Introduction

Of the fascist states that emerged between the two world wars, Hitler’s Germany was the most notorious. However, Mussolini’s Italy was the first. Benito Mussolini came to power eleven years before Hitler did, and Italian Fascists were active as early as 1919. The term “totalitarian” is even credited to Il Duce¹ himself. In this article we look at how Fascists came to power in Italy. We will also consider their efforts to create an authoritarian, totalitarian² state.

Early success in the Po Valley

Italian fascism emerged in the economic crisis of the 1920s and 1930s. It started with a string of violent clashes in the northern part of Italy beginning in 1920. There, tensions over pay and work conditions had put landowning farmers in conflict with Socialist- backed workers. The Fascists, led by Mussolini, formed a street-fighting group to support the landowners. They were called the Blackshirts. When the government chose not to intervene in this conflict, the Fascists used the fighting to gain power in the region. On November 21, “squads” of Blackshirts launched an attack on the Socialists in Bologna. Six people died. The Fascists soon followed up with assaults throughout the region. After nearly two years of fighting and more than one-hundred deaths, the Fascists had defeated the Socialists. Through violence, they had become what one historian called, “a de facto power in northeastern Italy with which the state had to reckon.”

The fighting in northern Italy had shaped the Fascist movement in four ways:

• The fighting fed the Fascist belief that violence was the true path to manhood.
• The Fascists considered Socialism its main political enemy.
• The Fascists saw that the liberal government was weak and vulnerable to challenge.
• The Fascists learned that violence was an effective political tool.

By 1922, Mussolini and his followers liked their chances of taking over Italy. Fascist squads marched through the provinces beating up socialists, intimidating liberals, and removing agents of the state. They racked up violent wins. Following a series of planned demonstrations known as the “March on Rome,” Mussolini was named Prime Minister by the King of Italy. Everything seemed to be falling into place for a Fascist revolution. They would destroy their political opponents and, under Mussolini’s leadership, create a totalitarian state. Or so they thought.

Fascists in power

The Fascists craved revolution and total power. Instead they found they had to cooperate with other political parties—mostly conservative parties. The Fascist party wanted to crush the existing “liberal” rulers, but Mussolini allowed many officials to continue working for the state. From their government posts, they could slow the Fascist agenda, if they wanted. One-party rule seemed beyond Mussolini’s grasp.

Beginning in 1925, Mussolini tried to strengthen the party and expand its reach. Among his achievements was the creation of organizations designed to make children grow up to be good Fascists. These youth groups fostered a cult of violent masculinity. They expected girls to aspire only to traditional maternal roles. They also promoted the authoritarian belief of blind loyalty to the nation. Such movements were a common feature of interwar fascism. The Hitler Youth in Germany, for example, had much in common with Mussolini’s youth associations. Organized into collective action by the state, young people supplied political energy to Fascism in Italy and elsewhere.

Later in the 1930s, Fascism was strengthened by two developments: Mussolini’s attempts to build an overseas empire and the increasing likelihood of war in Europe. The projection of national power overseas resonated with many Italians. They believed victory on the battlefield abroad would restore the glory of ancient Rome. It would also show the world that Italy was a real player in the “game of empire.” In this way, militarism and imperialism broadened Fascism’s appeal. Furthermore, Mussolini brought discipline to the party and aligned it more uniformly with the aims of the state.

Ultimately, the Fascists were unable to achieve the kind of totalitarian, authoritarian system they had envisioned. Mussolini had been forced to make too many compromises. Conservative and liberal elements within the state blocked many revolutionary goals of Fascism. Only in the arena of empire were the Fascists really able to experiment with totalitarianism.

Ethnic cleansing, race, and conquest

Antisemitism (discrimination against Jews) defined Nazism in Germany; that was not the case with Italian Fascism, at least at first. Certainly, Mussolini and the Fascists saw ethnic minorities as obstacles to the creation of a purely Italian state. However, their solution was “Italianization.” The idea was that non-Italians could become Italian if they assimilated to Italian culture and pledged loyalty to the nation.³ If the state had to accomplish this by force with re-education programs, that was just fine. For Italian Fascism, ethnicity was largely a matter of culture. This idea distinguished it from Nazism’s biological view of race. In Fascist Italy, Slovenians and German-speaking peasants could, in principle, become Italians. In Nazi Germany, Jews could never become Germans.

Still, Fascism in Italy was not without racism, as Mussolini’s 1935 war against Ethiopia revealed. Deep- seated attitudes about racial hierarchy played out during this conflict in East Africa. Advanced, deadly weapons made the fight pretty one-sided. Italians convinced themselves that this firepower made them superior to their Ethiopian victims. After local resistance was crushed, Mussolini’s regime established a tight grip over that region. Italian rule there included segregation, and policies prohibited all interracial relationships. Step-by- step, Ethiopia became a colony governed by a regime without constraints. There were no bureaucrats to rein in the Fascists. Unlike minorities in Italy, Ethiopians were viewed by most Fascists as barbaric “others.” They could never become Italian.

The conquest of Ethiopia prompted Fascists to set harder boundaries between who could be assimilated and who could not. These rules had consequences back in Italy. Their colonial policy in Ethiopia provided the basis for Italy’s antisemitic race laws in 1938. From this year onward, the Fascists moved closer and closer to the Nazi position. Certain groups, especially Jews, now could no longer assimilate. They would have to be removed entirely so the nation could thrive. In this way, imperialist thinking drove Italian policy in more radical and racist directions.

Conclusion

When they seized power, Fascists had hoped to take over the Italian state completely. However, Mussolini’s compromises with conservatives and liberal elites limited this takeover. The result was a state that was authoritarian. However, it never really became totalitarian, at least within Italy itself.

1 Il Duce, meaning “the leader,” was Mussolini’s title as he led the Fascist movement and during his rule.

2 Authoritarian states expect people to strictly obey the government even if it means giving up personal freedom. Totalitarian rule is a more extreme version of this, where all citizens are essentially servants of the state.

3 When someone assimilates, they blend in with someone else’s culture while giving up, or at least hiding, most of their own culture.