In June 1919 a programme was established whereby the movement was predominantly left wing, offering a republic with universal suffrage, an 8 hour working day with a minimum wage, universal common education, heavy tax on capitol, and the nationalisation of arms and munitions factories. Standing on a radical programme in the 1919 elections, Mussolini failed miserably, gaining only 2% of the vote in Milan. The radical vote went to the PSI. The Socialists even held a mock funeral for Mussolini and his Fascist movement. Mussolini at this time even considered giving up politics.
By summer 1920, the industrial and rural elite were worried by the Socialist threat, and by government inaction. Some saw the Fascists as the best bulwark against Socialism, and started to give funds to Fascist squads who were fighting the Socialists. Mussolini saw his chance to get more support from the economic elite by fighting against the Socialists whom they saw as a massive threat to their businesses etc. This anti-Socialist stance appealed to landowners, industrialists and even small landowners, who were all worried about a possible Communist revolution like the one that had happened in Russia.
Mussolini saw an opportunity. He wanted change and he wanted power. It seemed he might achieve these by appealing to those frightened by the Socialists. This would mean playing down his left-wing ideas, and shifting his programme to appeal more to the Right. His programme now boasted privatisation, proportional taxation, and to drop demands for tax on war profits; the latter being an attempt to woo the army. This was a huge U turn for the Fascists.
In late 1920 Fascism took off, especially in the rural areas in North and Central Italy. Local leaders, or ras, set up their own squads of Fascists. They attracted not just the agrarian elite, but also many small landholders harmed by Socialist local government and worried about a Socialist revolution. Some original Fascists were concerned about how the bourgeoisie were joining the movement and Mussolini’s move to the Right. Many dropped out of the movement. Several ras, who were not under Mussolini’s control, protested. However, as the movement grew, they realised how important Mussolini, with his paper ‘Il popolo d’Italia’, was for unity and strength.
The Prime Minister Giolitti hoped he could absorb the movement in 1921, which was becoming a major force in the country. He gambled by including Fascists on the list of candidates recommended by the government in the May 1921 election. (This was the last election before Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister). They gained 35 seats, and Mussolini entered parliament. Giolitti hoped to tame the Fascists by offering Mussolini a government post, but Mussolini refused to join the government as a junior partner. He was more ambitious.
Tension was developing between those Fascists wanting to gain power legally and those supporting seizure of power. Mussolini was concerned about the growing Fascist violence, which threatened his position as a respectable Member of Parliament and his control over the Fascist movement. On 2nd August 1921, he signed a ‘Pact of Pacification’ with the Socialists. Ras pressure forced him to back down. One of the most substantial moves for Mussolini was that in November 1921, he formed the National Fascist Party, which acknowledged the role of the squads but recognised Mussolini as the indispensable Duce. Not only did this mean that Mussolini had full power over the new party, but it also meant that all of the Fascist members were more organised, and that people took them more seriously as a group. To get more power, Mussolini also realised that he had to make himself and the party more respectable, so as to appeal to the elite and bourgeoisie. He also decided that he would no longer be anti-clerical and anti-monarchy, as he wanted the votes of the Catholics and those who were pro-monarchy.
In conclusion, by 1921 Mussolini had dropped his radical left-wing ideas in order to try and attract a more varied range of supporters from the elite, and therefore he changed his ideology to suit them. He was also trying to gain power legally, much to the annoyance of the ras, and learnt that in order to be successful in government, he needed to present a more acceptable face of Fascism.
