Mussolini Fascism Analysis

Italian Fascism is an authoritarian and nationalistic system of government and social organization, it was the political result of the relationship between socialist and nationalist rhetoric. It is a form of governance which employs intolerant views and practices, advocating traditionalism, interventionism and sameness rather than individualism. In order to promote their totalitarian ideals during the 1930s to 1945 fascist politicians such as Benito Mussolini, who had previously been a socialist newspaper editor, employed propaganda that included virtually all modes of media: the press, posters and film. The widespread dissemination of totalitarian ideals infiltrated into the school system where young Italians born from 1910 to 1935 were taught to “obey and fight.” The purpose of this paper is to analyse the diffusion of the Italian Identity through fascist propaganda from 1922-1943 and the identity that was diffused as a result of the exploitation of Mussolini’s various propaganda mediums. Did fascist propaganda contribute to the diffusion of an Italian identity? If so, what identity was diffused?

During the Second World War, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was the leader of the Italian Nationalist Fascist government. He was head of the Italian government from 1922 till 1943. The significance of Mussolini is that he played a key role acting as the Italian Prime Minister and established a totalitarian regime, during this time, as the unchallenged supreme leader, known as ‘Il Duce’. Fascism consisted of many contributors of which Mussolini with all his quirks was the key to most of its failures and successes, making him the most significant player that is worthy of being investigated. This topic is worthy of being investigated as Mussolini made a lot of decisions that lead to the death of many, but the question as to

Fascism is a 20th century form of nationalistic, militaristic, totalitarian dictatorship that seeks to create a feasible society through strict regimentation of national and individual lives. Total subordination to the service of the state and unquestioning loyalty to its leader would adjust conflicting interests. It is a modern political ideology that looks to regenerate the social, economic, and cultural life of a country by basing it on a heightened sense of national belonging of ethnic identity. Fascism rejects liberal ideas of freedom and individual rights, it often presses for the destruction of elections, legislatures and other elements of democracy. Despite fascism’s idealistic goals, attempts to build fascist

Benito Mussolini and his creation of Fascism was the glue that held Italy together. Fascism promised national unity and condemned the Socialist party. To understand how Fascism became powerful within Italy, it is imperative to acknowledge the driving force behind this regime. To put it bluntly, violence played an essential role in the development of the Fascist party. Mussolini’s practice of fierceness was able to create a formidable system of government that did not tolerate weakness. In 1919, Benito Mussolini give an Afternoon speech, where he stressed the difference between Socialism and Fascism. Here, he states, “We declare war, against socialism, not because it is socialism, but because it opposes nationalism” (Stone 2013, 38).

Overall, the fascist experiment in Italy was a failure. Benito Mussolini aimed to make the world safe for the middle class, small business owners, property owners, and people in the agricultural area. Through this, Mussolini gained support of the majority of the population. There is no doubt that most of the support was actually the work of propaganda and rhetoric rather than the ‘real thing'. The government made desperate attempts to significantly increase the birthrate in Italy. In 1927, Mussolini launched the "Battle for births". The task of young women was to get married quickly and have a lot of children. And the more children they get, the more benefits they get from the government. Mussolini's population policy failed to produce

War is inevitable, as it is simply the manifestation of the strength and vigour of the Italian people that wishes to expand itself, never looking back. Peace was considered as merely a “mask to surrender and cowardice.” Mussolini stressed that Italians required “forces, duty, and sacrifice” in order to rise again to their former greatness, that of the Roman Empire. This is also Mussolini’s rationale for harsh and severe actions against any who would resist or try and undermine fascism.

In this Italian form of fascism, a few of Dr. Lawrence Britt’s defining characteristics of fascism are evident. Britt asserts the following are common of fascist regimes: “controlled mass media”, “religion and government are intertwined”, and “rampant cronyism and corruption”. Italian fascism saw numerous anti-fascist newspapers suppressed, and/or editors of such papers replaced with fascist supporters. Furthermore, Mussolini saw that his Catholic practices were brought to the masses through ‘legislation’. Mussolini passed laws

Italy faced serious postwar economic problems which became known as "The Two Red Years". It faced inflation problems due to government printing money to pay for weapons, workers on strike, arms and shipbuilders became bankrupt due to lack of government order, and unemployment rose to two million as returning soldiers searched for work. Benito Mussolini, upon being removed from the Socialist Party for advocating Italy 's participation in battle, organized the Fascist Party following the war. He gained followers among war veterans and the middle class by exploiting their fears of unemployment, chaos, communism, and a political domination by lower classes. The Russian Revolution, the collapse of

The state of Mussolini’s Fascist Italy and Hitler’s Nazi Germany, can be highly comparable in their policies and ideologies. Fascism is a political ideology, in which the country is to be racially and culturally pure. Mussolini said himself that “Fascism desires the state to be strong and organic and to always be prepared for conflict”. Fascism includes things such as nationalism, hostility to democracy, racism, the love of symbols such as uniforms, parades and army discipline. It is a totalitarian philosophy which worships the state and nation. Fascism is an extreme right-wing that celebrates the nation or race as a pure community which exceeds all other loyalties and expectations (Downing, 2001). Most of the time it celebrates masculinity and male supremacy, rarely it will promote female solidarity (De Grand, 1995). Fascist aims are to prepare for conflict and violence and to prepare and educate the youth. Both were able to gain support from military associations,

In summary, the fascio littorio reflects many aspects of Italy during Mussolini’s Fascist rule in the 20th century. Although the symbol was used by other political entities around the same time period as well, its relevance to the current events and situations in Italy makes it very iconic and representative of Fascist Italy.

The Success of Mussolini's Consolidation of His Fascist State from 1922-1930 Benito Mussolini was able to take power in Italy after the famous long march in Rome in 1922. He then consolidated his fascist state of Italy between 1922 and 1930. He accomplished through well-designed strategies. Getting fascists into important positions Mussolini used changes in the law to strengthen his grip on Government in Italy.

Generalissimo Francisco Franco came into power after his victory in the Civil war in 1939 and ruled over Spain till his death in 1975. In this 40-year period Spain was massive changed that causes much debate as to the political nature of Franco’s regime whether it is fascist or something different, Francoism. To understand if Franco’s regime was fascist, fascism must first be defined. There are many working definitions of a fascist regime, Stanley Payne’s states that the dictator must alien his regime to the idea of anti-isms, them being aintiliberalism, antidemocratic, anticonservatism, anticommunism and antidemocratic. Payne states these are fundamental in the description of a fascist regime. Another useful definition is Robert Griffin, stating that a fascist regime will use symbolism, violence to pursue its political aims, with the importance aimed at expansionism. Finally Griffin also states the need of the dictator to implement an authoritarian and totalitarian government. All these help to create a fascist regime and more importantly a truly fascist dictator. There is little doubt Franco holds to some of these definitions yet in later year the idea of Francosim becomes more viable however to understand if Franco was a truly fascist dictator we must look to the similarities and differences and determine by examining Franco’s rise politically his general style of government and finally his foreign policies it will determined whether Franco was a truly fascist dictator.

The Role of Control and Propaganda in Mussolini’s Reign and Their Importance To discover if either control or propaganda were more or equally important, there are many different areas to look at. Both control and propaganda were used in these areas, but with different effects and policies, while one may have been more necessary than the other. Each area is different and the different mediums that exist within them, such as radio or newspapers, were dealt with individually. Mussolini also had to strike a balance between the two, so his reputation amongst the people was kept intact.

In the early days of Mussolini’s regime (he came to power in 1922), Italian foreign policy seemed rather confused: Mussolini knew what he wanted, which was ‘to make Italy great, respected and feared.’ But he was not sure how to achieve this, apart from agitating for a revision of the 1919 peace settlement in Italy’s favour. At first he seemed to think an adventurous foreign policy was his best line of action, hence the Corfu Incident and the occupation of Fiume in 1923. By an agreement signed at Rapallo in 1920, Fiume was to be a ‘free city’, used jointly by Italy and Yugoslavia; after Italian troops moved in, Yugoslavia agreed that it should belong to Italy. After these early successes, Mussolini became

1870 is a year to remember in Italian history: indeed, on 20 September 1870, the Italian army marched into Rome and captured the city, completing the unification process begun by Garibaldi and his Thousand in Sicily ten years earlier, in 1860.