Electoral reform Flashcards
What did Mussolini intend for his changes to do?
Make the fascists the biggest party in parliament
What was the acerbo law?
A proposition that the winning political party in a general election (provided it polled at at least a quarter of the votes cast) should get two thirds of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies
How did Mussolini defend the radical acerbo law?
He said that it would produce a government that could rely on a strong majority of MPs which could then deal with Italy’s problems decisively
What did Mussolini think the acerbo law would eliminate?
Coalition governments where the different parties in government could not agree on what to do
What did Mussolini think coalition governments had done?
Plagued liberal Italy and helped bring the country to its needs
What did Mussolini reject to point out would happen if the policy became law?
That the fascists and their supporters would be the ones with a large majority of MPs, making it virtually impossible to vote them out of power
Why would fixing elections have been an easy endeavour for Mussolini?
- The fascist squads would smash up the offices of hostile newspapers and physically prevent opposition voters from reaching polling booths at Mussolini’s command
- As minister of the interior, he could force the police to stand down in the face of fascist violence
- He had promoted fascist sympathisers to important positions in local government
What was the result when the acerbo law was debated in parliament in July 1923?
It secured an overwhelming majority
Make the case that the deputies were coerced into passing the acerbo law
Blackshirts roamed the chamber during the debate, which would have undoubtedly intimidated MPs
Make the case that the deputies genuinely supported the acerbo law
- Many genuinely approved of the repressive measures taken by the government against what they saw as the dangerous, revolutionary left
- Others were prepared to turn a blind eye to the beating and arrest of the socialists
- Other MPs welcomed the end of the impotent coalition governments that Italy had experienced since the end of the war
What was the most important factor in Mussolini gaining the support of liberal MPs?
They continued to believe that Mussolini and his fascists were not an enemy to parliamentary government and that normality would be returned as soon as circumstances permitted
What did Mussolini repeatedly reassure the chamber of?
That he had no intentions to dispense of parliament
Name the two prominent liberals who pledged their support for the reform
Giolitti and Salandra
What made Mussolini seem like he was out of good faith?
- He was head of a coalition government
- He was willing to discuss an electoral alliance with the conservatives
When was the acerbo law put into practise?
April 1924
