Theme 2

• Mutilated victory


  The failure to gain Fiume or any of Germany's colonial territories undermined the liberal government and revealed Italy's lowly position in relation to other European powers
• Orlando pleaded to Lloyd George


  Pleas were ignored, and Orlando walked out of Versailles in rage
• Italy received no conciliation in Africa whilst Britain and France took Germany's African colonies for themselves with no consideration of Italian demands
• Orlando's replacement, Nitti, chose to play down Italy's claims so as not to jeopardise Italy's relationship with the Allies as Italy was dependent upon Allied coal and loans
• Nitti reduced military spending and issued an amnesty to Italian soldiers who had deserted during WW1
• Nationalists resented Nitti's actions and condemned him as the 'Cagoia' (abject coward)
• Fasci di Combattimento


  National organisation of ex-soldiers formed by Mussolini in 1919
• Fasci di Combattimento


  • Predominantly made up of arditi, crack troop commandos who had been formed in WW1 after the disaster at Caporetto
  • Their Blackshirts were later adopted by the Fascist party
• Mussolini's socialist background had a considerable effect on the Fasci di Combattimento's policy
• Fasci di Combattimento's programme

  • Anticlerical and wanted the confiscation of church property
  • Called for an end to the monarchy and the formation of a republic
  • Demanded the extension of suffrage to women and younger Italians
  • Demanded the establishment of an 8 hour working week
  • Demanded the abolition of the senate
  • Demanded nationalisation of the armaments industry, progressive taxation and the confiscation of profits from those companies that had made large profits from the war
• The problem was that Mussolini's new political programme did not distinguish the fasci from other left-wing parties, particularly the PSI
• Squadrismo


  The fascists sorted themselves into small military squads to answer the socialist threat through extreme violence
• On the 15th of April 1919, a fascist squad of between 200-300 attacked a socialist demonstration in Milan and burned down the Milan offices of Avanti. Three socialists and one fascist were killed
• After violence in Milan, none of the fascist squad were arrested and the government made no attempt to chase the fascists or their actions
• Mussolini saw that the police, army and government were prepared to tolerate Squadristi violence due to their fears of a socialist revolution and encouraged the formation of more armed squads across Italy
• Squadristi


  • Organised like military units under a commanding officer know as a Ras
  • Members wore a black shirt and carried a revolver and a club (manganello)
  • Attacked socialist councils and supporters in Italy to weaken their power
  • Had weapons supplied by local police and army barracks
• In the first five months of 1921, 200 people were killed and 1000 wounded in fascist violence against the socialists
• The violence broke the power of the socialists and helped create the myth of fascism – that their 'war' against the socialists had 'saved' Italy from revolution
• The fascist failure in the 1919 election coupled with growing interest by the middle classes and elites encouraged Mussolini to take the fascist movement to the right
• Respectable liberal politicians who feared the socialist threat agreed that the squads were restoring law and order
• Police allowed the fascists to attack socialists, sometimes joining in
• In the May 1921 election, the fascists made use of the squads to attack socialist campaign meetings and intimidate voters. The police lent vehicles and the army vehicles to the fascists on this campaign, and judges showed leniency to any fascists brought into court
• The Fascists won 7% of the vote and 35 seats in the May 1921 election, giving Mussolini a new respectability
• The soldiers had saved Italy once from the Austrians; now, within the fascist movement, they had saved Italy from traitors and radicals who had sought to destroy the country from within
• This powerful idea would become a key part of fascist propaganda
• Political legitimacy


  Fascism began to achieve a greater political legitimacy
• In the May 1921 election, the fascists made use of the squads to attack socialist campaign meetings and intimidate voters
• The police lent vehicles and the army vehicles to the fascists on this campaign, and judges showed leniency to any fascists brought into court
• The Fascists won 7% of the vote and 35 seats
• This gave Mussolini a new respectability and authority as a member of parliament, legitimising fascism as a political force
• Further, as a Deputy, Mussolini now had immunity to prosecution. A charge against Mussolini for 'intent to overthrow the government by violence' was now dropped
• The 'New Programme'


  More conservative and right-wing, and dropped several left-wing policies; removal of the monarchy, attacking the power of the Pope, the nationalisation of businesses
• The 'New Programme' now promised

  To sell off nationally owned businesses to private investors, called for compulsory military service, complete unification of the Italian irredenta and an education system that would provide Italy's future soldiers with physical and moral training
• In October 1921, the movement was organised into a formal political party called the 'Partitio Nazionale Fascista' (PNF)
• Through this, Mussolini tried to centralise his control over the fascist movement
• The PNF founded local branches and attempted to recruit more 'respectable members' who may broaden fascism's appeal
• By the end of 1921, the PNF had grown to around 200,000 members
• Support for fascism came from

  • Middle classes who feared socialist revolution and the increase in taxes the PSI would implement
  • The media, such as liberal newspaper 'Corriere della Sera' who justified the violence as being far better than the alternative
  • Ex-soldiers who were humiliated by not receiving their due from the government and who had a strong hatred for socialist shirkers
  • Middle and upper class landowners in the countryside who feared the socialist movement of greater land reform
  • Industrialists who supported Fascism's attempt to break union power and were angry at the concessions the weak Liberal government made during Biennio Rosso
  • Workers and peasant farmers who had wanted to continue working during the strikes and faced violence from socialists
  • The emerging lower middle classes who had recently acquired new farms and feared them being taken by the socialists
  • The youth who were tired of the corruption and issue of trasformismo governments as well as the entire liberal system and wanted a revolutionary change
• Mussolini's rise to power was aided by a worsening political situation in Italy
• The deteriorating economic situation, and lingering situation in Fiume led to the resignation of Nitti on the 9th of June 1920