Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
October 1922: Italy had a Fascist PM, not a Fascist Government Only 4 of the 14 members of Mussolinis first cabinet were Fascists But Mussolini held key posts: President of Council of Ministers Foreign Minister Minister of the Interior Mussolini received vote of confidence. This gave the impression of conventional government. Parliament was induced to allow the cabinet extraordinary powers for one year whereby the government could create new laws without consulting parliament. Justification: Italy needed the restoration of law and order and a strong government to re-build Italy after the chaos of the post-war years. December 1922: Mussolini created a Grand Council of Fascism which enabled Mussolini to keep under scrutiny all the other prominent Fascists and imposed a hierarchical structure on Fascism with Mussolini at the top. He chose the members of the council. One of the first actions of the Council was to convert the squadristi into a National Militia financed by the State MVSN who swore allegiance not to the King, but to the Duce. Thus a private army was created. The Ras still held a certain amount of sway in their own areas and indulged in sporadic violence which went against the image of respectability that Mussolini was creating in Rome. Mussolini was not opposed to violence itself, but he preferred to employ violence selectively he was concerned to keep alive an ambience of turmoil and intimidation against which he could move to consolidate his power by legal means. Mussolini was no less determined than the Ras to augment Fascist power he chose to preserve a veneer of legality as long as possible (Alan Cassels) Electoral Reform: The Fascists had only 35 seats out of 535 in the Chamber of Deputies. Even after formally amalgamating with the Nationalists in February 1923 they only had 45 seats. Therefore Mussolinis grip on politics through his coalition government was very tenuous. Moreover a rift developed between Mussolini and the Popolari, who were concerned about Fascist brutality in the countryside. Mussolini dismissed the Popolari ministers from his cabinet and they announced that they could no longer support Mussolinis government. But they did not join the opposition. This is evidence of the fragile base on which Mussolini rested his parliamentary coalition this coalition represented the constitutional basis for Fascist rule. Hence the Acerbo Law (named after the deputy who introduced it to Parliament). This law repeated the law of 1919 on proportional representation and stated that the party gaining the most votes in a national election (as long as it was at least a quarter of the total) should automatically be given two thirds of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Justification: To overcome the chronic instability of post-war coalition governments.
Elections were held the following April (1924) and considerable violence was used to intimidate. 65% voted Fascist. Mussolinis parliamentary position was therefore secure, without reliance on the Acerbo system of allocating seats. Thus he stayed within the framework of the constitution. However one consequence of the election campaign was the protests made against the Fascist terror tactics. Giacomo Matteotti made a public protest in the Chamber of Deputies, and on 10th June Matteotti was seized by five leading Fascists. Their ringleader was Dumini. Matteottis body was not found until August, but even before this most people assumed that Mussolini was implicated. Though there is some doubt about Mussolinis exact part, he was in the habit of sending out instructions to make life difficult for specific enemies of the government and a squad had been formed under Dumini with an office in Mussolinis Ministry of the Interior, with the express task of terrorising anti-Fascist spokemen into silence. Matteotti would have been a prime target. However there has been no record of a specific order from Mussolini to kill Matteotti. However there remains the question of his moral guilt. Whatever Mussolinis personal involvement in the murder the consequences for him were potentially extremely damaging. Coming on top of recent election violence and two years after Mussolini had become Prime Minister, it made a mockery of the contention that Fascism would grow milder with the responsibilities of office. (Alan Cassels) There was a sudden upsurge of public revulsion against Fascism and this spurred the Parliamentry opposition into a symbolic demonstration under the leadership of the Liberal Giovanni Amendola. On 27th June, a mixed group of Liberals, Popolari and Socialists withdrew from Parliament in an Aventine Secession. (Named after an incident which occurred in Ancient Rome.) This was largely a gesture and many looked to the King to take positive action against Mussolini. However the King decided to take no action and bide his time. Another rallying point against Fascism was the Catholic Church, but the Pope warned the PPI against joining an anti-Fascist front if it meant co-operation with atheistic socialism. The reluctant attitudes of King and Pope summarised the problem in a nutshell: fearful of who or what might replace Mussolini, the entire Italian power structure was slow to admit that its creature, Fascism, was out of control. And without leadership from within the power structure the anti-Fascist opposition remained fragmented and embryonic. (Cassels)
Mussolini did panic, regardless of the weakness of the opposition against him and to exonerate himself he offered scapegoats for the Matteotti murder:
Rossi (Duminis superior) was made to resign Aldo Finzi (Fascist under-secretary for the Ministry of Interior) was fired. 3. General Bono (Director of Public Security) was fired. Mussolini also introduced Press censorship and banned meetings by opposition political parties. Yet still matters would not settle down. In November Giolitti and Oralndo finally came out in opposition to Mussolinis government. At this point Mussolini was close to resigning, especially as his attempts to appease the constitutionalists created trouble within his own party. The Radical Fascists wanted to use the Matteotti affair as an excuse to smash the opposition, break with legality and the establishment, and inaugurate a radical new order in Italy. The climax came in December when Mussolini allowed Balbo to be forced out of his post as commander in chief of the Militia. Balbo was the hero of the activists. The reaction was particularly bitter among the provincial ras, who were now the Fascist Consuls. December 27th: the Rossi memorandum (which implicated Mussolini in Matteottis murder) was published. This undermined still further Mussolinis standing with the moderates December 31st, Florence. A rally was held at which it was declared that loyalty to the Duce was conditional on his taking dictatorial action. In other words Mussolini must reassert Fascism by a return to force or possibly be deposed. The same day a deputation of 30 Consuls visited Mussolini in Rome to challenge his deference to Liberal sentiment. Finally Mussolini took a stand. 3rd January 1925, Mussolini made a major policy address to the Chamber of Deputies. He accepted responsibility for Fascist violence, and he made no attempt to hide the fact he was about to impose a dictatorship. Mussolini: Italy wants peace and quiet, and calm in which to work. This we shall give her, by love if possible, by force if need be. It was now too late for Mussolini to be stopped. No one could organise effective resistance. During 1925/6 there were four assassination attempts made against Mussolini, but none sprang from a deep-seated opposition movement. (Indeed it could have been a charade staged by the government to justify extending the dictatorship.) By the end of 1926 Mussolinis ministry ceased to be a coalition and became exclusively Fascist. The Deputies who had walked out were declared to have forfeited their seats, opposition political parties were banned, as were free trade unions. Parliament became a rubber stamp and accorded Mussolini virtually limitless powers to rule by decree.
1. 2.
Local elections were stopped and appointees from Rome took over from elected Mayors and Councils. Press censorship was imposed.
By the end of 1926, which Mussolini liked to call h is Napoleonic year, the foundations of the Dictatorship had been securely laid. It has been well said that the Matteotti affair set in motion the conversion of a government into a regime. Cassels
Tasks
What does the Matteotti Crisis tell you about the character of Mussolini? (Think back to the work you did in class using secondary sources) Which was more important in influencing events: The King or The Blackshirts? Are there any parallels with the events of the March on Rome? Why was the Matteotti Crisis significant?