Mussolini was similar to Hitler in that he was given power, he did not seize it. He was asked by the King to become Prime Minister. But by 1928, he had removed the King’s right to do this and became Il Duce, the ‘Leader’.
Timeline
1922 March on Rome, Emergency Powers
1923 MVSN established, Acerbo Law
1924 Corfu Incident, Fiume annexed, Aventine Succession, Matteotti Murder, creation of the Ceka, Press censorship and the banning meetings of opposition parties.
1925 Mussolini declares himself dictator. Battle for Grain, Vidoni Palace Pact
1926 Mussolini has the power to pass decrees without parliament, Rocco Law passed, Battle for Land and Lira takes place. Other parties banned.
Some sources argue that by 1926, Mussolini had consolidated his power because he was able to pass decrees. You may agree with this but make sure you are aware that the Catholic Church was still an obstacle to achieving authoritarian power.
1927 Battle for Births
1929 Lateran States, Concordat
Politics
- Mussolini took advantage of the King’s request, assuming the senior role in the relationship as a result.
- From the beginning, Mussolini was effective at putting himself into key positions being Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Among many things, this helped him come through the Matteotti Crisis (see below).
- But he had only 35 fascist deputies out of 535. He needed to rely on political support if he was to hang on to power. He also needed to convince non-Fascists that his party would rule within the rules and eventually Italian politics would be normalised. To persuade them of this, he made a speech in October 1922 declaring that with 300 000 men (albeit an exaggeration) he could take over the government himself. But he ‘refused to do so’, only requesting that he be given emergency powers to govern alone instead. Although the socialist and communist deputies disagreed, the majority were persuaded (Mussolini had the advantage that the people wanted change as for too many years the country faced political, economic and military chaos). Even the deputies who doubted how he gained his position voted for him because they thought he was capable of stopping left-wing anarchy.
- In November 1922, Mussolini was given emergency powers. He now enjoyed powers such as to arrest political opponents without trial.
- There were various nationalist and fascist groups (ras, squadristi, Arditi) in Italy when Mussolini took power. He knew he was only the leader of Italy because of the violence they threatened and used. Consequently, to continue with their support (and to prevent them from fighting each other) he created the Fascist Militia or MVSN in January 1923. 300 000 men (800 000 by the end of 1923) were now paid by the government and members who were too unruly were expelled. Installing former military officers also helped to keep order. Importantly, they did not have political power (unlike the SS in Germany).
- Mussolini believed he needed a personal bodyguard so in 1924 created the Ceka (modelled in the Russian Cheka).
- In 1923, he managed to get the Acerbo Law passed. This gave him two-thirds of the deputies in the parliament as the law promised any party which had over 25% and won the election would receive this allocation.
- He ensured he had control over his own party by creating the Fascist Grand Council. Important members were part of this group but it was Mussolini who had the final say.
The Murder of Matteotti
- The murder of Matteotti, a Socialist politician, curtailed Mussolini’s power for a time. De Felici (see historiography) wrote that he was not innocent. However, instead of denying any involvement, he went on the attack. Mussolini took responsibility for the murder as the Fascist leader and challenged anybody to prosecute him. As the opposition was too weak, none did so. Mussolini now knew he could rule without them.
- The 1924 Aventine Succession was a challenge from the Socialists, Liberals and Communists to Mussolini’s power. They walked out of the Italian parliament and set up their own government, the intention to force King Emmanuel III to remove Mussolini and accept them as rulers of the country. However, the monarch was fearful of the instability and possible violence it would cause and remained loyal to Mussolini. Furthermore, the absence of these opposition politicians from parliament only helped him pass laws and win any votes of no-confidence in him.
Foreign and Economic Policy
- Although Mussolini was pragmatic in his ambitions in the early years of his rule, he did take some aggressive action. Corfu and Fiume were contested, the latter becoming part of Italy in 1924. The dispute over Corfu resulted in Greece paying Italy 50 million lire in reparations. Both resulted in Mussolini gaining in prestige and power.
- Mussolini knew that economic problems brought him to power so therefore they could also remove him.
- To combat the power of trade unions, Mussolini introduced the Vidoni Palace Pact in. 1925. There were a series of strikes in the same year and this prompted the decision to make the Confindustria (the Fascist organisation for industrialists) and the Confederation of Fascist Syndicates (the Fascist organisation that forced all trade unions to amalgamate into one) to work together.
- With the Rocco Law (1926), he forbade strikes to take place and had spent the years 1922 to 1925 curbing the power of the trade unions. The Fascists had more of a corporatist strategy to the Italian economy, and the industrialists played a key role in it.
- The south of the country was underdeveloped but in the control of landowners. As Mussolini had control of the government resources, these people gave him the support (in return they would be awarded government contracts and even power via the Fascist Party in the future) he needed to control that part of the country.
- In 1925, Mussolini declared himself a dictator (to lead in times of emergency).
- The Papal States (the name given to land previously owned by the Roman Catholic Church in Italy) had lost all its land in the 1870 unification of Italy. As a result of the Lateran States, the Roman Catholic Church received £30 million in compensation in 1929 and the Church was given 109 acres in Rome to create a new papal state – the Vatican. The pope was allowed a small army, police force, post office and rail station. History Learning
- The 1929 Concordat (not to be confused with Hitler’s) made the Roman Catholic Church the state religion. This further removed the religious opposition to Mussolini.
- Richard Bosworth explains why the Church was not a powerful obstacle to Mussolini’s rule below.
Khan Academy
- Why was the Acerbo Law important to Mussolini?
- Why did the deputies vote for this?
- Why was the Acerbo Law not important?
- What were the results of the Matteotti murder?
- How did Mussolini’s dictatorship begin in 1925?
Mussolini was not a dictator
But Il Duce was not a dictator because…
- The Army swore an oath to the King, not Mussolini
- The elections were rigged so figures of 98% support were far from accurate.
- He still had to deal with parliament until 1939.
- The 1929 Lateran States was evidence of the leverage the Catholic Church had, he had to buy them off. Furthermore, they continued to have a role in Italian society, unlike Hitler’s Germany.
- Civil servants working for the government were not all Fascists, the government did not sack everybody who was not as they were needed to run the country.
- Some judges had to be imprisoned because they punished Fascists.
Perspectives
Interestingly, none of these perspectives point to positives!
Richard Bosworth
- argues that Mussolini consolidated his power by accepting responsibility for the Matteotti murder,
- the failure of the King, Army and the Pope to oppose or act against the violence in the country,
- and the failure of the Left to unite.
Denis Mack Smith
- argues that violence was a pattern throughout the life of Mussolini. He used this to consolidate power, the murder of Matteotti was an example of this.
- As a journalist, he also saw the importance of censorship in shaping the thoughts of people. Abolishing the free press was integral to the consolidation and maintenance of power within Italy.
Benedetto Croce
- argues that the fascists maintained their position in Italy because of the fear of the postwar economic crisis and of communism.
Possible Arguments
Political Strategy – One could argue that Mussolini began as a revolutionary. However, once he took power he soon changed, appeasing the conservatives (Church and landowners) rather than instigating political change.
Opportunistic – Mussolini took advantage of the king’s decision to appoint him prime minister and took the opportunity to be given emergency powers. Furthermore, he took advantage of the Matteotti murder too, he eventually went on the attack, daring opponents to prosecute him. He knew the opposition was weak and the fact that they did not do so meant that they were even weaker.
Gradual – Mussolini consolidated his power by gradually removing obstacles to authoritarian rule. Beginning with the vote to grant him emergency powers in 1922, he then took control of parliament with the Acerbo Law in 1923 before ensuring power over his own party with the establishment of the Fascist Grand Council and the setting up of the MVSN in 1923. By 1926 he was able to call himself dictator.
Intentionalist – Mussolini had risen to power through force but he knew he could not continue for too long with this strategy. From 1922 to 1926, he used his charisma and journalistic talents to win over the people, established the MVSN to control the more unruly Fascist elements and his political genius to outmanoeuvre the Italian deputies via the Acerbo Law and their decision to award him emergency powers.
Revision