The Rise And Fall Of Italian Fascism

Fascism admitted strong totalitarian overtones until it became interested in wars of colonial conquest. It had come to power because of the decaying social, economic and political conditions of post-World War I Italy. It had brought order out of chaos. Indeed, order was its strong selling point when, after a series of crippling strikes sponsored by the socialists, it had managed when the liberal democratic state could not manage.

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?

Mussolini consolidation of fascist power in Italy in the years 1922-1929 could have been mainly due to the use of force and intimidation. However this was not a straightforward process, since fascism was a new thing. In the years 1922 to January 1925 marked the transition from the liberal parliamentary system to the fascist state. Like many political transitions, it was an untidy and complicated process. Although from the start Mussolini’s intentions were quite difficult to establish, however it could be that Mussolini wanted to set up from the beginning a totalitarian one party state.

Giolitti’s government was extremely unsuccessful in promoting political stability in Italy. It seemed that the Italian liberal state suffered from political divisions all over the country; this was something no other Liberal western power had experience in the years 1903 to 1914. However under the ‘political divisions’, Giolitti was trying to reform and modernise Italy during his periods in power as Prime Minister. Giolitti and his government attempted to broaden support for Liberalism by appealing to traditionally hostile groups such as the Catholics and the working-class, created a grand trasformismo (a key concept used to

Benito Mussolini outlines several essential characteristics of his preferred political ideology, Fascism, in what has become known as the Doctrine of Fascism. In this paper, Mussolini outlines his vision of the ideology, and explains the major issues that Fascism will address once it becomes the leading political system in Italy. Mussolini’s major points as outlined in the Doctrine included an extreme emphasis on nationalism, organization and modernization of the state, persistent focus on religion, life as a struggle, and the notion that individuals exist only for the improvement of society as a whole. Wolfgang Schieder, after reviewing the Doctrine of Fascism, explains Mussolini’s success based on it and

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

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,

World War I began in August of 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand at Sarajevo, in what is now Yugoslavia. Following this period Italy was in a state of civil war, with the parliament incapable of providing effective leadership. There was a rise in social tension, as well as economic problems. This resulted in a new, more aggressive breed of Italian politicians. They followed a violent anarchic political credo, also known as fascism. Although Italy’s economy was weak, following World War I, it was effected more by political factors, such as the rise of fascism, and social factors as seen through the newspaper, Il Popolo d’Italia.

The Fascists’ social and economic policies up to 1939 significantly aided their control over Italy yet may not be cited as the sole cause. The Fascist party’s social and economic policies along with other factors attributed to the overall control of Italy. Through such policies it was a certainty that the Fascist party would hold complete power over the population of Italy in each aspect of an individual’s life whether it was their leisure time through the Dopolavoro or at work under the corporate state system which was formally introduced in 1934. This complete domination of the Italian peoples’ lives could be argued to have been the instrumental factor behind the Fascists’ control over Italy up to 1939. Other factors which assisted the

The economic issues in Italy lead to the rise of fascism. Mass unemployment meant that the socialists were rising in number. This meant that powerful industrialists turned to fascism as they would stop the trade unions from deciding workers’ rights. This leads to funding for the fascists helping them gain power. The economic crisis had brought about a huge rise in the support of socialism. The fascists became ever more appealing as their policies were anti socialist. They were not weak like the liberals in tackling socialism as they used

The Importance of the Economic Factors in the Rise to Power of the Fascist Party in Italy

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

As a result of how Italy was created but not fully unified, the new Italian state suffered from a variety of weaknesses which the new liberal state was unable to tackle these. This made Italy susceptible to the appeal of fascism, and therefore aided Mussolini’s rise to power.

government felt it had no choice in the matter; it had to go to war.

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.