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Fascist Italy > The rise of fascism 1919-21 > Flashcards

The rise of fascism 1919-21 Flashcards

1
Q

What was the one upside of the 1919 elections for M?

A

They caused difficulties for the liberal government

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2
Q

How was the 1919 election bad for the liberals?

A

The liberals and their allies could only muster 180 of the 508 seats and they still lacked cohesion and party discipline. The chamber now contained a revolutionary socialist party holding 156 seats and the Catholic Popular Party (PPI) had 100. Nitti’s liberal government relied on support from catholic deputies to maintain a fragile majority

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3
Q

Why was it so bad that the liberals could no longer maintain a strong majority in the chamber?

A

Because it had been designed to protect and promote liberalism

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4
Q

What was the PPI most commonly known as?

A

The popolari

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5
Q

When was it founded?

A

Jan 1919

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6
Q

Why was it allowed to form?

A

Because the pope lifted his ban on the formation of a catholic party

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7
Q

Who was the party led by?

A

The Sicilian Priest Don Sturzo

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8
Q

Why was the party mixed?

A

Because it contained conservative catholics and catholic determined to improve the life of the peasantry

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9
Q

What was the consequence of the party being this uneasy coalition?

A

They found it easier to agree upon the things they opposed than the things they agreed on

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10
Q

What role did it play due to the fact that it was reluctant to play a major role in government?

A

They were prepared to give their support to the liberal governments in return for policy concessions

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11
Q

Why did they remain suspicious towards the liberals despite this?

A

Because they did not forget their disputes with the pope during the unification process

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12
Q

Which fascist action discredited Nitti’s liberal government?

A

The seizure of Fiume

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13
Q

Why was Nitti disliked by both the left and the right?

A

Because he would not grant major reform or crush protest

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14
Q

Why did Nitti have to resign in June 1920?

A

Popolari support waned and he was unable to maintain control of his weak majority

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15
Q

Who was he replaced by?

A

Giolitti

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16
Q

How did he try and learn form where Nitti had failed?

A

He attempted to appeal to both the left and right

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17
Q

How did he appeal to the left?

A

He spoke of workers’ entitlement

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18
Q

How did he appeal to the right?

A

He planned to reduce food subsidies that benefitted the poor

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19
Q

Who joined his coalition?

A

Liberals, popolari and even a few socialists

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20
Q

Why should we not be misled by the fact that some socialists joined his coalition?

A

The majority of them were incredibly hostile

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21
Q

Why was it slightly awkward that he was anti clerical?

A

Because he had to rely on catholic support in the chamber to prop up his government

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22
Q

What weakened the Giolitti government further?

A

Events outside parliament

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23
Q

What happened in Sep 1920?

A

Engineering workers, engaged in a dispute over wages, occupied the factories to prevent employers locking them out

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24
Q

Give a statistic to show the extent of the unrest here?

A

Within days, 400,000 workers from the northern cities were involved

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25
Q

What did employers demand the government do?

A

Intervene to crush the occupation

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26
Q

What did Giolitti do?

A

Adopted his pre-war policy of neutrality and stood aloof

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27
Q

Why did he do this?

A

He thought that the use of force would lead to a bloodbath, and believed that the occupation would soon collapse of its own accord

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28
Q

Why did Giolitti enrage industrialsits even more with his response?

A

Because he even urged them to make concessions to the strikers

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29
Q

What made conservatives fear that revolution was at hand here?

A

A number of factories were being used to produce weapons for the strikers

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30
Q

Why was Giolitti’s reputation damaged even though his prediction came true and the disorganised occupation collapsed after 1 month?

A

They saw the government as having failed to do its duty and employers and conservatives did not forgive him for what they saw as complacency and cowardice

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31
Q

What were landowners complaining about in the countryside?

A

The socialist threat

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32
Q

What had led to this idea?

A

Agricultural strikes and land occupations were continuing to increase

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33
Q

What was happening in Emilia Romagna, the Po Valley, Umbria and Tuscany?

A

Socialist TUs were expanding and , with close to one million members, were beginning to establish a stranglehold over agricultural employment

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34
Q

What was happening in Emilia?

A

The unions demanded higher wages for agricultural workers and guarantees that they would not be laid off during quiet times in the year

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35
Q

Describe how much of a stranglehold the socialists had in Ferrara and Bologna

A

The only way an agricultural labourer could gain employment was by going through a job centre run by the Socialist Labourers’ Union

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36
Q

What would happen if landowners resisted TU demands?

A

Their estates would face disruption and farm managers might be subject to physical attack

37
Q

In what political forum did the socialists show their power?

A

Local elections in 1920

38
Q

How many of the county’s provinces were they in control of?

A

29/69

39
Q

Where were these mainly located?

A

Northern and central Italy

40
Q

Why was the party particularly strong in Emilia?

A

It controlled 80% of the local councils

41
Q

Why did the urban middle classes fear the socialists?

A

Because they thought that they would raise taxes on the better off

42
Q

Why were shopkeepers concerned?

A

They were scared about potential competition from socialists sponsored cooperative shops

43
Q

What were these cooperative shops designed to do?

A

Offer cheaper prices to customers and allow the shopkeepers a say in the running of the business and a share of the profits

44
Q

What did landowners and conservatives see themselves as?

A

An embattled class

45
Q

Why did they think this?

A

Their political enemies and social inferiors seemed to be in the ascendency and they thought they had been abandoned by the government

46
Q

What intensified this feeling of abandonment?

A

The government’s decision to allow agricultural labourers to keep land they had unjustly seized

47
Q

What had the properties classes in northern and central Italy begun to do by the end of 1920?

A

Fight back

48
Q

Why did they see violence as justifiable in this fight?

A

Because they thought they were facing potential revolution

49
Q

Why did frightened landowners and middle class townsfolk begin to turn to the fascists?

A

Because the fascists shared their hatred for socialism and needed no encouragement to attack them

50
Q

Where did landowners and the middle classes begin turning to fascism in particular?

A

Emilia and Tuscany

51
Q

Describe how Nov 1920 saw one of the first proper instances of fascist violence

A

The inauguration of the new socialist council in Bologna turned into riot

52
Q

Describe the main limitation of the fascist squads at this time?

A

They were small and lacked any coherent ideology

53
Q

What did this not prevent them from doing?

A

Burning down socialist offices and beating up trade unionists

54
Q

What punishment became a trademark for these fascist thugs?

A

Forcing their enemies to drink litres of potentially lethal castor oil

55
Q

Describe the scale of fascist violence between the winter of 1920 and the spring of 1921?

A

They destroyed over 80 TU offices killing 200 and wounding 800

56
Q

What had Emilia and Tuscany become by the spring?

A

Strongholds of the fascist squads

57
Q

What did this mean the squads could do?

A

Order the police to look the other way while they attacked the socialists

58
Q

What is the official name for these fascist squads?

A

Squadrismo

59
Q

Who comprised the squads in the early days?

A

Mainly middle class students and demobilised soldiers, usually ex army officers and more junior ranks, like sargeants and corporals

60
Q

What happened to these groups as they proved their ability to intimidate the socialists?

A

They began to attract new followers

61
Q

Who made up these new recruits?

A

Small farmers, farm managers and sharecroppers, who, although far from rich, were far better off than the peasantry

62
Q

What were they likely to be ambitious and anxious to do?

A

Buy their own land

63
Q

What kind of socialist talk angered them?

A

Higher wages and collectivisation

64
Q

How many active supporters did the fascist party have by the end of 1921?

A

Probably a little over 200,000

65
Q

How many of these were ex servicemen?

A

Around half

66
Q

Who made up the other half?

A

Landowners, shopkeepers, clerical workers and even teachers

67
Q
A
68
Q

How was their a distinction between the working class squad members and the leadership?

A

Because the leadership was overwhelmingly middle class

69
Q

Give a statistic to show that fascism appealed to the young

A

Almost 10% of members were students and 25% were below voting age

70
Q

Why did the older generation begin to support fascism?

A

After previously supporting the conservative wing of liberalism they now despaired of the seemingly ineffectual parliamentary system and saw fascism as a way of securing the disciplined state they longed for

71
Q

Why would it be wrong to say that the movement was hijacked by conservatives

A

The fascist leaders in the provinces still saw themselves as leading a revolutionary movement that would overthrow the state by coup d’etat

72
Q

List some of the key figures who remained committed to violent squadrismo

A

Roberto Farinacci, Italo Balbo and Dino Grandi

73
Q

What did local ras like Balbo and Grandi do?

A

Built up their own power base

74
Q

Why is it unfair to attribute the rise of fascism to Mussolini?

A

Because he did not guide the fascist violence of the squadrismo but pragmatically jumped on the back of it

75
Q

How did he strive to put himself at the forefront of the squadrismo?

A

He wanted to reassert his claim as the sole and undisputed leader of the movement

76
Q

Why was M successful in doing this even though the ras were reluctant to give up their independence?

A

Because he convinced even the most ambitious of them that their success depended upon his leadership

77
Q

How did M justify this claim?

A
  • Dominant personality in the movement
  • He could use his newspaper to publicise fascism and depict fascism as a necessary measure to save Italy from socialism, rather than simple thuggery
  • Fascism needed his leadership to be a coherent movement as otherwise the various factions would fall out with each other
  • With him as central leader, fascism could be presented as a national movement with a vision for a new Italy
78
Q

What would M present the squadrismo as?

A

An anti socialist crusade

79
Q

Who did the fascists cooperate with in the 1921 GE?

A

The Giolittian liberals

80
Q

What did the squads continue to do despite this air of respectability?

A

They continued their work, killing about 100 socialist sympathisers during the election campaign

81
Q

Why did the police turn a blind eye?

A

They didn’t like socialists

82
Q

What did the election results show about fascist violence?

A

That it did not deter voters

83
Q

How did the socialists do?

A

They won 123 seats, remaining the largest party in the chamber

84
Q

How did the PPI do?

A

They won 107 seats

85
Q

Why was Giolitti disappointed?

A

Because the socialist vote had held up

86
Q

Why was M pleased?

A

Because of the progress his party had made

87
Q

Describe this progress

A

They had won 7% of the total votes, 35 seats and M was a deputy

88
Q
A

Fascist Italy (94 decks)

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