To what extent was Mussolini's success the result of liberal weakness?

Question 1

What debate has there been since the 1930s?

Answer 1

One around the rise of fascism

Question 2

What are some of the main ideas behind why fascism was able to rise?

Answer 2

• The weakness and decisions of the liberal government and politicians
• The socialists
• Mussolini’s political skill
• The genuine support fascism could command by October 1922

Question 3

What is Renzo De Felice’s opinion about fascism?

Answer 3

He sees it as something of an aberration, an unfortunate episode separating liberal Italy from the democratic Italy of post 1945

Question 4

Why does his opinion hold alot of weight?

Answer 4

Because he is the most prominent Italian historian on the period

Question 5

What did liberal historian Benedetto Croce say about fascism when writing in the 1930s and 40s?

Answer 5

He was one of the first to describe fascism as a ‘momentary contagion’

Question 6

What is a liberal historian?

Answer 6

One who sympathises with the liberal regime, arguing that Italy, prior to fascism, was maturing into a stable parliamentary democracy

Question 7

What did they see the liberal regime as representing?

Answer 7

Progress and freedom

Question 8

What Croce think was the cause of fascism?

Answer 8

It had nothing to do with the failings of the liberal regime, but was a result of the shock of WWI and the Russian Revolution, with their dire economic and social consequences

Question 9

What did those on the left view Croce’s and liberal views as?

Answer 9

Sentimental nonsense

Question 10

What was fascism the result of for them?

Answer 10

The utter failure of the new Italian state

Question 11

Explain the flaws of the new Italian state

Answer 11

The liberal regime had been foisted upon the Italian people, who made no attempt to represent or involve the masses in political life, and far from upholding political liberties, willingly employed repression against popular protest. Politics was the preserve of a wealthy elite dedicated to personal power and financial gain rather than the public good

Question 12

What was the consensus on the left about the post WWI liberal regime?

Answer 12

That the war had accentuated these problems and the liberal regime was too unstable to carry on

Question 13

Give a historian who was particularly critical of the liberal regime

Answer 13

Antionio Gramsci, a liberal historian writing in the 1930s

Question 14

What does on of M’s most recent biographers say about this view?

Answer 14

He rejects the Marxist view pointing towards the idea that fascism had genuine mass appeal

Question 15

Who was this biographer?

Answer 15

Nicholas Farrell

Question 16

How does he back up this claim?

Answer 16

In Oct 1922 membership stood at 300,000 and a year later at 783,000. He says that Mussolini promised the best chance at resurrection following a difficult period

Question 17

What has been the reaction to this claim amongst historians?

Answer 17

The suggestion that fascism had mass support prior to Oct 1922 is highly controversial and several historians have emphasised other reasons for fascist success

Question 18

What does leading US historian Alexander De Grand argue?

Answer 18

That WWI worsened class conflict and that fascism grew out of the reaction to the rapid rise of socialism

Question 19

What did he think happened after the socialists became the largest party in the chamber after 1919?

Answer 19

The rich and middle classes were terrified

Question 20

What was the consequence of the fact that the liberals had little answer to socialist strikes and land seizures?

Answer 20

Italian conservatives began to look for a more dynamic response that would restore law and order and protect their interests

Question 21

What form did this response take?

Answer 21

Anti socialist fascist violence in the towns and countrysides of northern and central Italy

Question 22

Why does De Grand stress the importance of these violent fascist squads?

Answer 22

Because he thought that they were important in generating new recruits for fascism and in establishing the credibility of the movement

Question 23

Who is the most prominent British writer on modern Italian history?

Answer 23

Dennis Mack Smith

Question 24

Where does he agree with De Grand?

Answer 24

He recognises the importance of the violent squadrismo

Question 25

Where does he differ to De Grand?

Answer 25

By emphasising the key role of M in making political capital out of the disorder they created

Question 26

How did he use Il Popolo d’Italia to do this?

Answer 26

He took every opportunity to exaggerate the socialist threat and to depict the fascists not as violent thugs, but as selfless individuals devoted to creating their vision for Italy, one of peace, stability, social harmony and respect on the international stage. This image proved attractive to some Italians

Question 27

What did his astute political skills lead him to realise?

Answer 27

That the route to power lay through winning conservative support

Question 28

What did this lead him to do?

Answer 28

Abandon the radical political programme of 1919, taking care to appear as moderate when talking to liberals. He avoided committing himself to any clear policy programme and altered his message according to the audience he was addressing

Question 29

Give an example of M tailoring his message depending on the audience

Answer 29

He would speak to fascists about his determination to radically transform Italian society, yet he told liberals his real goal was just to destroy socialism and inject some energy into the Italian political system

Question 30

What was particularly vital in ensuring his appointment as PM?

Answer 30

M’s ability to reassure liberals

Question 31

What arguement from Marxist historians like Gramsci does DMS not accept?

Answer 31

That the rise fascism was the deliberate attempt of the liberals, and their conservative and big business allies, to crush the growing power of the Italian working class

Question 32

What does DMS characterise liberalism as?

Answer 32

Weakness and division

Question 33

How does DMS describe the fall of the liberals?

Answer 33

The arrival of mass democracy meant that they no longer dominated parliament, yet liberal leaders tried to maintain the old style of politics. There was still no coherent political party, just a series of factions based around prominent personalities. The liberal governments of the post war years were, in consequence, particularly unstable coalitions unable and often unwilling to grant reform or direct the forces of state to uphold the law. Governments lost control of events and politics began to take the streets

Question 34

Why were the liberals susceptible to the fascists?

Answer 34

They were unable to form stable coalitions, fearful of the socialist threat and unsure of how to respond to the growing disorder

Question 35

What did they convince themselves about fascism?

Answer 35

That only their presence in government could crush the socialists, revitalise parliament and restore confidence in the regime

Question 36

Why were they not dismayed when M became PM?

Answer 36

Because they naively thought he could be transformed into a normal politician

Question 37

What does Martin Clark argue?

Answer 37

He does not dismiss liberal failings but argues that the liberals should not be judged too harshly and that the fascist rise to power was no at all inevitable

Question 38

What does Martin Clark say about the idea that fascism was not inevitable

Answer 38

If Giolitti had not made fascism respectable with his electoral pact, if the PPI had not opposed a new Giolitti government, if the socialists had not called a general strike, if the King had not been worried by his cousins fascist sympathies all might have been different

Question 39

Why does he think that the liberal idea of absorbing the fascists into government was not foolish?

Answer 39

Because it might have worked, fascism was not inevitable or bound to succeed