To What Extent Was Fascist Control of Italy The Result Of The Effective Use Of Propaganda?

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To What Extent was Fascist Control of Italy during the Result of the effective use of Propaganda: 1925-43? 

After 1925 Mussolini’s power grew exponentially and as a result he had a firm grasp on his country. Propaganda was imperative to Mussolini’s regime but in terms of the power he held over Italy, nothing was more important than the support of Italy’s Elite.

Propaganda was instrumental in consolidating power for Mussolini; he created several news and radio stations that would do wonders in pumping out pro-Mussolini information. Another company that was created for this purpose was LUCE. The advertising agency was focused towards making videos to put before cinema viewings that document the successes and achievements of Mussolini and his regime.  This became a legal requirement for these documentaries to be shown before a showing and due to the fact cinema was a relatively new to Italy; The Italian people flocked to see it and absorbed a lot of the propaganda messages. Despite the fact that it did have such a big impact, people had their own opinions and propaganda did nothing to change the mind of people who felt anti-Mussolini and so Support from the Elite was clearly the more important of the two as it did not require the opinions of those who had little power to change things

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Support from the Elite was able to be such a driving force behind Mussolini’s regime was due to the fact that due to the authoritarian government, large amounts of the power was in the hands of those who could afford it. For example, in 1929 Mussolini created the Lateran pact which meant that the pope received a private state known as the Vatican City, it was also made a law that all schools needed to provide religious education which gained Mussolini a lot of prestige, especially with the pope and as a result, previously anti-Italy Catholics. Alongside this he ...

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