    • PM Luigi Facta resigned.
    • King Victor Emmanuel III invited Mussolini to Rome and made him PM.

Consolidation

  • Mussolini was given extra powers for one year by the king.
  • 1923: The Acerbo Law
    • Fascists only controlled 47 of 535 seats in parliament.
    • Law required that a party that gained the most votes automatically obtained two-thirds of seats in parliament.
    • Socialists, liberals, and Catholics opposed the law, but it passed due to the threat of violence.
  • 1924 election: Massive victory for the PNF.

Assassination of Giacomo Matteotti

  • Matteotti: a prominent socialist who criticized Fascists and the Acerbo Law.
  • June 1924: abducted and murdered by the Blackshirts.
  • Response: the Aventine Secession, where all non-Fascists abandoned parliament.
  • Victor Emmanuel refused to dissolve Mussolini’s government.
  • Jan 3, 1925: Mussolini gave a speech in which he assumed responsibility for the assassination, promised to restore order in Italy.
  • 1925-1927: All opposition parties banned, politicians killed or forced to leave, newspapers banned, secret police formed (OVRA).
  • This event is considered the beginning of authoritarianism in Italy, with Mussolini ruling by decree in 1926.
  • Robert Paxton called it a “coup from within.”

Maintenance

Economic Policy
  • Guiding principle: the Corporate State
  • Corporativisim/corporatism:
    • political ideology that advocates the organization of society into corporations, or groups of people with common interests
    • allows the government to mediate between conflicting groups, namely labor and capital, proposed as a “third way” between capitalism and socialism
    • implemented by Mussolini in 1927, abolition of trade unions and formation of the Ministry of Corporations
    • intended to improve the economy through centralization
    • severely reduced rights of workers (protests were outlawed) and maintained private enterprise
  • Battle for Grain (1925): program created to make Italy self-sufficient in agriculture through mechanized farming and import controls; results were mixed.
  • Battle for Land (1926): program to increase arable land through draining of marshes (ex: Pontine Marshes near Rome); new agricultural towns established.
  • Battle for the Lira (1926): currency reform established to strengthen the Lira; results: made imports cheaper, hurt Italian exports, wages cut, unemployment rose, slowed growth.
  • Failure to solve the “Southern Question” - no land redistribution, inequality remained.
  • Great Depression (1929): resulted in greater state control of the economy, public works projects, bankrupt companies absorbed by the state.
Social Policy
  • Catholic Church
    • Mussolini: atheist and anti-clergy, but his government was supported by the Catholic Church under Pope Pius XI (who also hated democracy).
    • Lateran Treaty (1929): agreement between Mussolini and the Church; the Pope recognized Mussolini’s rule as legitimate, Mussolini recognized papal sovereignty over the Vatican City, forbade political activity by the Church.
  • Propaganda
    • Used to promote ideological concepts and foster the cult of personality around Mussolini.
    • Use of mass media (radio, newspapers, film), rallies, posters, and photographs, restoration of Roman ruins.
    • Luce (L’Unione Cinematografica Educativa): state-owned film institute that specialized in propaganda, ex: The Blackshirt (1933), The Old Guard (1934).
  • Civic organizations and Sport
    • Youth: the Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) founded in 1926 to indoctrinate children and prepare boys for military service and girls for motherhood; fascist textbooks made standard in 1928.
    • Battle for Births 1927
    • Sport: Mussolini promoted sports as a way to emphasize masculinity and obedience; Italy hosted the World Cup in 1934 (won in 1934 and 1938).
Foreign Policy
  • Goals: Make Italy strong and respected, maintain good relations with France and Britain.
  • Corfu Incident (1923): Mussolini ordered the invasion of the Greek island of Corfu; results were mixed.
  • Fiume (1924): Free city between Italy and Yugoslavia, invaded by Mussolini on the premise of “danger” to Italians, officially handed over to Italy.
  • Locarno Pact (1925): Series of international treaties that settled WW1 border disputes, Mussolini sought to improve relations with Britain.
  • Invasion of Abyssinia (1935)
    • Began over border dispute between Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and Italian Somaliland.
    • Mussolini used the conflict as an excuse for invasion, launched the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
    • Emperor Haile Selassie appealed to the League of Nations, but Western nations did not intervene.
    • Effects: Abyssinia became a colony of Fascist Italy, Mussolini-Hitler relations strengthened, relations between Fascist countries and democracies strained, major failure of the League of Nations.
  • Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
    • Background: Spain was a monarchy before 1931; Republicans won the election of 1931 and began transformation of Spain into a secular democracy.
    • Civil war between Republicans and Nationalists following the election and coup of 1936.
    • Republicans: made up of a variety of liberals and moderate and radical leftist groups, largest was the Popular Front.
    • Nationalist: made up a variety of conservative, monarchist, and the Falange (Spanish Fascists) led by Francisco Franco.
    • International involvement: Republicans supported by the USSR and Mexico, Nationalists supported by Mussolini and Hitler.
    • Franco’s forces defeated the Republicans in 1939, and he became dictator of Spain until his death in 1975.
    • Why did Mussolini support Franco?
      • Fight against communism
      • Win support with Catholics
      • Economic growth
      • Ally in the Mediterranean