Nevertheless the final threat to Mussolini’s political power was the Fascist party itself. When Mussolini came into power the Fascist party wanted a fascist revolution and were putting pressure on Mussolini to employ fascist policies which he did not want to do as it would be seen as too radical for the elite. However Mussolini made sure that it were a personal dictatorship and not a fascist one. He did this by keeping the fascist part separate from the state institutions, and he did not give high profile posts in the civil service to fascists, so kept them out of power. Mussolini was also head of the Fascist party and if members of the party spoke against him they would be attacked by Mussolini’s black shirts so he was in a powerful position. Mussolini was also from 1926 chairmen of the Fascist Grand Council, and then the PNF and eight different ministries. This meant that he had much more power over the party than he had before when he was representing the party in the Government. Furthermore the Fascist Party was divided and breaches appeared because there were not other political parties in Italy and non fascist politicians joined the party in order to survive in the political environment. However they kept their previous non fascist beliefs and they did not have the dame ambition for the party, and this situation was in favour of Mussolini because a weaker party meant that Mussolini would be even more powerful, and they were less of a threat to his power. However there was still pressure from the ras, who were the radical section on the party, and lead by Farinacci who was becoming increasingly prominent in his speaking out against Mussolini’s liberal economic policies. However Mussolini solved this problem by appointing Farinacci as party secretary, and then used him to centralise the party, thereby reducing the power of the Fascist party. Then he scrapped elections within the party so he could appoint only ‘yes’ men and finally he used Farinacci’s bad remarks as an excuse to put him under house arrest and out of power. Subsequently Mussolini made the fascist party completely under his control making him very powerful and he used his party and the Fascist grand council and cabinet merely as a sounding board for his policies. Even though the Fascist Grand Council appeared to be significantly weak it still managed to sack him as chairman of the party in 1943, thereby taking some power away from him.
Another possible threat to Mussolini’s power would have been the media in Italy, which could turn public support against him, as it did during the Matteotti crisis. Thus Mussolini saw the danger of the media and took measures to control it so his per was not threatened by it again. Firstly all hostile newspapers were shut down and any critics of his regime were removed while anti fascist propaganda was banned as it was viewed as treason. Moreover any newspaper journalists had to first register with the fascist party in order to gain a certificate of approval before they write anything. Finally Mussolini personally chose the newspapers editors to ensure that there would be nothing anti fascist in any of the newspapers, so Mussolini had complete control over Italy’s media which again put him in a very powerful position.
Mussolini was very powerful at the top end of the scale but he still needed control at the bottom in the towns and villages and in local government. To do this he replaced local government elected mayors with appointed officials called podestas, who would have been ‘yes’ men to him giving him even more control over the people. However this was not enough and in 1927 Mussolini set up the OVRA which was a 50, 00 strong personal militia paid for by government funds and used to intimidate Mussolini’s political opponents. They were independent of the police and loyal and Mussolini although by 1940 they had arrested only 4000 suspects, they were used more as a real threat to any possible opponents to keep the peace. However this still meant that Mussolini had this loyal secret police to control local opposition for him, making him even more powerful. Furthermore over the years this militia had merged into the army, making it to a great extent harder for the King to ever use the army against Mussolini because the this militia had merged with the army, so it would have been difficult to get them to attack Mussolini as they would have had to fight the OVRA and militia who they were so merged with. This again made Mussolini even more powerful as it greatly reduced the power of the army, who would have been a massive threat to him if the King ever decided to use them.
Mussolini also gained power over the people by controlling their whereabouts by introducing internal migration. He also controlled education and the indoctrination of the Italian youth, encouraging his cult of personality and new text books were produced to glorify him, while school teachers were also forced to support Mussolini. This gave Mussolini even more power as it was indoctrinating children and neutralising any threat from the next generation of Italians.
Despite all this power Mussolini still faced his most powerful opposition which was the Pope and Church institution. Italy was a very religious country and the church had the most power and influence over the people. Mussolini realised this immediately and decided he would have to compromise with the church to keep them on his side. Mussolini first tried to gain credibility with the Roman Catholic Church by having his children baptised in 1923 and then in 1926, he had a religious marriage ceremony, as their first marriage had been a civil ceremony. Then Mussolini decided to buy support from the Church by giving out millions in compensation in 1929 and then 09 acres in Rome to create a new papal state known as the Vatican. The pope was allowed a small army, police force, post office and rail station and a country retreat. Furthermore Mussolini banned swearing in public and made religion a compulsory subject in schools. After this agreement Mussolini was sure that the Church would support his regime and stay out of politics, again making Mussolini very powerful as he managed to subdue his only opposition that he could not destroy, while the Pope encouraged support for his regime. The Pope also supported the regime because he felt the church was safer under fascism than the ungodly communists and socialists, which made fascism even stronger as it was seen as the best option by the Pope.
Despite all this power Mussolini had gained over so many areas of Italy he was not an intellectual and could not rule alone. Therefore he was forced to rely heavily on the civil service to implement his policies, and while Mussolini made thousands of policies and he was extremely disorganised. Meanwhile the non fascist civil service could use their own spin on policy and influence it, and the system was so corrupt that they could get away with it very easily. Mussolini was in charge of eight different ministries however he didn’t personally administer ay of his ministries so did not know what was going on in them. In 1927 only 15% of civil service were fascists, was compulsory to join Fascist party in 1935 but that did not mean they all then practised fascism. Furthermore the fact that he held so many top ministerial positions implies that he could not trust people, and therefore was not all powerful if he thought people beneath him could betray him.
Additionally Mussolini did not have much control over the south of Italy where the mafia had the strongest influence. The mafia did not accompany the fascist party and instead replaced in rural independent parts of southern Italy. Although Mussolini did not mind this because the area was so poor, not very populated and not industrialised and he neglected it. However this still shows that Mussolini was not an all powerful dictator as he did not have power over this area of Italy.
In conclusion it would appear that Mussolini was not an all powerful dictator. Although he did not have any vocal opposition it would appear that behind the scenes he did not have ultimate power. He still had to keep the elite, church and king happy if he was to survive and he did not have any power in southern Italy. Furthermore the judiciary also had the power to help the individual, however they did not, just as the other institutions did not, although they did have the potential to do so making Mussolini not an all powerful dictator.
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WAS POWERFUL
King Victor Emmanuel was loyal to him preferred his government to a socialist one, King also disliked Aventine Secession as they were Republicans The King was very indecisive and intimidated by Mussolini. Abdicated in all but name in 1930 Mussolini nearly had all his powers, and his militia or new secret police were merged with the army, also the elite supported Mussolini who the king was also intimidated by.
There was no alternative to Mussolini
His opposition were not united without a leader, and were weak liberals hated communists and vice versa
In December Legge Fascistissime , which meant opposition parties and trade unions were banned
Had control over the press anti fascist propaganda was viewed as treason journalists had to be registered with government, critics were removed and hostile newspapers could be shut dow newspaper editors were all personally chosen by Mussolini himself, and no one could practice journalism who did not possess a certificate of approval from the Fascist party.
Set up a new secret police loyal to him
Replaced local government elected mayors with appointed officials called podestas
January 1926 he was granted right to issue decrees with full force of law, no need for support, king or opposition parties
1928 made it that King couldn’t appoint P, and had to choose from a list of candidates draw up by the fascist grand council, all who would have been yes men to Mussolini
Got rid of pressure of the Ras by appointing Farinacci as party secretary and used him to centralise party, thereby reducing the power of the Fascist party as well
Scrapped elections in party and he appointed these as all of his YES men. Then he used Farranacis’s bad remarks as an excuse to put him under house arrest, got powerful radical fascist out of power
Mussolini didn’t give state positions to party members and kept them out of civil service so kept them out of power
Controlled MVSN ( 50,000 armed militia) who intimidated opponents
Had OVRA ( secret police) loyal to Mussolini and independent of police who arrested people against the regime and had many informers Mussolini did say in the spring of 1924 that "a good beating did not hurt anyone." In 1927, a secret police force was set up called the OVRA and it was lead by Arturo Bocchini. The death penalty was reintroduced for "serious political offences". By 1940, the OVRA had arrested 4000 suspects but only 10 people from 1927 to 1940 were ever sentenced to death –Had control over people’s whereabouts as internal migration had to be approved
Forced any political opponents not exile, or sent Fascist agents to assassinate them, e.g. Rosselli brothers
King signed nearly all decrees, even if eh didn’t agree with them
Mussolini ruled by decree, didn’t need support of anybody else
Was a personal dictatorship, not fascist one, he was in charge of 8 different ministeries
Mussolini controlled Fascist Grand Council, and PNF
Cabinet was weak and Mussolini made all decisions
1923 Acerbo Law, after this Mussolini had a massive majority in parliament and used it merely as a soundboard for his policies
The Church also influential made a compromise to stay out of politics in return for state funding Mussolini managed to corrupt the Pope by handing back some land taken in the Italian unification so that there could be a papal state and Mussolini also granted indemnities for the land kept. After this agreement Mussolini was sure that the Catholic Church, which was the religion of a vast majority of Italians, would no longer criticise the fascist regime Also the Catholic Church was almost a political party, the last one to not have been banned by the fascists. This is probably Mussolini's greatest accomplishment. He managed to calm down the opposition of the only institution he could not destroy. To get support from the , religious was made compulsory in all elementary schools. These policies can be seen as an attempt to ‘buy’ support. sliked the power of the Church and the young Mussolini referred to priests as "black germs". To gain credibility with the Roman Catholic Church, Mussolini had his children baptised in 1923. In 1926, he had a religious marriage ceremony to his wife Rachele. Their first marriage in 1915 had been a civil ceremony. Mussolini closed down many wine shops and night clubs. He also made swearing in public a crime. The Papal States (the name given to land previously owned by the Roman Catholic Church in Italy) had lost all its land in the 1870 unification of Italy. The Roman Catholic Church received £30 million in compensation in 1929 and the Church was given 109 acres in Rome to create a new papal state - the Vatican. The pope was allowed a small army, police force, post office and rail station. The pope was also given a country retreat called Castel Gandolfo Mussolini still relied on traditional institutions such as church, it was a very religious country and the Church had a lot of influence over the people
Not only was Mussolini the leader of the country he was also from 1926 the chairman of the Fascist party. This meant that he had much more power over the party than he had before when he was representing the party in the Government.
The fascist party organised the education and the indoctrination of the Italian youth. This was important for the future of the fascist and Mussolini's regime. The fascist party decided of the programme, wrote out new textbooks to glorify Mussolini and the fascist party and also obliged teachers to support Mussolini.
The Fascist Party was divided and breaches appeared. As there were no other parties, some non-fascist politicians joined the fascist party but still had their previous beliefs, and most of all they did not have the same ambition for the party. This situation was in favour of Mussolini because a weaker party meant that Mussolini would be stronger.
WAS NOT POWERFUL
Italy still remained officially a constitutional monarchy, and was far more liberal than other totalitarian states at the time like Russia or Germany Constitutionally Mussolini was not the highest ranked person in Italy.
The king had to power to dismiss Mussolini with the army who were loyal to him and refused to use fascist salute
Had power to appoint and dismiss the PM
Did not have to sign decrees, some he didn’t
He continued to meet the king twice a week. This is a clear example of Mussolini's weakness. An all powerful dictator would not need to confer or seek anyone else's approval.
Mussolini could not rule alone as he wasn’t an intellectual, so relied heavily on civil service to implement his policies, Mussolini made thousands of policies and he was extremely disorganised, meanwhile they could use their own spin on policy and influence it, and the system was so corrupt that they could get away with it very easily
He didn’t personally administer ay of his ministries so did not know what was going on in them. In 1927 only 15% of civil service were fascists, was compulsory to join Fascist party in 1935 but that did not mean they all then practised fascism
The fact that he held so many top ministerial positions implies that he could not trust people, and therefore was not all powerful if he thought people beneath him could betray him
Although the Fascist Grand Council appeared to be less important and significantly weak it still managed to sack him as leader of the party in 1943.
Mussolini still relied on traditional institutions such as church, it was a very religious country and the Church had a lot of influence over the people
The Elite still had influence and power
Judiciary could of helped individuals but didn’t, however they could of which shows he was not all powerful
The Mafia had strong influence in the south; it almost ruled it. Even if Mussolini did a lot to destroy this organisation it still existed under cover. The Mafia did not accompany Mussolini and the fascist party's power but it replaced it. Indeed the south of Italy remained mainly in rural area independent of Fascist influence. This independence was nevertheless unimportant because the southern part of Italy was poor, lightly populated and not industrialised. Mussolini neglected the south in his efforts to dynamise the industry and economy of the country.
