Fascism arose in Europe after World War I when many people yearned for

national unity and strong leadership. In Italy, Benito Mussolini used his charisma
to establish a powerful fascist state.
Benito Mussolini coined the term “fascism” in 1919 to describe his political movement.
He adopted the ancient Roman fasces as his symbol. This was a bundle of rods tied
around an ax, which represented the power of Rome.
Mussolini established the first fascist regime, followed soon after by others, including
Nazi Germany. Fascism, however, differed somewhat from one nation to another. Thus,
scholars often disagree on a precise definition of fascism. Even so, they tend to agree
on its common characteristics such as:

 Absolute Power of the State: Fascist regimes have a strong centralized state, or

national government. The fascist state seeks total control over all major parts of
society. Individuals must give up their private needs and rights to serve the needs of
the whole society as represented by the state.
 Rule by a Dictator: A single dictator runs the fascist state and makes all the
important decisions. This leader often uses charisma, a magnetic personality, to gain
the support of the people.
 Corporatism: Fascists believe in taming capitalism by controlling labor and factory
owners. Unions, strikes, and other labor actions are illegal. Although private property
remains, the state controls the economy.
 Extreme Nationalism: The fascist state uses national glory and the fear of outside
threats to build a new society based on the “common will” of the people. Fascists
believe in action and looking at national myths for guidance rather than relying on the
“barren intellectualism” of science and reason.
 Superiority of the Nation’s People: Fascists hold up the nation’s people as
superior to other nationalities. They typically strengthen and unify the dominant
group in a nation while stifling dissent and persecuting minority groups.
 Militarism and Imperialism: Fascists believe that great nations show their
greatness by conquering and ruling weak nations. Fascists believe the state can
survive only if it successfully proves its military superiority in war.

Mussolini’s Rise to Power

After serving in the Italian army during World War I, Mussolini returned home, looking
for a way to unify the Italian people. In 1918, he began to deliver emotional speeches,
calling for a dictator to head the country. He argued that only a strong leader could unite
the people to overcome Italy’s postwar mass unemployment, chaotic political party
conflicts, and strikes by socialists and communists.
In 1919, Mussolini organized his fascist movement in the northern city of Milan. He
formed squads of street fighters who wore black shirts. His “Blackshirts” beat up
socialists and communists and threw them out of local governments.
The communist revolution in Russia had taken place only two years earlier. Mussolini’s
fascist movement quickly gained the support of anti-communist business people,
property owners, and middle-class professionals like teachers and doctors.
In 1921, Mussolini formed the National Fascist Party. But he still lacked a clear fascist
program. He only knew one thing for sure: He wanted to rule Italy.
In a speech before thousands of his supporters in October 1922, Mussolini declared,
“Either the government will be given to us, or we will seize it by marching on Rome.” A
few days later, he unleashed his followers on a massive march to Italy’s capital city. As
tens of thousands converged on Rome, government leaders became so unnerved that
they resigned.
King Victor Emmanuel had the constitutional duty to appoint a new prime minister, who
would form the next government. With his Blackshirts and other supporters swarming
the streets of Rome, Mussolini demanded that the king appoint him prime minister. The
king gave in, and at age 39, Mussolini became Italy’s youngest prime minister on
October 29, 1922.

How Mussolini founded Italian fascism

Fascism galvanized a growing nationalist movement in Europe born in
the face of the First World War and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, in
which Russian socialists overthrew the Russian Empire. (Learn more
about the causes and effects of WWI .)

In Italy, Mussolini led the way to fascism. Born on July 29, 1883, in
small-town southern Italy to a blacksmith father and a schoolteacher
mother, he grew up on his socialist father’s stories of nationalism and
political heroism. Shy and socially awkward, he ran into trouble at an
early age due to his intransigence and violence against his classmates.
As a young adult, he moved to Switzerland and became an avowed
socialist. Eventually, he made his way back to Italy and established
himself as a socialist journalist.

When war broke out across Europe in 1914, Italy at first remained
neutral. Mussolini wanted Italy to join the war—putting him at odds
with the Italian Socialist Party, which expelled him due to his pro-war
advocacy. In response, he formed his own political movement, the
Fasces of Revolutionary Action, aimed at encouraging entry into the
war. (Italy eventually joined the fray in 1915.)

In ancient Rome, the word fasces referred to a weapon consisting of a

bundle of wooden rods, sometimes surrounding an ax. Used by Roman
authorities to punish wrongdoers, the fasces came to represent state
authority. In the 19th century, Italians had begun to use the word for
political groups bound by common aims.

Early success in the Po Valley

Italian fascism emerged in the economic crisis of the 1920s and
1930s. It started with a string of violent clashes in the northern part of
Italy beginning in 1920. There, tensions over pay and work conditions
had put landowning farmers in conflict with Socialist-backed workers.
The Fascists, led by Mussolini, formed a street-fighting group called
the Blackshirts to support the landowners. When the government
chose not to intervene in this conflict, the Fascists used the fighting to
gain power in the region. On November 21, "squads" of Blackshirts
launched an attack on the Socialists in Bologna. Six people died. The
Fascists soon followed up with assaults throughout the region. After
nearly two years of fighting and more than one-hundred deaths, the
Fascists had defeated the Socialists. Through violence, they had
become what one historian called, "a de facto power in northeastern
Italy with which the state had to reckon."
 Photo of the fascist military forces known as the Blackshirts marching
down an Italian street in Parma.
Fascist Squads known as “Blackshirts” Marching through Parma, 1922. Public domain.

The fighting in northern Italy had shaped the Fascist movement in four
ways:

 The fighting nourished the Fascists’ belief in violence as the true path to
manhood.
 It became clear that Socialism was one of Fascism’s main political enemies.
 The Fascists saw that the liberal state was weak and vulnerable to challenge.
 The Fascists learned that paramilitary violence was an effective political tool.
 Finally, the outcome of the campaign affirmed the Fascist view that, at the
end of the day, violent struggle led to power.
By 1922, with these experiences behind them, Mussolini and his
followers liked their chances of taking over Italy. Fascist squads
racked up wins as they marched through the provinces crushing
socialists, intimidating liberals, and deposing agents of the state.
Following a series of planned demonstrations known as the “March on
Rome”, Mussolini was named Prime Minister by the King of Italy.
Everything seemed to be falling into place for a Fascist revolution.
They would destroy their political opponents and, under Mussolini’s
leadership, create a totalitarian state.

Or so they thought.

Fascists in power
The Fascists craved revolution and total power, but instead found they
had to cooperate with different, mostly conservative political parties.
The Fascist party wanted to crush the existing 'liberal' rulers, but
Mussolini allowed many officials to continue working for the state. That
meant they could hinder the Fascist agenda, if they wanted. One-party
rule seemed beyond their grasp.

Beginning in 1925, Mussolini tried to strengthen the party and expand

its reach. Among his achievements was the creation of organizations
designed to make children grow up to be good Fascists. These youth
groups fostered a cult of violent masculinity, expected girls to aspire
only to traditional maternal roles, and promoted the authoritarian belief
of blind loyalty to the nation. Such movements were a common feature
of interwar fascism. The Hitler Youth in Germany, for example, had
much in common with Mussolini's youth associations. Organized into
collective action by the state, young people supplied political energy to
Fascism in Italy and elsewhere.

Later in the 1930s, Fascism was strengthened both by Mussolini's

attempts to build an overseas empire as well as the increasing
likelihood of war in Europe. The projection of national power overseas
resonated with many Italians. They believed victory on the battlefield
abroad would bring back the glory of ancient Rome and show the
world Italy was a real player in the "game of empire." In this way,
militarism and imperialism broadened Fascism's appeal. Furthermore,
Mussolini brought discipline to the party and aligned it more uniformly
with the aims of the state.

Ultimately, however, the Fascists were unable to achieve the kind of

totalitarian, authoritarian system they had envisioned. As a result of
Mussolini's compromises, conservative and liberal elements within the
state blocked most revolutionary goals of Fascism. Only outside of
Italy, in the arena of empire, were the Fascists really able to
experiment with totalitarianism

Support for fascism grows

Mussolini was not alone: In the wake of the war, many Italians were
chagrined by the Treaty of Versailles . They felt the treaty, which carved
up the territory of the aggressor nations, disrespected Italy by awarding
it far too little land. This “mutilated victory” would shape Italy’s future.
(How the Treaty of Versailles ended WWI and started WWII .)

In 1919, Mussolini founded a paramilitary movement he called the

Italian Fasces of Combat. A successor to the Fasces of Revolutionary
Action, this combat-focused squad aimed to mobilize war-hardened
veterans who could return glory to Italy.

Mussolini hoped to translate the nation’s discontent into political

success, but the young party suffered a humiliating defeat in that year’s
parliamentary election. Mussolini only garnered 2,420 votes compared
with the Socialist Party’s 1.8 million, delighting his enemies in Milan
who held a fake funeral in his honor.  

Undeterred, Mussolini began courting other groups who were at odds

with socialists: industrialists and businessmen who feared strikes and
slowdowns, rural landowners who feared losing their land, and
members of political parties who feared socialism’s growing popularity.

Mussolini’s powerful new allies helped finance his movement’s

paramilitary wing, known as “the Blackshirts.” Though Mussolini
professed to stand against oppression and censorship of all kinds, the
group quickly became known for its willingness to use violence for
political gain.

The Blackshirts terrorized socialists and Mussolini’s personal enemies

nationwide. The year 1920 was bloody, with fascists marching through
towns, beating and even killing labor leaders, and effectively taking over
local authority. But the Italian government, which shared the fascists’
enmity with socialists, did little to stem the violence.

Mussolini’s rise to power

Though in reality Mussolini only controlled a fraction of the militia
members, their tough image helped build his reputation as a powerful,
authoritative leader capable of backing up his words with violent and
decisive action. Known as Il Duce, (the Duke), he exercised a powerful
influence over Italians, seducing them with his personal charm and
persuasive rhetoric.

The Fascist State

Mussolini chose Giovanni Gentile, a noted Italian philosopher, as his minister of
education. Gentile reorganized Italy’s school system. He also wrote many articles and
books, clarifying the basic ideas of fascism.
Gentile argued that the private desires and interests of the individual came second to
the “common will” of the people. The fascist state, he said, put this will of the people into
action.
Gentile explained that self-sacrifice and obedience to the state enable the individual to
achieve unity with the “common will.” Gentile argued that rights do not belong to the
individual but to the people as a whole.
Gentile taught that the “common will” of the people is the law of the state. Therefore,
individuals must submit to the fascist state in order to be truly free. Later, Mussolini put
it this way: “Far from crushing the individual, the fascist state multiplies his energies, just
as in a regiment a soldier is . . . multiplied by the number of his fellow soldiers.”
Building on the ideas of earlier European philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Gentile
claimed that the peoples of the world are engaged in a survival of the fittest. He
declared it is the natural right of the stronger to conquer and rule the weaker. Gentile
stated that war has another function in the fascist state: It unites the people and proves
their superiority as a nation.
Gentile, sometimes called the philosopher of Italian fascism, believed he could combine
philosophy with raw power. He once praised Mussolini as being dedicated to Italy in “its
honor, its glory, its security and prosperity, and, therefore, in its power and its value in
the history of the world.”
Il Duce and the Fascist State
Mussolini called new elections for the Italian parliament in 1924. Intimidation and fraud
marred the election. Mussolini’s Fascist Party together with a smaller allied party won
66 percent of the vote.
After the election, Mussolini closed opposition newspapers and banned public protest
meetings. He declared all political parties illegal except for his own Fascist Party. He
outlawed labor unions and strikes. He also established a political police force, the
Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Antifascism. A Fascist Grand Council
rubber-stamped Mussolini’s decrees and made parliament irrelevant.
By 1925, Mussolini had adopted the title, Il Duce (the Leader). He delivered emotional
public speeches, swaying back and forth, puffing his chest, and holding his hands on his
hips. The crowds chanted back fascist slogans such as “Il Duce is always right!” and
“Believe, obey, fight!”
Opponents of Mussolini coined the term “totalitarianism” to describe his quest to control
not only the political system but also the economy, schools, police, courts, military, and
more. Ironically, Mussolini liked this term and began to use it himself to persuade
Italians to come together under his leadership for a rebirth of society.
Mussolini compared the “new man” of Italy to the hardened soldiers of ancient Rome.
As for women, Il Duce saw their role as giving birth and caring for a new generation of
warriors. The Fascist Party organized youth organizations for all boys and girls aged 8–
18. These groups promoted physical training, military drills (for boys), and the ideals of
the fascist state.
Mussolini had little use for religion. Italy, however, was a strongly Catholic country.
Gentile, as minister of education, continued the teaching of Catholic doctrine in the
elementary schools. But he replaced it with philosophy at the secondary level. The
Catholic Church objected to this reform.
Hoping to keep the church from opposing his fascist regime, Mussolini adopted pro-
Catholic policies against abortion and divorce. Then in 1929, he signed a treaty with the
church that made Catholicism the state religion. This agreement also restored the
teaching of Catholic doctrine in secondary schools. For its part, the church accepted
Mussolini’s fascist state and ended its involvement in Italy’s political affairs.
Mussolini wanted to create an economic system that provided a “third way” between
capitalism and socialism. Capitalism depends on private property, employer-owned
competing enterprises, and the profit motive. Socialism envisions a society in which the
workers jointly own the economic means of production (factories, farms, etc.) and
control the government. Communism is a form of socialism that calls for a revolution to
destroy capitalism, establish a dictatorship in the name of the workers, and distribute
economic production “to each according to his needs.”
During the 1930s, Mussolini organized industry, agriculture, and economic services into
state-controlled labor unions and employer associations called “corporations.”
Government officials appointed the heads of each union and employer corporation.
They negotiated wages and working conditions with each other.
This “third way” corporatism attempted to unify workers and employers by requiring
them to set aside their private interests in favor of the best interests of the fascist state.
In practice, however, the employers usually benefited more than the workers did.
Police crackdowns on dissent were mild compared to fascism in Hitler’s Germany. But a
special court tried anti-fascists, those working against Mussolini’s regime.
The Jewish population of Italy was small, and neither Mussolini nor most other Italians
were very anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish). Jews had fought for Italy in World War I and
participated in Mussolini’s march on Rome.
Even so, Il Duce came increasingly under the influence of Hitler in the late 1930s.
Mussolini finally agreed to anti-Semitic decrees such as banning Jews from certain
occupations. When the Germans occupied parts of Italy during World War II, they
transported 20 percent of Italy’s Jews to Nazi concentration camps. While Italians hid
many Jews, Mussolini did nothing to stop the Nazi deportations.
Before World War II, popular support for Mussolini’s fascist state was high. His
charismatic style of leadership convinced many that Italy was on a path to greatness.
When the Great Depression hit Italy after 1929, Mussolini acted quickly and boldly with
a large program of public construction projects, which put many jobless Italians back to
work.
Il Duce at War
Mussolini agreed with Gentile that the strong nations of the world had a natural right to
subdue and rule the weak. Mussolini glorified military values like physical strength,
discipline, obedience, and courage. “A minute of the battlefield is worth a lifetime of
peace,” he declared.
In 1935, Mussolini ordered the invasion of Ethiopia, a poor African country that had
once humiliated Italy in battle. Seeking revenge, Mussolini used planes, artillery, and
poison gas against tribesmen with old muskets. Mussolini announced to cheering
crowds that the Roman Empire was back.
In 1939, Mussolini and Hitler signed the so-called “Pact of Steel,” which committed each
country to come to the aid of the other in war. A few months later, Hitler invaded Poland
and set off World War II. Mussolini, however, delayed joining Hitler until Nazi troops
were just about to defeat France in June 1940.
Mussolini then decided to invade Greece. But his army was beaten badly and had to be
rescued by German troops. In 1941, he sent 200,000 of his soldiers to aid Hitler’s
invasion of the Soviet Union. The harsh winter and Soviet guerilla fighters killed huge
numbers of German and Italian soldiers.
By 1943, British, American, and other Allies had defeated Mussolini’s army in North
Africa, taken Sicily, and bombed Rome. The Italian people had had enough and
abandoned Il Duce.
King Victor Emmanuel ordered the arrest and imprisonment of Mussolini after his own
Grand Council voted for him to resign. German commandos, however, helped him
escape to Germany.
Mussolini returned to Italy and established a new fascist regime in the north near Milan,
an area that the Germans had occupied. But he was merely a puppet of the Nazis.
When the Allies neared Milan, Mussolini tried to escape. But anti-fascist Italian fighters
captured and shot him on April 28, 1943. The next day, crowds cheered as they hung
Mussolini’s body by its heels in Milan where he had started the fascist movement 25
years earlier.

n 1921, Mussolini won a seat in parliament and was even invited to join
the coalition government by Italy’s Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti—
who assumed that Mussolini would bring his Blackshirts to heel once he
was given a share of the political power.

But Giolitti had misjudged Mussolini, who instead intended to use his
Blackshirts to seize absolute control. In late 1921, Mussolini
transformed the group into the National Fascist Party, translating a
movement that had numbered about 30,000 in 1920 into a political
party 320,000 members strong. Although he had effectively declared
war against the state, the Italian government was powerless to dissolve
the party and stood by as fascists took over most of northern Italy.

Mussolini saw his opening in summer 1922. Socialists had announced a

strike that historian Ararat Gocmen writes was “not in the name of
workers’ emancipation but in a desperate cry for the state to bring an
end to fascist violence.” Mussolini positioned the strike as proof that the
government was weak and incapable of rule. With new supporters who
wanted law and order, Mussolini decided it was time to seize power.

The March on Rome

On October 25, 1922, a day after his rally in Naples, Mussolini
appointed four party leaders to lead members into the nation’s capital.
Poorly trained and outfitted, these men would likely have lost a battle
with Italy’s army. But Mussolini intended to intimidate the government
into submission.  

Fascist battalions were to congregate outside of Rome. If the prime

minister did not give the fascists power—and King Victor Emmanuel III
did not subsequently recognize his authority—his waiting men would
march into the capital and seize control. While Mussolini lingered in
Milan, his supporters gathered. They left chaos in their wake, taking
over government buildings in towns they passed through en route to
Rome. Though the party consistently overstated their numbers,
historian Katy Hull notes, fewer than 30,000 men joined the march.
Luigi Facta, then the prime minister, attempted to impose martial law.
But the king thought Mussolini could usher in stability and refused to
sign the order that would have mobilized Italian troops against the
fascists.

In protest, Facta and his cabinet resigned the morning of October 28.
Armed with a telegram from the king inviting him to form a cabinet,
Mussolini boarded a sleeper car and took a leisurely, 14-hour journey
from Milan to Rome. On October 30, he became prime minister—and
ordered his men to parade before the king’s residence as they left the
city.

Ethnic cleansing, race, and conquest

Antisemitism (discrimination against Jews) defined Nazism in
Germany, but that was not exactly the case with Italian Fascism, at
least before 1938. Certainly, Mussolini and the Fascists saw ethnic
minorities as impediments to the creation of a purely Italian state.
However, their solution was "Italianization." The idea was that non-
Italians could become Italian if they assimilated to Italian culture and
pledged loyalty to the nation.33cubed If the state had to accomplish
this by force with re-education programs, that was just fine. The idea
that ethnicity was largely a matter of culture—rather than genetics—
distinguished Italian Fascism from Nazism's biological view of race. In
Fascist Italy, Slovenians and German-speaking peasants could, in
principle, become Italians. In Nazi Germany, Jews could never
become Germans.

Still, Fascism in Italy was not without racism. Mussolini's war against
Ethiopia in 1935 brought race into focus as a Fascist concern.
Fascists portrayed the war as Italy's "civilizing mission" or the need for
"military security". But deep-seated attitudes about racial hierarchy
played out during the conflict. Advanced, deadly weapons, including
the use of gas by the Italian Army, made the fight pretty one-sided.
Italians convinced themselves that this firepower made them superior
to their Ethiopian victims. After local resistance was crushed,
Mussolini's regime established a tight grip over the region. Italian rule
included segregation, and policies prohibited interracial relations. This
policy extended not only to sexual relations and marriage, but to any
kind of social relationship at all. Step-by-step, Ethiopia became a state
governed by a regime without moral or political constraints. There
were no bureaucrats to rein in the Fascists. Thus unlike minorities in
Italy, Ethiopians were viewed by most Fascists as barbaric "others"
who could never become Italian.
.

The conquest of Ethiopia prompted Fascists to set harsher boundaries

of who could be assimilated and who could not. This had important
consequences, because colonial policy in Ethiopia provided the basis
for Italy's antisemitic race laws in 1938. So while Jewish people had
little to do with Ethiopia, they were affected by that policy. From this
year onward, Italy moved closer and closer to the Nazi position.
Namely, that certain groups, especially Jews, could not assimilate and
would have to be removed entirely so the nation could thrive. In this
way, the imperialist thinking drove Italian policy in more radical
directions.

The fall of Mussolini—and fascism’s legacy

The king, exhausted by the world war and a state of near civil war in
Italy, had assumed Mussolini would impose order. But within three
years, the strongman would be an outright dictator—and Victor
Emmanuel let him do as he pleased.

Over the years, Mussolini increased his own power while chipping away
at the population’s civil rights and forming a propagandistic police
state. His agenda also went beyond domestic affairs. Mussolini’s
imperial ambitions led Italy to occupy the Greek island of Corfu, invade
Ethiopia, and ally itself with Nazi Germany, eventually resulting in the
murder of 8,500 Italians in the Holocaust.

Mussolini’s ambition would be his downfall. Though he led Italy into

World War II as an Axis power aligned with the seemingly unstoppable
Adolf Hitler, he presided over the destruction of much of his country.
Victor Emmanuel III convinced Mussolini’s closest allies to turn against
him and, on July 25, 1943, they finally succeeded in removing him from
power and placing him under arrest. (Subscriber exclusive: Hear
stories from the last voices of World War II .)

After a dramatic prison break, Mussolini fled to German-occupied Italy,

where, under pressure from Hitler, he formed a weak and short-lived
puppet state. On April 28, 1945, as an Allied victory neared, Mussolini
attempted to flee the country. He was intercepted by communist
partisans, who shot him and dumped his body in a public square in
Milan.

Soon, a crowd gathered, desecrating the dictator’s corpse and venting

years of hatred and loss. His barely recognizable body was eventually
deposited in an unmarked grave. Il Duce was dead. But his legacy still
haunts Italy today—and the fascist movement he pioneered remains
alive both in Italian politics and the international imagination.

WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF FASCIST RULE UPON ITALY FROM

1922 TO 1945?
STUDY GUIDE BY SWANSEA UNIVERSITY HISTORIANS
Introduction
The fascist movement born in Italy after the First World War desired a
revolutionary dictatorship, which would transform Italy into a new civilization,
using force when required.  Yet, the impact of fascism on Italy was not uniform. 
From the perspective of the Italian population, how fascist rule was experienced
varied according to social class, political orientation, gender, sexual orientation,
and ethnic origin.  For large numbers of Italians, an oppressive fascist regime
brought economic hardship and/or a loss of basic human rights. For others
fascism appeared to bring stability, well-being and national honour (epitomized in
the conquest of Ethiopia in 1936) - for which authoritarian government was a
price worth paying.  The impact of fascist rule to an extent also varied according
to geographical location, reflecting a historical divide between the north and south
of Italy, and between rural and urban areas.  Fascism outwardly transformed
Italian society, as evident in the creation of a one-party state, which claimed to
penetrate all facets of life, whether the economy, education, leisure pursuits, or
the family and private life.  The fascist state’s control of information, the large
number of choreographed rituals and spectacles dominating public life, and the
creation of a cult around the leader, Benito Mussolini, reflect this.    However, the
extent to which fascism profoundly transformed Italian society is questionable. 
The speed with which consensus for the regime collapsed in the wake of Italy’s
disastrous participation in the Second World War as an ally of Hitler’s Germany is
often cited as evidence of Mussolini’s failure to create a nation of genuine fascist
believers and ‘warriors’ in spite of propagandized images of a society at one with
fascism.

The Fascist Police State

Mussolini’s appointment as prime minister in October 1922 did not see the
immediate institution of dictatorial rule.  Characteristic of the means the Fascists
had employed to come to power, Blackshirt squad violence helped to reduce the
influence of parliamentary opposition without outlawing it altogether.  From the
start of 1925, a fascist parliamentary majority (elected in April 1924 partly thanks
to fascist intimidation) was able to pass a series of laws which dismantled the
institutions of liberal democracy. Denoting a decline in squad power, the regular
police forces together with the OVRA secret police (created in 1927) were now
entrusted with the task of rooting out political opposition and controlling the
population, with the assistance of Fascist Party organizations (including the
Militia).  From 1926, the police benefited from enhanced powers which made
them less accountable for their actions.  Italian citizens were monitored more
frequently than in the past, and could easily fall victim to spies and informers - to
the extent that most began to be careful about what they said in public.  However,
the main targets of police oppression belonged to the working classes or
underground opposition parties.  Many had been subject to police action under
the previous Liberal state because of their involvement in union militancy or left-
wing politics.  Nevertheless, they suffered considerably worse under fascist rule,
with large numbers being sentenced to imprisonment or confino (exile in a
remote part of the country or penal colony).  Government-supporting middle class
citizens were less likely to fall foul of the fascist police state.  When relatively
harmless criticism of the regime on the part of such individuals reached the
authorities, their good social standing, and clean criminal and political records,
could count in their favour.

Economy and Labour

In its efforts to ‘nationalize’ the Italian masses, fascism applied the imagery and
metaphors of war to economic production, as evident in highly propagandized,
but largely unsuccessful, ‘battles’ for national autarchy in raw materials and
wheat.   Mussolini claimed to cater to the needs of workers while rejecting
socialism, according to the principle, enshrined in the Fascist Charter of Labour of
1927, that previous conflict between bosses and employees was now overcome
as both became ‘producers’ for the nation.  The implementation during the 1930s
of the ‘Corporate State’, consisting of representative bodies of employers and
employees for each sector of the economy, only superficially reflected this.  In
practice, the regime favoured employers over workers. In the wake of the
economic depression of the 1930s, big business benefited from the state’s
intervention to save failing companies and fascism’s preparation for long-term
warfare and occupation of foreign territory.  In spite of state welfare measures,
large numbers of workers and their families saw a decline in living standards. 
Fascist unions did little to protect them against wage cuts and sackings.  While
propaganda exalted rural life, the regime’s economic policies impoverished the
peasant masses in particular.

Education

Mussolini’s government invested heavily in education as a means of developing

future generations of fascists.  Ideological penetration of education was especially
evident in primary schools, where politically ‘reliable’ instructors ensured that
children were drilled in fascist ‘values’, including strict obedience to authority, a
spirit of sacrifice and heroism, and protection and enhancement of the Italian
‘race’.  Fascist Party youth organizations assisted the process of ideological
instruction through to university, with activities focused on pre-military training for
boys and forms of civic service for girls,  though working-class youngsters were
less likely to participate if they left school early to go into employment. In poorer
parts of Italy, particularly the South and rural areas, lack of resources limited the
extent and attractiveness of organized youth activities.  Nevertheless, there is
little doubt that the fascist regime was most successful in controlling the minds of
children and teenagers.  Many were left traumatized by Mussolini’s fall from
power during the Second World War, having been brought up to believe that their
leader and fascism were invincible.

Leisure Pursuits and Culture

Citizens living in fascist Italy spent much of their free time engaged in pursuits
that were no different to those undertaken in other Western nations.  Yet, most
were in some way affected by the regime’s attempt to exercise control over
leisure activities (partly in competition with the Catholic Church).  As illustrated
above, for children and teenagers, organized leisure activities and education
were hardly separable.  By contrast, the activities of company after-work clubs
(overseen by the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro) were less focused on ideological
instruction. Such clubs partly catered to welfare and consumer needs, by offering
their members household goods and entertainment at discount prices.  We
should consider mass leisure in the broader cultural context in which the state
censored news and banned all direct criticism of fascism, but did not attempt to
have the content of literary texts, theatrical productions or commercial films
excessively ‘fascistized’, at least until the late 1930s.  However, fascist newsreels
and documentaries were screened at cinemas.  Moreover, in the public sphere,
large numbers of citizens were obliged to participate in state-organized
spectacular rituals (ceremonies, parades, etc.) which aimed to mould a patriotic
and martial spirit.  Yet, it is questionable how deeply felt such participation was,
particularly among the adult population, given the environment in which, above
all, shows of commitment were essential for getting by.

Gender Roles and Sexual Mores

The rise of fascism was partly a consequence of fears about the power and
status of men in a world in which gender roles no longer appeared distinct. 
Mussolini wanted women to return to their traditionally subservient positions as
wives and mothers in correspondence to his demographic campaign to increase
the birth rate, which would in turn justify colonial expansion.  This involved limiting
female employment and encouraging marriage (as evident in the introduction of a
bachelor tax), restricting the availability of contraceptives, and increasing the
severity of prison sentences for illegal abortions. In spite of the parading of the
nation’s most prolific mothers at official ceremonies, the ‘battle for births’ did not
succeed in halting a long-term demographic decline.  This partly reflected
fascism’s inability to inhibit female impulses for emancipation.  Moreover, in its
desire not to lose consensus among the middle classes, the regime itself was
unwilling to enforce an extensive ban on women’s employment and their access
to university and the professions.  However, in the sexual and family sphere,
fascism reinforced traditional mores to the point of oppressing individuals who did
not conform.  This explains the persecution of homosexuals, particularly among
men, many of whom were sentenced to confino.  It also explains the double
standards exercised to the benefit of men and detriment of women in the state’s
treatment of adultery. 

Conclusion: Fascist War and Defeat

Although the impact of fascist rule on Italian society varied according to the
regime’s policies towards specific classes or groups, arguably, the most dramatic
consequences revealed themselves to the Italian populace as a whole during the
latter years of the dictatorship. The intensification of policies aiming to ‘fascistize’
society and enhance its warrior ‘qualities’, was marked by political and strategic
alignment with Hitler’s Germany, as well as the ostracism in 1938 of Italian Jews
(many of whom, ironically, had been enthusiastic fascist supporters) from
mainstream Italian society, accompanied by a vicious anti-Semitic propaganda
campaign.  In a similar vein, Italy’s intervention in the Spanish Civil War in
support of Francisco Franco’s Nationalists amounted to an ideological war, which,
unlike the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, demanded human sacrifice but offered no
territorial reward.  During the Second World War, a series of military defeats and
the collapse of the economy laid bare the hollowness of propaganda stressing
Italy’s invincibility.  While large numbers of Italians celebrated Mussolini’s
consequent fall from power in July 1943, the nastier side of fascism manifested
itself in the Italian Social Republic (1943-45), set up under the control of the
Nazis, who had occupied Italy after their former ally surrendered to Anglo-
American forces in September 1943. Many adherents to the Social Republic,
believing that the previous fascist regime had not been radical enough, aimed to
resurrect the violent revolutionary fascism of the earlier movement, which had
preceded Mussolini’s rise to power in 1922.  This partly accounts for the
Republic’s ruthless repression of anti-fascists and partisans, as well as its
complicity with the Nazis in deporting Jews to death camps.  Italian collective
memory underlines the human suffering caused by Mussolini’s ill-fated alliance
with Nazi Germany.  However, reflecting the varying impacts of fascism
discussed in this essay, Italians are more divided on the question of how life was
under the rule of Mussolini before the Second World War.