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Repression Under Mussolini (General (Morgan ("Repressiveness was not…
Repression Under Mussolini
General
best estimate - approximately 400 people killed under the Fascist regime
Fascist violence most prominent between 1920 and 1925
Morgan
"Repressiveness was not the most distinctive feature of the Fascist totalitarian system, but it was an essential and inescapable component of it"
Policing increasingly became involved in information gathering
Overall, Mussolini had an array of both legal and repressive institutions which supported his power
perhaps one could value his popular policies and his propaganda as more significant in his consolidation of power
Special Tribunal
applied summary justice (immediate judgements without trial) outside normal court system
21,000 people were tried 1926-43
many for trivial political crimes
3/4 acquitted
1927-39: 3,596 sentences were passed
totalling 19,309 years
the average sentence was therefore, around 5 years
Censorship
anti-Fascist propaganda was viewed as treason
journalist had to be registered with the government
critics were not given the right to be a journalists
newspapers hostile to the government were shut down
OVRA (Secret Police)
opened independently of the regular police authorities
20,000 actions weekly
hundreds of arrests and detentions per week
vast network of informants and agents
Morgan
"police harassment and surveillance became habitual and continuous, affecting even the most mundane areas of daily life, especially in working-class districts"
Exiles
many opponents forced into exile
some killed there by Fascist agents
usually internal exile (within Italy)
Deaths
about 400 people killed by the state for political reasons
1922-40: 9 political executions
1940-43: 17 political executions
MVSN (Militia) and Squads
50,000 armed militia - intimidated opponents
Squadrisit violence was severely reduced after 1925
but Fascists were still able to beat up and threaten selected victims, and destroy property
Political Prisoners
1922-43: about 5,000 imprisoned
about 10,000 in confino (internal exile)
many on islands, especially Lipari and Lampedusa
Controls
internal migration had to be approved