The Rise Of Fascism

The Rise of Fascism

Italy after WWI The war had caused heavy casualties, incurred huge war debts and brought destruction, economic recession, serious unemployment and inflation to Italy Despite the Prime Minister, Orlando, had pressed hard for territorial rewards at the Peace Conference, his demands were not all entertained

In face of appalling hardships at home and a successful communist revolution in Russia, many Italians became restless There were ‘Red Leagues’ in the countryside demanded lower rents and divided the property of the landlords The middle class were alarmed by the situation

Italian political parties were numerous and small The government was usually a coalition of several parties and would easily break up owing to conflicting interests The government was also corrupt and inefficient

Many people criticized the government for failing to secure national interests and solve the problems of the country after the war

The Fiume Incident In September 1919, an Italian patriot led 1000 volunteers to seize the city Fiume, later, the Italian government had to expell them from the city with troops. The incident made the government more unpopular

Under the above situation, Italian wanted a strongman who promised to lead them out of the difficulty Mussolini and the Fascists provided them “an answer”

The Fascist ideas Some historians insist that fascism was not a proper ideology, arguing that it had no great philosopher and was a hodgepodge of ideas However, the fascist usually had these ideas: Extreme nationalism Anti-liberal, no parliamentary rule

To create a more united society Anti-communist Had an ambivalent relationship with socialism Emphasized military virtues Importance of leaders

In Italy, although many of the components of Fascism existed before 1914, the idea of Fascism were accentuated by the experiences of the war Politically, the Fascists in Italy had strong national feeling: “Nothing above the state, Nothing outside the state, nothing against the state”

The believed in Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism “One party, the Fascist Party, should direct and control all activities” The sovereignty of the atate was absolute. The citizens had no rights but simply duties The state should be governed by an elite who is more superior than the others

Economically, they had the Corporate State It was a economic system, and a Fascist to western-style democracy and to Soviet proletarian dictatorship It advocated of classes cooperation power is given to civic assemblies that represent economic, social, cultural, and professional groups. When there was a conflict between workers and employers, the state had the final authority to intervene

Since the Fascists believed that any state which did not expand would eventually die, they believed in militarism They also thought that war and territorial expansion made a state glorious

They believed in Romanticism Reason, for Fascists, alone could never solve great national problems Reason must be supplemented by heroworship, admiration of force, mystic faith and self-sacrifice

Rise of Mussolini Early Career of Benito Mussolini: He was a socialist when he was young, and had been an editor of a socialist newspaper During WWI he joined the army and was wounded In 1919, he formed groups of working men to agitate for social revolutionary changes and the groups were merged into Fascist Party in 1919

The party demanded universal suffrage, abolition of Senate, establishment by law of an eight-hour day, confiscation of 85% of war profits and annexation of Fiume and Dalmatia The Fascists broke up communist meeting, demanded full implementation of Italy’s demands at the Paris Peace Conference Although they had only 35 seats in the parliament, the King appointed him as the Prime Minister after the March on Rome in 1922

Mussolini’ s Domestic policies Once Mussolini was appointed the Prime Minister, he changed the electoral law in favour of the Fascist Party In 1924 election, the Fascist use intimidation and violence to ensure a Fascist majority in the parliament Mussolini murdered Matteotti, the socialist leader and the greatest opposition and controlled the whole parliament Many other opposition leaders were killed, arrested and exiled

In 1928, the new electoral law allowed only candidates of the Fascist Party stand for parliament election In 1939, the Corporations replaced the parliament

After purging all opposition, Mussolini established one –party dictatorship in Italy In order to eliminate opposition, the secret policy were given power to arrest and imprison people All forms of media were made state controlled and propagandized for the Fascist

School children had to join the Fascist Youth Organizations and were indoctrinated with Fascist ideas Personality cult of Mussolini could be found in everywhere in Italy Arm forces were reorganized and strengthened

Reforms were introduced in various fields to build a stable and prosperous Italy New farm land were provided and “Battle of Wheat” was launched to increase agricultural production Communication were improved Hydro-electric schemes were introduced

Mussolini ended the disagreement between the Pope and Italy in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty By the Treaty the Pope recognized Italy and Italy recognized the Pope as the head of Vatican City, where the Italian government recognized it as a sovereign state The Pope was compensated for the loss of powers outside the Vatican Catholicism was made the state religion of Italy

Fascist government introduced the corporate state idea to Italian Economic groups of similar nature were to form a corporation, in which representatives of employers, employees and the government were to sit together to improve production and conditions of work All disputes were settled in the corporation By 1934, 22 big industrial and professional corporations were set up The system planned the whole economy of the country

Foreign Policies Mussolini adopted an aggressive foreign policy, he strove for  Domination over the Adriatic Sea  Hegemony in the Mediterranean Sea  The extension of Italian colonial possession in Africa

The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) , the final treaty with Turkey, assured Italian annexation of the Dodecanese The Corfu Incident (1923): making use of the murder of 4 Italian, Mussolini ordered troops to occupied Corfu. After Greece accepted most of the Italian demands, Mussolini returned the place to Greece The occupation of Fiume (1924) Rome Protocols (1934) with Hungary and Austria

Treaty of Stresa with France and Britain (1935) Italy was afraid of a strong Germany after the coming of power of Hitler. Mussolini wanted to make use of Britain and France to counterbalance German threat Abyssinian Incident (1935-36): In 1935 Italians attacked Abyssinia and annexed it in the next year. Although the League of Nations declared Italy as aggressor , Italy ignored the League Participation in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39)

Rome-Berlin Axis (1936) Anti-Comintern Pact (1937) Occupation of Albania (1939) Pact of Steel (1939)