Why did Mussolini survive the Matteotti crisis?
After denouncing the fascist violence and calling for the annulment of the elections in parliament on May 30th 1924, Giacomo Matteotti, told his comrades: “Now you can prepare my funeral oration”. Tragically, days later he was kidnapped and two months later, found dead. When prominent Fascists were implicated, and the issue of Mussolini’s involvement brought up, Il Duce was very close to losing power. However, the managed to thwart the threats due to the divisions and miscalculations of his opponents, the Kings forbearance, the backing of the conservative elites, and of course his own opportunistic skills which maneuvered him out and helped him exploit this acute crisis to announce a personal dictatorship.
Firstly and most significantly, the poor tactics of his opposition and their bad timing gave the impression that they didn’t work together as much as necessary. The “Aventine’ secession merely stressed the size of the fascist majority in parliament and failed to produce any parliamentary threat. Furthermore it is important to mention that Mussolini privately admitted that he would have stepped down, hade the King ruled so. However, the Victor Emmanuel disliked the Secession not only because the majority were socialists, but also because it was seen as rather unconstitutional and merely gave him the excuse to do nothing, since in the absence of legislative vote against Mussolini, there was no reason to dismiss him.
