When Mussolini was Prime minister he was faced with a number of problems. His government contained a mixture of men with different political beliefs, there were only 4 Fascists in the cabinet and he also had only 7% of voters and this had been achieved largely to the use of violence. Mussolini was given emergency powers, for one year to deal with Italy’s problems, which was the Socialist threat. He made some concessions to the church and issued decrees relating to industry and agriculture.
At the time Mussolini became Prime Minister Italy was starting her economic recovery, for which Mussolini took the credit for and also Fiume had just been issued as part of Italy, which he again takes the credit for. So it would have to be said that some of Mussolini’s consolidation of power was due to luck.
In July 1923 parliament (helped by a huge number of blackshirts outside) were persuaded to pass a new electoral law, the Acerbo Law. The old system of election was scrapped and now any party with the majority of votes provided they won at least 25%, would take two thirds of the seats. When it came for Parliament to vote on the Acerbo Law, many politicians agreed to a law that would almost certainly end their political careers if they were not fascist, which makes you question why on earth anyone would do this. The gallery in the hall, in which the politicians voted, was filled with armed fascist thugs who had a good view of anybody who spoke out against the law. The threat was clear and real. If you voted for the law, you would be fine. If you did not, then you were certainly in danger from fascist thugs. Also maybe the Liberals felt they would benefit from the new law as they had always had the overall majority and thought they could manipulate Mussolini. The only party worried by the new law was the Socialists, as they realised they didn’t really have a chance to win many seats in parliament.
In the March election that followed the Acerbo Law, the Fascist Party got 65% of the votes cast and, therefore, easily got the 2/3rds of parliamentary seats, a clear majority. People were intimidated into voting for the Fascists and the Fascists took ballot papers from those who might have voted against Mussolini and were brushed aside, which may explain for the Fascists election results and why less votes were taken in. In this sense, the Acerbo Law was an important move to dictatorship in Italy. Mussolini was also very good at propaganda and he showed the Italian people all the other party’s weaknesses and as a result persuaded and gained support from the Socialists and Liberals.
One incident almost brought Mussolini’s downfall, and his power base almost collapsed after the murder of Matteotti, when great anger gripped Italy. Blackshirt thugs did beat up critics but that did not stop Giacomo Matteotti from publicly condemning Mussolini. Matteotti was murdered by fascists and Mussolini was held responsible for this. It is possible that he did order it although this that cannot be proved. There was overwhelming public outrage at the murder, as Matteotti was Italy’s leading socialist Member of Parliament. Newspapers and wall posters condemned Mussolini and in the summer of 1924 there was a real possibility that Mussolini would have to resign, which maybe why he went into hiding from the public.
Once again the opposition played their cards badly. Opposition deputies (mainly Communist, Socialists, and some Papolari) set up an alternative assembly, Aventine Succession. It was meant to bring down the government and force a general election.
A number of non-fascist politicians walked out of Parliament in protest at the murder. This gesture only served to play into Mussolini’s hands as he was rid of more members of the parliamentary opposition. The protestors named the Aventine protestors appealed to the king, Victor Emmanuel, to dismiss Mussolini but the king pressured by the ras and disliked the protestors more than Mussolini because they lent towards republicanism and he refused to take action. Other sections of the elite also continued to support Mussolini, fearing the alternative. Even the Liberals stood by him, believing that crises gave them an opportunity to increase their influence over the government. With this royal support, Mussolini returned from hiding as felt strong enough to take on his opponents. Any critics of Mussolini were beaten up and newspapers that were not supportive of the Fascists were shut down.
1924 was the year, that was Mussolini's most testing in terms of maintaining his grip on Italy. Mussolini resorted to promising that any violent men in the Fascist Party would be kicked out and he sacked three Fascist ministers from his cabinet. This caused problems in the Fascist movement itself. It appeared as if Mussolini was losing public support and support from within the Fascist Party but in fact he emerged stronger from the crises as the king was more frightened of Socialism, than of Fascisms incompetent opposition tactics.
In 1925 Mussolini set up a committee to reform the constitution. The result was the “Legge Fascistissime”, which banned opposition parties, banned trade unions, strengthened press censorship, set up secret police and set up special courts to try political crimes. Fascist control was increased in each locality by replacing elected mayors with Fascist officials known as podestas. Italy had now become a one party state.
In 1926 Mussolini was granted the power to make laws by issuing decrees. Mussolini had achieved the personal dictatorship, which had been his aim. Parliament became a place of theatre where Fascist supporters would applaud his decisions. Democratic elections no longer took place, as all candidates had to be Fascist or Fascist approved. Mussolini was not prepared to share power with his ministers, which meant there was no cabinet team to discuss policy. Mussolini held all foreign affairs, interior and the armed forces. Also all the other government institutions: e.g. the civil service, local government, the judiciary, all came under Mussolini’s influence.
In 1927, a secret police force was set up called the Opera Voluntaria per la Repressione Antifascista (OVRA) and it was lead by Arturo Bocchini. The death penalty was reintroduced for "serious political offences". By 1940, the OVRA had arrested 4000 suspects but only 10 people from 1927 to 1940 were ever sentenced to death.
In 1928 Mussolini further reduced royal power when the king lost the right to select prime minister. A future prime minister would be chosen from a list drawn by the fascist Grand Council.
Although it cannot be said that it was just violence and terror, which brought Mussolini to power, it was a major factor and ensured that many of the key reforms necessary to (develop Italy as a Fascist state) or (support Mussolini’s rise) could be implemented.
His unorthodox methods were careless, unparliamentarily and may explain the 1924 election results. But many people were frightened of the Fascists and were too scared to speak up against Mussolini, as they feared they could end up like Matteotti. It is clear that Italians felt intimated by the Fascist violence and the secret police. Mussolini's skill played a vital role, but he was also helped by the seemingly blind incompetence of his opponents. The Liberals like Giolitti & Orlando were slow to move into opposition and the left wing was divided between many factions, majority socialists, reformist socialists and communists who all distrusted each other. We must also take into account the fact that Mussolini had his fair share of luck and a prime example is the Kings refusal to declare the army to attack the Fascists on the March on Rome, which would never have put Mussolini in power. However it is also clear that without the violence and terror Italy would not have seen the meteoric rise of Mussolini.