The weakness of Mussolini’s political opponents also allowed him to significantly increase his powers after becoming Prime Minister, and the passing of the Acerbo law in 1923 was a key example of this. This bill would permit the party that obtained the most votes in a general election to take two-thirds of the seats in the Chamber, provided they received at least 25% of votes. This was clearly designed to secure a Fascist parliamentary majority, but was passed because of the intimidating presence of Blackshirts during the debate. This shows how the political opposition to the Fascists was weak, as they allowed themselves to be manipulated into agreeing to Mussolini’s demands. This was also seen after the Matteotti crisis in 1924. After a senior Socialist politician was murdered by Fascists, Liberals and Socialists walked out of Parliament in protest. However, this walk-out just turned the Chamber into a compliant pro-Government body, who would always agree with Mussolini. This illustrates how the poor decisions made by political opponents allowed Mussolini to become more dominant.
Violence by Fascist Blackshirts contributed to Mussolini securing power in 1922. Organised squads of Fascists, called ‘squadristi’, were hostile to left-wing demands for improved wages, which led to Mussolini declaring that his Blackshirts had “launched a guerrilla war” against the Socialists. Towards the end of 1920 and early 1921, Fascist squads carried out violent raids against Socialists and trade unionists after being funded by angry landowners and the military. This violence helped Mussolini to secure power, because it intimidated some of his opposition, but also gained the party support from those who felt that their way of life was being threatened by socialism.
Mussolini’s power was increased by the violence that he used to repress and intimidate individuals who opposed the party. He set up the Voluntary Fascist Militia for National Security (MVSN) and the Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism (OVRA), both of which he used to control the country. The MVSN functioned as a state-funded full-time private army of 30,000 men who swore an oath of loyalty to Mussolini, whilst OVRA acted as the secret police. OVRA carried out 20,000 raids across Italy each week, and detained some 6,000 political opponents. They often did this in a violent manner, which left people fearful; this helped Mussolini to increase his power, because if people were afraid of his secret police, it meant that they were less likely to cause any trouble. Although violence was a major reason that allowed Mussolini to secure and increase his power in Italy, it was not the most significant; this is because it is linked to the weak political opponents, as if they had stopped the Blackshirt violence before 1922, Mussolini would never have got into power.
The leadership methods that were used by Mussolini were vital in helping him to secure power before the March on Rome in 1922. He was often described as an opportunist, and this was seen in the tactics that he used to gain mass support from many Italians. The Fascist party had no clear ideologies or ideas, and just reacted to events that occurred around them; they would then support the viewpoint that was the most popular with the people, and this method helped them to become gain support across the country. Mussolini also successfully used a dual policy in order to secure power. When Italy was in a transitional stage after the First World War, he would give different messages to the people he was around. He would often use the threat of violence to intimidate Socialists and to appease the Ras, and then offer assurances to Liberal politicians that he was an individual who they could create a coalition with.
In terms of increasing his power, Mussolini managed to effectively exert his personal authority in a variety of ways. These included the setting up of the Fascist Grand Council and the propaganda messages of the cult of the Duce. The Fascist Grand Council was made up of 22 prominent party members, and Mussolini controlled who its members were and what agendas they discussed. This meant that Mussolini could use the Grand Council to secure party approval for his major initiatives and to control Fascist policy, enabling him to significantly increase his power of the party and create a dictatorship. The Fascist regime attempted to generate popular support for Mussolini through the ‘Cult of the Duce’, which depicted him as Italy’s wise saviour, who would solve all of the country’s problems. They used propaganda in the media and in leaflets/pamphlets to make people support Mussolini, and this helped him to increase his power as he knew that he was backed by most of the country. This all shows how Mussolini’s effective leadership style allowed him to secure and increase his power in Italy between 1919 and 1928. However, it was not the most important reason, as the weakness of political opponents was more significant. This is because the two reasons were linked, as Mussolini adopted many of his leadership skills from what the Liberal politicians were not doing.
Finally, the increasing support for the Fascist party was one reason that Mussolini was able to secure power in 1922. People began to agree with the Fascist ideologies after they became right-wing, and strongly opposed Socialism. A lot of their backing came from the elite classes, as well as industrialists, and this was because they had the most to lose if the left-wing became popular. They would both lose land and money, so they felt that Socialism threatened their way of life, and supported any party which would protect them from this outcome.
Mussolini received increasing support after 1922 because of how he successfully managed the youth/education system, the press and the media. All teachers had to become members of the PNF, and they also had to wear Blackshirt uniform when teaching. This, along with the adapting of the school curriculum to reflect the regime’s idea, introduced many young people to Fascist ideologies, and meant that the party received significant amounts of support from young people. The Fascist youth movements, such as the ONB, helped to inculcate Fascist values, and they had 1,236,000 members within a year of being set up. They also offered sport and summer camps, as well as pre-military training. These kind of groups put young people between the ages of six and eighteen in a right-wing environment; as a result, they were likely to believe in what they were being taught, and to support Mussolini in what he was trying to achieve in terms of making Italy a global power. Despite the increasing support for the Fascist party being a key reason that Mussolini was able to secure and increase his power in Italy, it was not the most important. This is because the weaknesses of Mussolini’s opposition created the situation which the Fascists then exploited to become popular. They used this to their advantage, so that by 1928, they were backed by the majority of the Italian population.
In conclusion, Mussolini secured and increased his power mainly because of the weaknesses of his political opponents. This is because they were often naive enough to give him complete control in situations, such as in the Italian Chamber after the Matteotti crisis. Although there were other reasons that allowed Mussolini to secure and increase his power, none of them were as important as the political weaknesses. This is because violence, Mussolini’s leadership and the increasing support that Fascists received were all linked to the previous reasons, so mainly stemmed from the failures of the Liberals and Socialist before 1922.
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by
Bilal
