The Rise of Fascism in Italy: From Post-War Crisis to Dictatorship
The Socio-Political Crisis in Italy
Upon completion of the Great War, Italy was plunged into a social and political crisis, which ended with the rise of fascism. The keys to the crisis were:
- The unrest after the First World War: peace accords did not leave Italy’s territorial claims satisfied. This was known as the “mutilated victory.”
- The crisis of democracy in Italy: Fascism used the failure to create stable governments.
- The economic crisis: The effort made during the war had exhausted the Italian economy.
- The labor unrest: The workers came together to trigger a wave of protests.
- The fear of revolution increased after the Bolshevik victory, which stalled major economic and social sectors of postwar Italy.
The Seizure of Power
Benito Mussolini began the conquest of the Italian state in 1919 when he founded the first fascist militias. After the war, he decided to create his own party and stood for election with a populist program, a mixture of socialism and nationalism. Despite the dismal election results, he was able to attract important sectors unhappy with the situation in Italy.
Mussolini took advantage of the growing presence of communism in the streets to create a strong government with an iron fist against the Communists. He created the National Fascist Party in 1921, whose younger members of fasci di combattimento were used to violently end the influence of communists and socialists. Violence gripped the streets of cities and spread to the countryside; the fascist Blackshirts were responsible for increasing social unrest with constant attacks on labor leaders.
In 1922, Mussolini organized the March on Rome, a national rally of Fascists who marched on the capital as a sign of their convening power. Both the king and the army approved of this show of force. King Victor Emmanuel III ended up yielding to the fascist pressures.
The Fascist Regime
Once in power, Mussolini took the necessary steps to end democracy and become dictator, Duce. Fascist groups took control of the streets and rushed to establish an authoritarian regime by various means:
Political violence as a means to eliminate any opposition:
- In 1924, the leader of the Socialist Party, Matteotti, was assassinated. With his disappearance, all opposition to Mussolini came to be threatened.
- In 1925, Parliament closed, starting a new era in Italian history, a dictatorship that lasted until 1943. The police, OVRA, undertook to arrest and prosecute dissidents.
- The National Fascist Party became the single party while respecting the democratic aesthetic, even with elections, such as in 1929, in which all candidates belonged to the PNF.
- In 1929, Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with the Vatican, agreements that ended the dispute between the Papacy and the government.
The Economic Model
The economic model of the Italian totalitarian state was based on corporatism, inspired by the guilds of the Middle Ages: a compulsory organization or system, protected by the state, regulating economic and social life. In 1927, he promulgated the Carta di Lavoro as a legal text regulating social and labor relations.
- The protectionist economy focused mainly on the industrial sector and large farms.
- The creation of IRI (Institute for Industrial Reconstruction) was the origin of an industrialization process that advertising claimed was national pride to return Italy to its lost international prestige.