How and why did Mussolini set up a dictatorial regime in 1922-1927?

When Mussolini became Prime Minister on the 30th October, he became head of a coalition government with only four Fascists in a Cabinet of thirteen with only thirty-five Fascist MPs in the Chamber of Deputies, so they didn’t have the majority of seats in the parliament, more like the minority. Thus, Mussolini was not expected to say in government long, as previous Italian government, hadn’t lasted long, as on average they had only lasted for less than two years, this was a tall order, as Mussolini’s coalition government, faced the same problems as those before him had failed to solve, and fascism had only won the support of seven per cent of voters, which was going to make it harder for Mussolini to stay in power.

His voters were divided between moderates and radicals, so he needed to achieve a balance between the two, to keep both the radicals and moderates on his side, so to win support Mussolini has deliberately made his policies vague, as to win support from the majority, there to enable him to convince different groups he would solve their problems. The king, military, industrialists and landowners as well as many deputies saw Mussolini as a strong man, who lead them to the left, whereas his party the Fascist Party, was full of radials like the Ras for instance, how wanted to go to the right.

Mussolini, soon realised that he would have to appease both the Squadristi and the elite, the first thing he did was allow the squads to a March on Rome on the 31st October 1922, which the radicals had wanted. However, Mussolini’s first cabinet only consisted of four fascists out of thirteen. So, Mussolini appointed a general and admiral that what appease and reassure the military, after the mutilated victory, their felt that received after the First World War, as well as reassure the armed forces that they were not to be replaced by Fascist militia.

In addition, Mussolini appointed himself two more posts, on top of being the Prime Minster, these posts were included Foreign Minister and Minister of the Interior Law & Order and he handed a number of important posts related to law and order to fellow Fascists (eg. General De Bono as Chief of Police ) Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of the Interior Law & Order. The responsibility of the radical fascist’s was Bianchi, who was the Secretary of the Fascist Party; he also put some of the other fascists within the party, in some of the top jobs.

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So, Mussolini appointed himself thus increasing the Fascist character of the new government. Mussolini wisely, appointed a general and an admiral to the two service ministries to reassure the armed forces that they were not to be replaced by Fascist militia. In December of 1922, Mussolini established the Fascist Grand Council: although it had no legal status, it was to gradually take over the functions of the cabinet in the years to come. The nest few years showed that Mussolini, like Hitler was an opportunist, and a lucky one at that, and by 1925, he was a dictator of Italy.

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On the 16th November, Mussolini faced his first, chamber of deputies, where he intimidated them by announcing that he could have closed form the parliament with the backing of HIS squads, however he preferred to rule with their co-operation. The Chamber and the Senate responded with a huge vote of confidence. This gave Mussolini governmental emergency powers for the next twelve months. Most believed that he was acting constitutionally and that his power would be directed against the left. Furthermore, PSI (Socialist Party) voted against Mussolini, however many people were happy in that it seemed that Mussolini was set on destroying liberal-bourgeois institutions.

Furthermore, on Mussolini’s first address to Parliament, he wanted to subtly intimidate future opponents by highlighting that he could have used his squads (Squadristi) to close Parliament, however added that he would prefer to rule with their cooperation. Following this Mussolini won, by a large majority, from both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate a vote of confidence in the new government as well as granting it emergency powers for a year. Most convinced themselves, that he was acting constitutionally and that his power would be used to restore order and to counter the threat of the extreme left.

In spite of progress made by the Fascist Party, it was still in a minority in Parliament in the summer of 1923. However The Acerbo Law of July 1923 wanted to address this by insisting that the party with the largest number of votes (minimum. 25%) would be allocated two thirds of the seats in the Chamber, and this bill was passed. In the next election in April 1924, there was a wave of Fascist violence and the seizure of 66% of the votes by the Fascists and their allies, with fascist being allowed to vote more than once.

Nevertheless, what followed was a wave of attacks by the Fascist squadristi against anyone they regarded as opponents, whether they were home or abroad. Some attacks included the forcing these opponents to drink castor oil, which was sometimes mixed with petrol. During these attacks three opposition deputies were killed and over fifty attacked. Violence like this was both to intimidate as well as disorientate political opponents. All that was carried out with Mussolini’s consent and he didn’t mind that the left was intimidated, further.

Despite the Fascist violence helping Mussolini to crush potential opponents, it alarmed his conservative supporters, and it threatened to develop into a Fascist revolution which might grow beyond Mussolini’s control. So, in January 1923, Mussolini decided to consolidate the squads into a ‘Fascist Militia’ that was paid by the state and answerable to him and him alone. On some level, this helped to centralise control and reduce the independence of the ‘ras’, on the other hand it provided a private army that was a visible sign of Fascist power.

The Matteotti Crisis was a crisis that nearly cost Mussolini, his job as Prime Minister, and was a major turning point for him. Giacomo Matteotti was the leader of the Socialist Unity Party (PSU) and openly criticised the violence and intimidation of the 1924 election through a speech to the Chamber of Deputies, and declared its election result fraudulent, and called for an annulment of the election results. Eleven days later Matteotti was bundled into a car, with his body found two months later in a shallow grave just outside Rome. The murder of Matteotti was clearly linked to high ranking members of the government, thus to Mussolini himself, this nearly caused his downfall, and forced him to more quickly to consolidate his power into a dictatorship. Despite, Mussolini having an immense amount of power, he could still be forced to resign by the King, how had appointed him Prime Minister.

Mussolini could have been voted out of power, fortunately the decision of opposition parties to boycott Parliament in the ‘Aventine Secession’, helped Mussolini, as there was nobody there to oppose him. The king, pope and other members of the establishment also hesitated to bring down Mussolini, in the hope that the crisis would tone down Mussolini and force him to curb the excess violent of his followers, with some still regarding socialism as the greater threat. On the other hand, the fascist ‘ras’, were angered by Mussolini’s concessions, and called for a full fascist revolution.

The weak response from the opposition to the assassination of Giacomo Matteotti was the Aventine Succession. This was then major of opposition deputies walked out of parliament. It was named the Aventine Succession, after the group of ancient Roman politicians who set up a rival assembly on the Aventine Hills above Rome, therefore reflecting back on the glory days, when Italy, had been a great empire, which is ironically what Mussolini had promised.

The Matteotti Crisis could of resulted in a fascist revolution, but didn’t, it also could of led to an overthrew in which could of sparked off either a civil war, a liberal government, an heightened socialist threat, or an authoritarian rule. However, the Matteotti Crisis instead, led directly to Mussolini taking steps to secure his personal dictatorship.

From January 1925, Mussolini moved quickly towards the establishment of a Fascist Dictatorship through a number of measures which included an increased censorship of the press, the legalisation of arbitrary arrest, and the banning of other political parties, the creation of a secret police force called the O.V.R.A., and various other measures designed to eliminate any opposition. Despite, several assassination attempts on Mussolini, gave him an excuse for emergency measures. On a local level, Fascist ‘podestas’ replaced elected mayors and in December 1925 a law was passed that made Mussolini answerable only to the king and not to Parliament. Although the Fascist Dictatorship was not complete at the end of 1925, any appearance of democracy had effectively disappeared.

Through Mussolini’s personal dictatorship, there was an end to a loyal democracy, the setting up of a single party start, a weak government in which Mussolini made, passed and had the final say on everything. There was the starting up of censorship and the secret police called the OVRA. One way, Mussolini consolidated his power was to please both the radicals and the moderates, he allows the radicals to have their Fascists squads a victory March on Rome, he also strengthens the prefects, and replaces all top officials with Fascists as well as giving the Fascist the top jobs within the state, and establishing state control of industry.

He appeased the moderates, by altering the electoral system, getting the parliament to grant emergency powers, allowing other politicians, and using the state on hostile parties, he appeases the church as well as the king, and incorporates many squads into a new state militia. All this helped him to win support, and stay in power, however he could still be dismissed by the King, which he was expecting after the Matteotti Crisis, however the king listened to the elite, who thought he was the person how could really change Italy for the best. After this, Mussolini took steps to ensure he kept his power, and took steps towards a dictatorship, this was made easier by the Aventine Succession, in which when he proposed a dictatorship, there was nobody to oppose him, as all his opponents had walked out via the Aventine Succession, who knows if his opposition hadn’t walked out, whether he would of still become a dictator. However Mussolini became dictator of Italy.

Jordanne Cummings Page of