Fascism in Italy

1. Fascism in Italy

2. Totalitarianism • By 1939 every major European state was dictatorial except Britain, France • Totalitarian state: govt controls the political, economic, social, intellectual and cultural lives of its citizens • Greatly expands the powers of the state • Aim to conquer the minds and hearts of the masses • Extensive use of propaganda and censorship • Uses modern technology to impose tight control on citizens • Ruled by a single leader/party • Rejects ideals of limited government and democracy • Individual freedom is subordinate to the will/interests of the collective • The leader determines the collective will • All citizens must be devoted to the cause of the state

3. Benito Mussolini • Born in Milan in 1883 • Originally attracted to Marxism • Editor of Socialist Party newspaper Avanti before WW1 • Broke with Socialists by advocating Italy’s involvement in the war • Briefly fought against Austria and was wounded • Became disgusted with socialism’s pacifism and with the Bolsheviks in Russia

4. Rise of Fascism • Italy faced severe economic problems after WW1 • High inflation & unemployment • Rampant industrial strikes and riots • Socialists advocated revolution • Middle class feared Bolshevik-style revolution • Nationalists outraged that Italy didn’t receive more in the Versailles Treaty

5. The Fascists • 1919: Mussolini established theFasciodiCombattimento (League of Combat) • Mostly war veterans frustrated with the Versailles Treaty and with the weakness of the govt • Gangs of fascists called Blackshirts attacked socialist offices and newspapers • Quickly gained popularity among veterans, middle class, and industrialists • Evolved into a political party • 1921: included in the govt coalition

6. March on Rome • October 1922: Mussolini threatens to march his Blackshirts to Rome and overthrow the govt • 25,000 Blackshirts stage demonstrations in Rome • King Victor Emmanuel III appoints Mussolini Prime Minister • Mussolini imposes heavy press censorship • Mussolini given power to make laws by decree • Police given unlimited powers of arrest and interrogation • Blackshirts engage in widespread political violence

7. Mussolini with members of the Fascist Party after the March on Rome (October 28, 1922)

8. What is Fascism? • Latin word fasces • Ancient Roman fasces was a bundle of rods tied tightly together around an axe • Symbol of unity and strength

9. What is Fascism? • The State not only is authority which governs and molds individual will with laws and values of spiritual life, but it is also power which makes its will prevail abroad….For the Fascist, everything is within the State and…neither individuals nor groups are outside the State...For Fascism, the State is an absolute, before which individuals or groups are only relative….Liberalism denied the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts the rights of the State as expressing the real essence of the individual. -- Enciclopedia Italiana, 1932

10. What is Fascism? • Extreme right-wing ideology • Celebrates nation or race as transcending all other loyalties • Constant use of patriotic symbols to create nationalism • All aspects of society must be subordinate to the state • Glorifies violence and militarism • Intensely anti-democratic and anti-communist • Individual has no significance • Calls for revolution against moral decay, individualism, materialism, and all alien forces • Enforces strict gender roles and strong families

11. What is Fascism? • Rallies the nation against enemies (foreign states, communists, racial minorities) • Disregards human rights and individual freedoms • Uses religious rhetoric to gain popularity • Hostile toward intellectuals and modern trends in art and music • Rampant cronyism • Democratic procedures are manipulated and abused • Exerts thorough control over and effective use of mass media • Suppresses the power of labor and protects the power of business

12. The Fascist State • 1926: Fascists outlaw all other political parties and labor unions • Create secret police (OVRA) to monitor and jail all opponents • Mussolini calls himself Il Duce (The Leader) • Propaganda used extensively to mold Italians into devoted fascists • Pro-fascist youth groups created to reinforce military skills and fascist values

13. The Catholic Church • Popularity of Catholicism forced Mussolini to compromise with the Catholic Church • Lateran Accords (1929): Mussolini recognized the Church’s sovereignty over the Vatican and the Pope recognized the legitimacy of Fascist Italy • Mussolini subsidized the Church and recognized Catholicism as the “sole religion of the state” • Church urged Catholics to support the regime

14. Social Policies • Encouraged large families • Schooling emphasized Italy’s glorious past and her destiny of imperial greatness • Every day students would salute the flag and recite “Hail Italy! Hail Mussolini!” • Strong emphasis on physical fitness

15. Mussolini visits a youth camp near Rome in 1935

16. Foreign Policy • Mussolini dreamed of creating a new Roman Empire around the Mediterranean • 1935: invaded Ethiopia • League of Nations responded with weak sanctions • 1936: signed Rome-Berlin Axis with Hitler • 1936: Italy and Germany sent many troops and weapons to the Spanish Civil War to help the Nationalist leader Franco • 1936: joined the Anti-Comintern Pact directed against the Soviet Union • 1938: Gave Hitler the green light to annex Austria

17. Italian troops fighting in Ethiopia (1935)

18. Hitler visits Rome to cement the Rome-Berlin Axis (1936)

19. Jewish Policy • Fascist regime was officially anti-Semitic • Jews criticized for championing avantgarde intellectual and artistic movements • Accused of disloyalty to Italy and fascism and loyalty to Zionism • 1938 legislation • Excluded foreign Jews • Excluded Jews from teaching, civil service and military • Mussolini resisted Hitler’s extermination policy and left most Jews alone • 75% of Italian Jews survived the Holocaust

20. Italian Fascism • Italian Fascism was much less violent and repressive than the Nazi variety • The state’s power over the lives of most Italians was not extensive • Mussolini was not successful in reshaping the attitudes and ideas of most Italians • Much of industry, the army, the Church, and the bureaucracy was not thoroughly “taken over” by the Fascists • Nonetheless, Hitler was inspired by Mussolini’s example, methods and successes