A significant step in Mussolini’s rise to power was when he was given the power to issue decrees. This allowed Mussolini to issue decrees to increase government controls, and over the year of 1926 over two thousand increasingly repressive decrees were issued. This enabled Mussolini to eliminate opposition through many arrests and repressive policies, thus contributing to Mussolini’s consolidation of power within Italy. Between the years 1924 to 1929, Mussolini imposed tighter controls throughout Italy in an attempt to impose intimidation upon the people to support the Fascist party. The use of threat and intimidation is even present in Mussolini’s first speech as Prime Minister to the Chamber of Deputies in 1922 “With 300,000 youths armed to the teeth…ready to act on any command of mine”. Such language and concealed threats contribute to the spread of intimidation across Italy in regard to the Fascis t party. Elected municipal councils were eliminated and 7000 government-appointed Podestas (powerful fascist party members) replaced elected mayors. Such administrative control over Italy led to widespread intimidation throughout workforces and the country, as Mussolini had imposed pro-Fascist party members in all parts of Italy. There were signs that Mussolini’s intimidation tactics were now working as the people became afraid of opposing the fascists. The elections of 1924 were a clear signal of this with 40% voted Fascist in the north and 60% n the south. The difference most likely being because the peasants in the south were poor and easily persuaded by their landowners, of which the majority were Fascist supporters.
Mussolini’s March on Rome is probably one of the most significant examples of Fascist force upon Italy. 10,000 members of Mussolini’s squadristi assembled at 3 points about 20 miles outside of Rome whilst other members of the Fascist party seized control of key government and public buildings in many towns in Northern and Central Italy. The King was the sole person who had the power to put an end to Mussolini’s March on Rome by sending in the army to take a stand, however the King overestimated the strength of the Fascist forces and feared his intervention may cause a civil war within Italy. The current Prime Minister – Facta was denied his request for martial law by the King, and as a result, resigned from his position and the King was given no alternative but to offer the place to Mussolini. These events, which took place at the March on Rome, were instrumental to Mussolini’s rise to power. In order to appear a strong and determined leader, Mussolini relayed his success as the result of pure power in numbers and intimidation. However it appears to be the product of a weak King who made miscalculations regarding the strength of the Fascist movement, “The March on Rome…was a show of strength…this show of strength would have failed if the King had opposed it” supporting my point that it was the King’s underestimation of the Fascist’s strength which created an unwillingness to take action against them.
Fear and force has been shown already to have had a huge input into the consolidation of Mussolini’s power, however, the question remains as to whether he could have succeeded with those ’tools’ alone. Through effective use of propaganda combined with censorship, Mussolini managed to create a ‘cult of Duce’ in which he was portrayed as an all-powerful leader. Mussolini’s slogan was ‘Mussolini is always right’ which was projected throughout towns in Italy, presenting Mussolini as a powerful and stable leader of Italy. Images were the most common and effective form of propaganda as they could be interpreted by all of the population including the illiterate. Mussolini projected himself as a War hero, man of action and family man amongst other facades. His propaganda team were also able to portray him as being sent by providence after his concordat with the Catholic Church. Many of these images turned out to be myths or even opposites of his actual character. He was known to have had at least one mistress but portrayed an image of being a family man and the strength he often portrayed hiding the reality that he was not a healthy man especially towards the end of his leadership. Such manipulation of the media in order to create this image of Mussolini was instrumental in his consolidation of power; it is easily doubtable that he would have reached his god-like status if the Italian people had seen the real Mussolini.
The only 100% fascist owned newspaper ‘Il Popolo d’Italia’ proved fairly unsuccessful at reaching the national audience only circulating in 10% of the population. However, in 1923 Mussolini took control of the national press and brought in strong press censorship, making it near impossible for anyone to publish anything portraying the Fascist party in a less than complimentary manner. Journalists also had to register with a fascist association, allowing Mussolini to include propaganda and twist reports of events, for example when black shirt violence took place it was reported as Socialist violence in the newspapers. Having absolute control of everything the Italian public could read or hear was key to consolidating Mussolini’s control.
The use of the radio also proved a successful form of propaganda for Mussolini, as the content of programs were controlled by the state and the radio became state run in 1924. There were 2 hours a day for official broadcasts, in which Mussolini’s speeches were broadcast live. During such speeches, large speakers were often carried to cheering crowds in order to gain mass support for Mussolini, as he was a renowned speechmaker. Fascism was also present within the cinema as the government agency LUCE was created in 1924 to produce documentaries, which Mussolini previewed before their release. The state censored Italian and imported films and issued directives on content. The fascist impact upon cinema proved fairly unsuccessful as only a few films produced were pro-Fascist and in 1933 three quarters of ticket sales were for US films – proving the lack of popularity regarding Italian films produced by LUCE. One of the most successful forms of propaganda produced by the Fascist party was the Dopolavoro, which was set up in 1925. It was an organisation set up to provide state-sponsored after work entertainment, touring around the country to reach all the Italian people and promote the idea of Fascism. This illustrates aspects of the Fascist regime who’s aim was total control over all aspects of the Italian’s lives as it aimed to reach people in all parts of the country in order to manipulate their political agendas. The Dopolavoro proved to be very popular with the Italian people and took the fascist ideals to areas where support would have been weak and other ideals still survived underground – this was successful propaganda and contributed largely to the consolidation of power.
Mussolini’s initial rise to power was brought about by using strong fear and force tactics to bully the Italian people into accepting his almost autocratic role as leader, in a country that had already had an established democracy for a number of years this was quite an extraordinary feat. However the constant use of propaganda, and in places, compromise to portray the deity-like figure of ‘Il Duce’ must have been equally important in the consolidation and holding of power by the Fascist party and Mussolini.
Mussolini’s First Speech as Prime Minister, 1922
