The movement was also able to grow due to the support from the rural and industrial elite. These groups also appreciated the weakness of the liberal government and the threat of socialism and so gave money to support the fascist movement – this further persuaded the group to move more to the right of the political spectrum.
However, in a modern western society, it is highly improbable that a simple movement of anti-socialists could come to power. Mussolini realised this, and so he formed the National Fascist Party in an effort to become more respectable, and to hold more official political weight. Furthermore, in September 1922 he announced his support for the monarchy which meant that he was popular not only with the people of Italy but that he gained political support from the King, particularly as the socialists were against the idea of a hereditary monarchy.
An important step in the growth of the Fascist Party, and therefore inevitably in why Mussolini was able to come to power, came from the Italian church. Even today Italy, and the Pope is an extremely significant centre of world religion and Mussolini realised that it would be to his advantage to gain the support of the church. This was achieved easily as the church was highly anti-socialist for the reason that socialism is centred on equality and is therefore against the idea of religion. In fact, such was the scale of anti-socialism within the church that the Pope told Catholics not to vote for the popular catholic party (the PPI), but to support the Fascist party instead in order to keep socialism out of government.
Now that Mussolini had such wide scale support he knew that he would be able to seize power. The Fascists planned the take-over of local governments and a March on Rome. However this was not necessary as on October 29th 1922 King Victor Emmanuel invited Mussolini to form a government. It is interesting to note that the lack of unity within the liberal government finally brought about their downfall, as one of the leading men in the government at the time, Solandra asked the King specifically to offer Mussolini the job as Prime Minister simply because he wanted to prevent one of his liberal colleagues, Giolitti, from becoming it.
In conclusion, Mussolini was able to come to power in 1922 primarily because of his ability to influence people, and if this failed, to intimidate them. He did this by winning support from key areas, such as the church, the monarchy and the economic elite and using this support to crush socialism. However, it is very difficult to begin such dramatic change unless there is a dramatic need for it – and there was. The liberal governments inability to solve the major problems it faced, and maybe even its own mutilation of Italy’s victory in the war meant that Fascism via Mussolini was able to grow on the back of the failure of this government and of the hatred of socialism by highly significant groups of people.
When Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister in 1922 he set out to achieve a Fascist state where he had supreme power. His first concern was to consolidate power and it was from here the Italian state was shaped and changed to suit Mussolini’s agenda and his ideal Fascist State.
Fascism did not have exact aims in its early days when it was being established, and so Mussolini improvised its practices as circumstances arose and changed to suit his convenience. However, the one principle that always stayed with the Fascists, and continued to be an important aspect of their party when in power, was the glorification of the State as expressed by Mussolini through the Government. Mussolini wanted a state where all citizens had complete obedience to him, and all must think and act alike in respect to it. Mussolini wanted real supremacy and would not accept a parliament democracy as the Italian form of Government as this meant people could have different views and aims for Italy.
Mussolini’s ideal Fascist state probably would not have included a Monarchy to which he still had to ‘answer to’, but in practice Mussolini knew he would lose support from too many people if he did. Though the King Victor Emmanuel did not oppose a threat on Mussolini; he was never asked advice and only told what Mussolini wanted him to hear. Luckily for Mussolini the King had always distanced himself from all domestic policy and by the late 1920s it has become apparent the King would not overthrow Mussolini and the Fascists. To secure his position further though, Mussolini limited the King’s right to choose Prime Minister from a list compiled by the Fascist Grand Council.
With Mussolini’s dictatorial position secure as the 1920s progressed, he also revealed a desire to transform Italian society and even the Italian character. Being the dictator of Italy was not enough for Mussolini; he wanted to be the dictator of a state whose economy was capable of serving a war with self sufficiency and with a population of disciplined, warlike citizens.
Mussolini first proceeded to win the support of a majority in the chamber of deputies. To do this he had to win the support of other parties, for Fascist representation in the chamber was only 35. Mussolini chose a cabinet selected from various parties in addition to the Fascists, who made up a majority. He himself was also minister of foreign affairs and minister of the interior; consequently, he gained control over the police and local government. Mussolini now proceeded to consolidate his power. In November he asked for and received by an overwhelming majority from the chamber of deputies what practically amounted to dictatorial powers for a year. First, the offices of government were put under Fascist control by a law giving the government the right to dismiss civil servants on political grounds. Next, parliament was packed by an electoral "reform" bill that provided that the party obtaining the largest vote in a parliamentary election would receive two thirds of all seats. In April 1924 a general election was held in which 7,628,859 votes were cast. About 65 percent were in favor of Fascist candidates, although it was charged by the opposition that this majority had been achieved by violence and intimidation.
Popular control of local government was also gradually abolished. Representatives of the central government, called podestà, were appointed to replace elected officials in all towns and cities. Mussolini took to himself various other powers. He was freed from dependence on parliament and made responsible only to the king; no item might be placed on the agenda of either house of parliament without his consent; he was given permanent control over the country's armed forces. He now, also, had the authority to issue governmental decrees with the force of law.
Political terrorism became an instrument of governmental policy. Newspapers were censored and suppressed, education was controlled, and the freedoms of speech, of the press, and of association were destroyed. A secret police force, Organizzazione Volontaria per la Repressione dell' Antifascismo (OVRA), was organized and procedures were established for dealing with dissident elements. Mussolini or his henchmen also used, especially in the early years, outright illegal methods, of which forcible dosing with large amounts of castor oil and bludgeoning of opponents with rubber truncheons were the more usual. Occasionally, murder of political opponents both at home and abroad was resorted to by some of the more extreme elements, with the knowledge and often with the approval of Fascist leaders.
During 1925 to 1926 Mussolini secured his dictatorship. He had transformed the country into a one party state, could rule by decree, had created his own secret police the OVRA, formed the Fascist Tribunal and enforced press censorship so only pro-Fascist articles were published. Mussolini’s personal rule was enshrined in law, the King was the only person who could take his power away, Mussolini was Duce.
The abduction and murder of the Socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti in June 1924, for which Mussolini assumed full responsibility, did much to shake and ultimately to strengthen the Fascist regime. The deputies of the opposition groups withdrew from parliament in protest, hoping to mobilize public opinion against the Fascists and to force the resignation of the government. However, the king refrained from taking any action, reportedly alleging that he could not move until parliament indicated lack of confidence in the government. This was out of the question since the electoral law of 1924 had given the Fascists a safe majority. Soon afterward all parties except the Fascists were officially disbanded and their representatives were excluded from parliament on the grounds that they had forfeited their seats by withdrawing from parliament. The opposition was thereby deprived of the last public forum for voicing its protest.
While these constitutional changes were taking place, Italian problems, many of them of long standing, were not easily solved by Mussolini. A superficial efficiency was introduced: trains ran on time, streets were clean and freed of beggars, and public officials observed office hours. However, financial problems were pressing. With a budget very greatly out of balance, with a rapidly rising national debt and an inflated national currency, the Italian state was confronted by imminent bankruptcy. The Fascists instituted economies and reforms. Taxes were increased until, in proportion to the national income, they became the heaviest in the world.
Mussolini restructured the Italian economy to increase the influence of the State without destroying capitalism. The economy was therefore organised into the Corporate State. The Charter of Labour set up twenty-two syndicates where membership was compulsory for employers and employees. A Fascist party member controlled each syndicate and strikes were forbidden
Throughout the two decades of his dictatorship, Mussolini's foreign policy was dominated by nationalism and imperialism. In 1923 the Treaty of Lausanne obtained for Italy legal recognition of its possession of the Dodecanese Islands, which had not been evacuated after Italy's war with Turkey over Libya. Later in the year Mussolini sent an ultimatum to Greece demanding satisfaction for the murder of a group of Italians. Although Greece appealed to the League of Nations, Mussolini ignored that body and ordered the bombardment of the island of Corfu. He withdrew his forces only after Greece paid an indemnity. Later he ordered the occupation of Fiume, and in 1926, he all but assumed the protectorate of Albania. Imbued with an implacable desire to emulate his Roman ancestors, he brought Italy into open conflict with France and other powers over his African designs.
By 1926 Mussolini had achieved his ambition of becoming the dictator of Italy. Leading up to 1926 Mussolini unified the squadristi into a national Fascist militia and created the Fascist Grand Council to bring the ras under his control, this was the beginnings of Mussolini’s attempt to create a more disciplined party. His determination to also strengthen the Fascist’s position led to the creation of the Acerbo Law that would give the leading party two thirds of the seats in parliament that Mussolini made sure was the Fascists.