Rise and Rule of Single Party States in Italy

1. Rise and Rule of Single Party States in Italy Benny Mussolini

2. Conditions – Long-Term • Italy unified in 1861 • Constitutional Monarchy • 1861-1922 Liberal Italy • Long-Term Causes • Lack of nationalism in Italy • Politics were dominated by the upper and middle classes • Real Italy was peasantry and small proletariat • Inability to connect with the masses • Giolitti (PM) unable to expand political participation • Rift between Catholics and Italian state • Corruption in Liberal Italy • General Strike of 1914 • Rise of PSI (Socialist Party) • World War I a failure

3. Conditions - Medium • Intervention Crisis (1914-15) • Should Italy remain neutral in WWI • Had been allied with Germany and A-H • Interventionists • Right-wing liberals, PM Salandra, Nationalists, Socialists who had broken away from PSI (Mussolini) • Opposition • Giolitti, PSI, Catholic Church • Impact of the war • Political and social divisions widened, Disaffected soldiers, Economic dislocation, Inflation and shortages, Industrial unrest • Openings for Mussolini

4. Decline of the Liberals • Advent of democracy and mass politics, end to ‘transformismo’ • Rise of the PPI, Catholic Party and PSI in 1919 • Three groups incapable of cooperation • Mutilated Victory • Did not get Fiume or Dalmatia • Economic Crisis and Social Unrest • Immigration to US spikes

5. Biennio Rosso • 1919-20 • Red Years • Social unrest • Government had promised land reforms during Caporetto • Trade unions grew • Increase in militancy • Strikes in 19-20 • Violence attributed to war • Why no revolution? • Socialists disorganized • Attacks by Fascist squads • Limited government cooperation

6. Rise of Mussolini • Member of PSI in 1910 • Expelled in 1914 for advocating intervention • Joined Italian army but left in 1917 • War ends, creates new left-wing movement in 1919 • Former PSI members, militants, nationalists • Fascist • Unable to attract much support

7. Rise of Mussolini • 1919-1922 moves the party to the right • Attacked socialists, Catholics, peasants • Appealed to land classes • Given support by the Ras • Fascist party bosses • Fascist program • Privatization of industry • Right to property guaranteed • Corporations to represent all classes • Militant nationalism

8. Mussolini Appointed Prime Minister in 1922 • Fascists violent towards socialists in BennioRosso • Government unable to suppress them • Mussolini under pressure of from the Ras to create a dictatorship • Also negotiating with liberals and conservatives to become PM • March on Rome a bluff, mobilized 30,000 Fascists • PM Luigi Facta asks King Victor Emmnuel to declare martial law • Mussolini appointed PM in October 1922

9. Why did the Fascist movement grow so quickly?

10. Establishment of Single-Party Rule • 1922, had been multi-party state • 1926, Fascists the only party • Matteotti Crisis • Giacomo Matteotti attacked the Fascists in a speech • Killed two weeks later • Little opposition

11. Consolidation of Power • Wooed upper and middle classes • Merged with the Nationalist Party in 1923 • Implemented balanced budget • Cancelled land reform • Banned strikes and independent unions • Assertive foreign policy (Fiume) • Concessions to Catholic Church • Control over the Chamber • Arrested communists • Broke the PPI as a political force • Acerbo Law gave majority party two-thirds of seats • Violence and intimidation • Control over Party • Fascist militia consolidated squads • Creation Fascist Grand Council • Underestimation by liberals/conservatives • Supported Acerbo Law hoping to get PSI in • Walked out in response to Matteotti crisis

12. Steps Towards Single-Party • PSI banned Oct. 1925 • Censorship • 1926, power to issue decrees • 1926, unions banned • 1926, opposition parties banned • 1926, powers of arrest increased • 1926, secret police • 1926, special tribunal for political offenseds • 1928, democratic electoral system abolished

13. Consolidation of Power • Limited Party influence • Let the King stay, kept constitution • Civil service and police mostly careerists • PNF became more bureaucrats, rather than activists • Created personal dictatorship • Not dependent on the PNF • All under Mussolini

14. Fascist Rule • Established a Corporate State • Third way, compromise between socialism and capitalism • 1934, formally in pace • 22 mixed corporations, had to meet government demands, could do it in any way • Mussolini maintained support from capitalists

15. Economic Policy • Strong ties to Italy’s industrialists • Increase tariffs • Launch Battle for Grain • Did increase output, expense of other crops • Revalue the lira • Did little to address backwards agriculture • 1928, Mussolini Law, limited land reform • Hit hard by depression

16. Economic Successes • Infrastructure increased • Rescued banks during depression • Railways, hydro-power, GDP grew, growth in industrial sectors • Serious Failings • Debt due to foreign interventions • Not economically self-sufficient • Small businesses lost out • Not an industrial power • Living standards fell • Landowners and industrialists the only ones to benefit

17. Mussolini and Society • Lateran Treaty, 1929 • Pope’s sovereignty over Vatican City • Catholicism state religion • Effective propaganda • Limited control of the arts • Battle for Births a failure • Anti-Semitic Laws (1938) • Due to Hitler • Cult of Youth • Fascist indoctrination of schools

18. Foreign Policy • Aggressive • Albania, Libya • Abyssinia War in Ethiopia • Intervention in Spanish Civil War • Rome-Berlin Axis of 1936 • Pact of Steel 1939 • WWII • Comes in in 1940 when he feels the war is over • Italians a failure in Greece and Africa • Lost support, Allies invade Sicily • Ousted by the King, arrested • Truce signed with Allies • Germany invades, put back in power • Allies took Italy • Captured by Italians in 1945, executed