How totalitarian was fascist Italy?

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Will Taylor

HISTORY Coursework Assignment

Part B. How totalitarian was fascist Italy?

A totalitarian state is one where a dictatorial regime exists, which regulates every realm of life, where no rival loyalties or parties are permitted and all rights including those normally belonging to individuals are assumed by the totalitarian state. One characteristic of totalitarianism exists in a state where an official ideology exists, consisting of an official body of doctrine covering all the vital aspects of man’s existence to which everyone living in that society is supposed to adhere. This ideology is focused on a perfect state of living, which contains a radical rejection of the existing society and conquest of the world for a new one. Totalitarianism constitutes a single mass party led by a dictator and consisting of a relatively small percentage of the total population. Within the party a hard core of members exists who passionately dedicate themselves to the ideology without question and are prepared to assist in anyway possible in promoting the party, which often involves acts of violence. A system of terroristic police control is enforced which is directed towards enemies of the regime and both supporting but also supervising the party for its dictator. Also enforced is a technologically conditioned near-complete monopoly of control of all means of communications, such as press and radio, and also a monopoly of control of all means of effective armed combat.

        There are several ways in which Fascist Italy was representative of a totalitarian state, the first being their systematic removal of opposition within the government.  It was not until 1924 that Mussolini set about establishing his dictatorship. The Socialist party leader, Giacomo Matteotti denounced the violence used by the Fascists to gain support, and called for an annulment of the election results. The result of this speech was his murder 11 days later by a gang of ex-squadristi. Most opposition Deputies walked out of Parliament in protest, in a move known as the Aventine Secession. Instead of dismissing Mussolini, the King allowed Mussolini to remain as Prime Minister, because he saw Mussolini as easy to control because he was already in trouble. Mussolini took full advantage of the lack of co-ordinated opposition and moved to suspend constitutional government and establish a totalitarian regime. He proceeded in stages to establish a dictatorship by forbidding the parliament to initiate legislation, making him responsible to the king alone. By 1926 he had passed decrees issuing him the force of law, establishing total censorship of the press and suppressing all opposition parties. From 1924 onwards, the population as a whole was subject to control by the government through various channels. A secret police was created, OVRA, which was given wide powers. Their role was to eliminate “enemies” to the regime and regulate party members for Mussolini. They were successful in suppressing rebels in southern Italy, which had been rife in the south for decades.

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Mussolini developed the education system to bring it under state control and through education, school children were indoctrinated with Fascist ideas. He banned all textbooks unless they were the compulsory texts and made sure all subjects taught highlighted the greatness of the Italian state. They were told that "Mussolini is always right”. These youth movements had considerable influence over the future generation of Fascists and was one of Mussolini’s more successful ventures.

Mussolini saw leisure activities as a manner in which to promote his regime. One of the most significant pieces of social engineering by the Fascist regime was the ...

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