In March 1919 Mussolini set up his first meeting for his new movement called ‘Fasci Di Combattimento’ (Fasci) sometimes called Combat group. Mussolini still had some socialist views and the first meeting wasn’t very successful as only 100 people turned up. There were people with a variety of views but most of them shared the same hatred for Liberalism and the socialists. At this first meeting they managed to draw up a political Programme of their early political ideas.
- They wanted a new assembly within which the assemblywomen should be allowed to vote – Universal Suffrage.
- They would like to make Italy a Republic with out a royal family.
- They would abolish all titles of nobility in which case aristocrats would go.
- They would control and tax private wealth and congregate unproductive income. Also confiscate everything owned by the church.
- Working class people would have an opportunity to make businesses and an ownership of the businesses and have direct control of the money.
The problems with these ideas are that Mussolini was excluding the Industrialists and isolating them. Also the ideas of the Fasci were too narrow and were targeted at one certain group. They lacked cohesion; they weren’t a disciplined political movement. Mussolini couldn’t decide in what he actually believed in. Some historians think that the only reason that the Fasci had any prominence was that they had Mussolini and his paper in which he wrote their ideas to drum up more support.
In the autumn of 1920 during the Bienno Rosso the socialists made big gains in the local elections. This alarmed Italy’s property-owning classes, who feared that they would face higher taxes to pay for public works controlled by socialist unions. The people were turning in desperation to support another movement who could offer them support and good policies. Despite getting only one seat in the general election Mussolini realised that to meet his great ambitions in becoming Prime Minister they would have to become a right wing movement rather that a left wing movement as that’s where the support was and that’s where he would have success. This would indicate that Mussolini did not really hold strong political views but instead was an opportunist using politics for his own gain as opposed to using politics to amend the wrongs in society. From 1920 Mussolini began to drop more radical policies and presented a more reasonable movement: a movement and a party pledged to restore Italian power and prestige; to develop the economy by increasing productivity; to re-establish strong leadership and law and order by curbing left-wing subversives and the abandonment of republicanism, anti-clericalism, dropping the demand for votes for women and for taxes for war profits were later abandoned around 1922.
When Fascism was a left wing movement they did have supporters such as, Veterans from the war particularly the Arditi, Farmers, Factory workers, Artists, Poets, Anarchists, Nationalists and Publicans but these people didn’t have the money to put into the movement unless there was a socialist revolution. However by 1922 Mussolini’s ideas had changed from being left wing to right wing and as a consequence so did his supporters. Mussolini by moving Fascism right Mussolini exploited the fear of the middle and upper classes during the Bienno Rosso in 1919-20. By doing this Mussolini lost some early supporters but he was now appealing to the young, lower-middle class recruits from universities, the civil service and ‘respectable’ bourgeois families. The fascist move from left to right meant that Fascism was far more that just Mussolini. The movement grew as a series of locally formed fasci, led by ‘RAS,’ some of who had different ideas to Mussolini. The Fascists key group of supporters came from the petty bourgeoisie. This group, containing a wide range of people in between working class and middle class, felt a collective sense of insecurity, and were prone to turn to radical groups, outside political parties. Many were ex-soldiers proud of the military victory they had won, but felt humiliated by not receiving what they considered their ‘due’ from the government. The fascists also reached the support from lower-middle-class people among were small farmers in parts of Romagna, Lombardy and Venetia. Some of these small farmers were improving their position and extended their landholdings. They believed that rural Socialism threatened these gains. This allowed Fascism to build a base in the countryside. There was resentment toward the Socialist Land Leagues, who bullied farmers into hiring labourers when they were not needed. The Agrari (large landowners) also welcomed the fascists and were prepared to finance any movement who would resist the Socialists. Fascism also got the support from the Industrialists who were frightened by Socialism. Large numbers of students and youths who were eager for adventure and action detested the boring routine of their daily lives joined the Fascist squads. Fascism also attracted some semi-criminals.
The early fascist movement proved to be unorganised and lacking in a clear vision and direction for the future. The violent activities practices which included beating up member of the socialist opposition, intimidating people to join the movement, the arranging of strikes and encouraging riots did little to appeal to the under electorate. As a result the movement failed miserably in its attempt to be elected. Mussolini realised that drastic changes had to be adopted if success were to be achieved, thus reinforcing the belief that he was first and foremost and opportunist caring about his own possible gains than for strongly held a deep-rooted political ideologies. He used the various opposition parties to meet his own gains mainly to get into parliament.
In may 1921 having gained 35 seats and 7% of the vote on the strength of supporting a liberal government; he then announced that the fascists would not go ahead with their support. In a pact with the Socialists he made the fascist political party (PNF). He made a dual policy whereby he tried to appease both the Catholics (who were allowed into politics following a ruling by the Pope) and the Socialists. This helped him remove the fascist party away from being associated with violence, promoting both sides differing things in order to get support from both. In a bid to make the party making himself leader of the party he attempted to make the party more respectable in promising to discipline the Renegades and get encouraging the violence and perpetrators.
In conclusion therefore, the fascist party developed between 1919 and 1920 from being a left wing movement to a right wing political party. This was because Mussolini realised that to enter parliament he would have to change his political ideas to appeal to people like the industrialists and those who felt threatened by the socialists during the Bienno Rosso.
