Between 1913 and 1919 the cost of living increased by 400% because of the distorted and weak economy. The described factors led to frustration and despair among the electorate (the majority of whom were not middle class etc). This was reflected in the vote in 1919 in which the PSI won 156 seats in the proportional vote. The PPI was formed in January 1919 with the Pope’s blessing in order to combat the PSI (PSI was a threat the Pope); they won 100 seats in the election. The shift in mass democracy meant that the Liberals were now a minority in the Chamber of Deputies. The PSI had a revolutionary agenda in 1919 and would not cooperate with the Liberals. Therefore, the Liberals had to become dependent on the PPI. This was an awkward and angular union, as the two bedfellows hated one another on account of manifold past disagreements. The inevitable arguments which ensued meant that between June 1919 and October 1922 there were five weak coalition governments in Italy which was just at a time when Italy needed strong leadership to bring them out of the crisis. The weak Liberal governments were an easy target for Mussolini who was an opportunist. He could exploit their faults and weaknesses (lack of legitimacy) and capture the minds of the masses who desperately wanted prosperity and needed some form of collective identity. There was much militancy and aggression at grass roots level in Italy and this became apparent during the Bienno Rosso. The urban and rural workers felt frustrated and alienated by the government. They had fought so hard in the war and were getting no recognition or compensation from their efforts. This led to direct action. There were riots and strikes, and during the summer of 1920 the Union Membership of the CGL grew from 249,000 to 2 million. However, this direct action was accompanied by empty rhetoric from the PSI who declared the dictatorship of the proletariat as its goal. There was no cooperation between the Liberals and the PSI because the PSI had accused the Liberals of involving Italy unnecessarily in the war. The middle classes had a right to be concerned because in 1921 Antonio Gramsci founded the Italian Communist Party and was pro-revolution. Communism was a threat.
The Bienno Rosso alarmed the middle classes and there was now large scale support for a counter-revolutionary force which would fill the gap left by the Liberal regime. The Liberals within their weak coalition governments could not even control general strikes. The Liberals had stayed aloof from the industrial conflicts for fear of offending the left, but this had been perceived as appeasement by the middle classes particularly as security of tenure had been granted to those who had illegally seized land, and Trade Unions had been given more power.
It was this counter-revolutionary reaction which was to give Fascism its mass support.
Fascism had not always been a strong right wing party. It began as a movement of the left which represented unity. Fascism was not a new concept. Various groups since the nineteenth century described themselves as Fascists, regardless of the political complexion of the group. However, in 1919 Mussolini re-branded Fascism as his own right wing movement. This was because of his hunger for power.
In the election of November 1919 Mussolini’s radical left wing party, Fasci di Combattimento, only received 5000 out of 270,000 votes which yielded not one seat. This was the critical moment which opened Mussolini’s eyes, and he took the opportunity. There was no space left for another left wing movement so he shifted drastically to the right to satisfy what the market wanted: a strong right wing party which the Liberals were unable to provide. Here he would start a clever balancing act where he offered the elites the support of the masses, whilst simultaneously retaining the loyalty of his party who wanted revolution. However, all Mussolini wanted was power and glory. In 1912 he had become the editor of the Socialist newspaper Avanti! , he was a committed Socialist who believed in revolution and non-intervention in the First World War. However, not many months later he was finding it difficult to resist the opportunities for extremism action which war offered. He hoped that intervention would encourage social revolution in Italy. He was sacked from the PSI and editor of Avanti! He then founded the Il Populo d’Italia which was a left wing interventionist newspaper. Mussolini also joined Fasci di Actioni Revolutionaria which was founded by a pro-war syndicalist where he was part of a publicised pro-intervention campaign. He was called up in 1915 and returned in 1917 a wounded hero and left wing nationalist. He realised how important war was in uniting people together. His ideas for Fascism had been made from a fusion with nationalism and syndicalism. Both of these factors showed in their proponents the same desire for action and hatred of the Liberal regime. Because Fascism included such a wide range of philosophies it could be interpreted in many different ways and endorsed by many different people. Mussolini’s strong leadership skills and his winning, charismatic personality won people over. He aspired for better things and made Italians feel like Italians. By giving the Italians uniforms and badges he allowed them to show off their national identity and pride in what they had fought for in the war. He also offered a patriotic alternative to the PSI. Meanwhile, at the same time he retained the support of the elites with the Acerbo Law, and he used his easy rhetorical skills to keep the masses on his side.
This shift also attracted the petit bourgeoisie who were the most desperate as they feared the left wing the most and were not loyal to any political party. It was these people who provided the nucleus of the organised fascist gangs who took direct violent action against the Liberals. Fascism became a mass movement with followers. Fascism was rapidly developing into a huge force.
The elites who brought Mussolini to power were not necessarily Fascists. However, he was the only other option which could protect them against the left. The real Fascists were the Blackshirts. Fascism was a symptom of dictatorship and was autocratically enacted. It did not stand for the mass democracy which had been a goal of the Liberal Government. When Mussolini introduced the Acerbo Law in July 1923 it gave the elites the Fascist security they wanted. It meant that Italy would become one constituency with one main party. This delivered the strong stable government which the elites wanted without threat from the subversive left wing. It also pleased the real fascists and there was now a chance of a real dictatorship. The Elites brought Mussolini into power because they had no other alternative. To boot, Mussolini got away with the major political scandal in which Matteotti (leader of the PSU and critic of the Fascists) was brutally murdered. In June later that year the opposition walked out of the Chamber in protest as the Aventine Succession. The King ignored this and refused to read the Rossi Memorandum which publicly declared that Mussolini was implicated in the murder. This was because he, the King, did not want to accept the truth. Circumstances would seem to point to the fact that Mussolini had been involved in the murder, and the King knew this. However, the King’s reluctant inertia seemed inevitable; he had brought Mussolini to power in the first place and the latter’s March on Rome succeeded because the King realised that Mussolini was the only effective bulwark to the left wing. Mussolini proved this in August 1922 when there was a General Strike. The weak coalition government did not crush it. Mussolini did.
Fascism relied on the weakness of its opposition but it also aimed at something better: a unified and centralized Italy. Mussolini came to power because the elites were scared of the future with mass democracy. Mussolini’s Acerbo Law secured his place as Italy’s Prime Minister and dictator.
