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Mussolini and the Fascist political system - Coggle Diagram
Mussolini and the Fascist political system
Different aims over time
: 1) Consolidate his regime (1922-24), 2) create a dictatorship (1925-27), 3) Development of corporate state (1925-29), 4) Radicalisation and decline (1936-45).
Personal dictatorship
He had achieved aim of becoming dictator: achieved no political opponents and complete control over parliament. He wanted his own personal dictatorship, and encouraged a cult of personality, and how he was the only one to rule italy. Attempted to consolidate his power by working with powerful groups, such as church, industrialists and army.
Party now disappointed many fascist revolutionaries.
without mussolini gov would collapse and so would regime. He wanted praise.
Propaganda and cult of personality
Determined to use propaganda to build up regime. In 1926, press cencorship began and journalists made aware they would be arrested if they published anything against the regime. Mussolini's press office released 'official' events which newspapers were expected to publish without question.
Radio and cinema
: Minsitry of popular culture set up in 1937. Regime tried to build up Italy's film industry, establishing a modern, well financed production centre (cinecettia). Tried to exploit radio: numbers raised from 40,000 in 1927 to 1 million 1938.
However
: Minculpop a sarcastic name, film propaganda not exploited until 1930s, italian films outnumbered by foreign exports.
Posters and school books
: posters colourful and easily accessible, and glorified all aspects of fascist regime. Aimed at youth.
Rallies and mass activities
: military parades and sporting activities put emphasis on order, togetherness and discipline.
Newspapers
: strict controls over press. money poured into fascist papers, such as Il popolo d'Italia. Journalists had to be registered by state.
Cult of personality
: Media played part in this. Portrayed as Italy's saviour and shown as new Caesar. Presnted as hard working (20+ hours a day of work; lie) and infalliable. Athletic and courageous; image of youthfulness, man of culture.
In reality, he thought little of the public and believed they liked to be told what to do, and propaganda would keep their support.
Fascism linked itself to ancient rome, with mussolini as emperor. Some fascist architecture echoed ancient rome, and foreign policy linked with italys fate to be a great empire in the eyes of the regime.
Mussolini and government
Role of king
: King in awe of mussolini and M took advantage of this and detered monarchy from political involvement. M still followed protocol and visited king twice a week, but King never asked for his advice and only told M what he wanted to hear, and accepted his decisions.
Role of government ministers
: Role of ministers to follow M's orders. M helped minsitries for foreign affairs, interior and armed services.
Role of Parliament
: Duce had little regard for parliament: by 1926 it lost its ability to disagree with policies, and was dominated by fascists due to banning of opposition groups. Elections and electorate reduced and in 1939 it was abolished all together and replaced with Chamber of Fasces and corporations.
Gaining support of civil service
: M wanted to avoid a crisis by sacking and replacing with fascists. He instead relied on patronage to reward loyalty and by introduction policies conservatives (who were prominent in state institutions) could get behind. No fascist revolution in gov, and civil states and they only complied to get promotions.
Gaining support of armed forces
: M emphasised they shared common goal in expanding armed forces and aggressive f.p. He promoted senior generals to prestigious post of field marshal. ambitious officers learned that a pro-fascist attitude would enhance prospects.
Controlling the judges
: conducted a purge of judges he deemed insufficiently sympathetic towards fascism. imprisonment w/o trial became commonplace and mussolini intervened to dictate verdicts and sentences.
Controlling local government
: local self gov abolished and elected mayors and town councils replaced by official appointments. M's methods expanded his powers throughout Italy
Gaining support from powerful groups in italian society
: wooed vatican before becoming PM by emphasising they had nothing to fear. Also pointed out they faced common enemies in socialism and liberalism. Lateran pacts healed relationship. Followed good relations with industrialists: Vidoni pacts (1925) banned socialist and catholic trade unions and in the following year strikes were outlawed.
Mussolini and the fascist party
His aims for this relationship changed over time, but they were always to serve him. He always stressed importance of discipline and central control but this wasn't always easy: ras sometimes reluctant to follow central orders.
Mussolini as PM
: creation of militia helped fascist squads become state paid. grand council as supreme decision maker helped further strenghten mussolinis position as he appointed all members. with the problem of the ras, he demanded in june 1925 that the party end all internal arguments and obey orders from their leader. By the end of 1928, he had done a further purge of suspected disloyal fascists, and established all party posts were from his appointments.
Divisions within the fascist party
: without M, party was a group of broad, uneasy coalitions: M held them together. these factions realised they needed his support and interest.
Preventing the emergence of rivals
: men who occupied senior posts were there not for skill but for loyalty and flattery.By late 1930s, party consisted mostly of white collar state employees. his promotion of second rate individuals shows his concern to prevent potential rivals. Men of drive and ambition found themselves moved from power, e.g, Balbo moved to Libya.
Relations between party and state
Duce hoped the party would transform ordinary italians into disciplined, obedient fascists, specifically through propaganda, education and lesiure time. as a result there were tensions between party organisations and gov departments, e.g ONB v minsitry of education
In armed forces there was conflict between militia and regular army: both sides looked to mussolini to give them support; gave him great power.
Effectiveness of fascist government
: disputes made gov slow and inefficient. below mussolini there was a lot of confusion
Causes of tension
: role of party not clearly defined by mussolini, party responsibilities subject to change by M, ambitions of ras to increase power.
Examples of tension
: arguments between ONB and minsitry of education over control of fascist youth movements.
Arguments between party and ministry of national economy over control of dopolavoro.
arguments between militia and army over allocation of new weapons.
arguments between local secretatoes and prefects (appointed by ministry of interior) over control of local gov.
Popular support and opposition
M's control of party made opposition difficult and dangerous. By 1926: 2000 murdered opponents, ban on political opponents, OVRA spied on rebellers. rebels also pursued abroad: in 1937 2 prominent anti fascists (Roselli brothers) killed in france.
Anti-Fascist opposition
: repression of opponents became more systematic after 1926 after a sudden rush of assassination attempts
most opposition was supressed due to his one-party state dictatorship and harsh measures. any opposition that existed was disorganised and ineffective: only a small number of anti-fascist organizations existed.
Communists
tried to maintain an underground party: published their own newspaper (L'Unita) and distributed anti-fascist propaganda. Founder of l'unita (antonio gramsci) sentenced to 20 years in 1927 and died due to ill health in 1937.
Justice and liberty
founded by a fascist prison escapee who wanted to create an alliance between socialists and liberals opposed to the regime. they kept the international press informed about regime and smuggled leaflets to its supporters in the country. sent 30,000 troops to join anti fascist crusade in spain. little active supporters (same as communists).
Problems with opposition was that they squabbled amongst each other and failed to form a unified front against fascism
Battle against Mafia
: M made many attempts to overcome backwardness of south, including dominance of sicilian mafia. in 1925 he launched the battle against the mafia.
a tough ex-police, Cesare Mori, was given tax of purging mafia from sicilian fascist party. expelled 100s of fascists.M didnt totally eliminate mafia because courts couldnt be relied upon to back up moris arrests. in 1929 the battle declared as won.
he had pretty good success compared to govs before and after him
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Encouragement cooperation with fascism
lack of opposition in italy shows regimes repressive tactics but also mussolinis ability to manipulate his subjects: conformity was easiest.
journalists and intellectuals were encouraged to join system. loyal journalists would receive extra pay in form of grants: similar things offered to academics and intellectuals e.g. inventor of radio (marconi) made a marquis. duce used fascist academy to offer good jobs and high pay to leading professors.
teachers had to join a fascist teachers association to keep their jobs, same as musicians. party membership became increasingly important to seek work or promotion in public sector.
Impact of propaganda on fascist support
: propaganda expressed genius of mussolini and supposed achievements of fascism. fascist ideology was complex and contradictory, and therefore was adapted to suit different audiences at different times. fascist aims changed from importance of revolution to importance of power. it is uncertain how many people actually believed the propaganda, but it appears M was very popular.
Concentration camps
: camps set up in remote inhospitable islands such as lipari, but no where near on nazi scale: probably held less than 5000 prisoners. further 12,000 political dissidents sentenced to confino, a period of house arrest in isolated southern villages.