Oct/Nov 2010
How far had Mussolini achieved his aims in domestic policy by 1939?
In order to assess how Mussolini achieved his objective in domestic policy, one must traced back to the moment when he first became the prime minister in 1922. While the timeline is important to know, the central role of World War 1 must also be considered. The aftermath of World War 1 had ravaged Italy's political situation the most, paving the way for Mussolini to appear and create a Fascism state as Italy was desperate for a saviour to rescue her, combined with Mussolini's opportunistic and charismatic personalities, he had a high chance in achieving his domestic policies successfully.
In his first year as prime minister, Musollini hold very limited power and not to say, he was leading a coalition government which the Fascist party represented the least membership in the parliament. Coalition government can be seen as undesirable and most of the parties would want to avoid it since it was an obstacle to achieve its aim. He therefore needed to alter this unfavourable circumstance decisively and carefully to take control of the parliament as a means to establish a totalitarian state which was the core in his domestic policy. In the totalitarian ideology basis, the supremacy over the individual rights of its citizens shouldn't be questioned as the popular Fascism slogan stated, “Everything within the State, nothing against the State, nothing outside the State.”. This means liberalism was seen as the national enemy. In his domestic view, Mussolini saw that by having a liberal mind, people would soon voiced out their opinions and soon, his dictatorship would be in the stage of shattering. Moreover, this point serves as the basic foundation in the early years of totalitarianism in Italy as he needed to constraint the citizens' mind before enforcing his totalitarianism rule. Mussolini also rekindled his relationship with the Roman Catholic Church as religion plays a significant role in the Italians' daily life and also the world as the Vatican was the nucleus of the Christian world. Hence, he won major supports from the citizens and was able to prevent revolution for the time being. This successful domestic policy of his preceded his fascism dream state.
