Fascism Essay -- essays research papers

On the 23 March 1919 after a series of Communist demonstrations, the almost forgotten Mussolini decided to attempt to freshen up his Fasci movement. A meeting was held in a hall in a Milan and was attended by some fifty malcontents. From this seemingly small and unnoticeable event the Fascio di Combat eonnto (Combat Group) was born. Initially, it would seem that the Fasci were destined for failure with none of their candidates (including Mussolini) winning a single seat in the 1919 elections. How was it that a party with no dismiss programme, save a belief in action of some sort, became a ruling dictatorship little more than ten years posterior? By the end of 1919, Mussolini possessed hardly more than 2% of the ballot in Milan, less than 5000 votes against 170,000 for the collectivizeds. Was this a complete disaster? At the time it seemed so the collectivists were so confident of their success that they staged a fling funeral in Milan stopping outside Mussolinis house to invi te him to attend the burying of his party. Incredibly, by 1921 the membership of this previously tiny group was to rival the surface of the Socialists. How was thisachieved? It was certainly by no easy means Mussolinis skill and slew played a vital use of goods and services, but he was also helped by the seemingly blind incompetence of his opponents. Mussolinis path towards the top of Italian governance was hindered by many forms of opposition. However, most of his opposition came from the Government and the rival Socialist (PSI) party. Soon after the summer of 1920 the Fascists and their opposition inevitably clashed. The fact that Giolettis political sympathies was faced with million workers sitting in in factories showed that Italy was a off the beaten track(predicate) from stable country in 1920. Did an opportunity present itself for Mussolini to gain intellect over the Socialist opposition? If it did, Mussolini certainly did not take it. He was still recovering from hi s partys humiliating election defeat. Eventually the union leaders, obviously surprised by this sudden, spontaneous revolutionary outburst persuaded the workers to give in in return for higher wages. Although initially it would seem that theworkers had won, the strikes had sown the seeds of caution amongst Italys Socialist opposition. The overall effect of this was thatmany of the opponents of Socialism joined Mussolinis Fascist party. The Socialist party by... ...ht home the importance of opportunism and action as inappropriate to inactivity and fixed ideologies. As S. Lee argues, Mussolini was strongly inclined to splanchnic behaviour and projected himself as a flexible pragmatist. This allowedhim to make dependable use of the chaotic conditions in Italy, and considerably increased the Fascist partys fortunes. However, we moldinessiness also consider that to a certain extent, the oppositions continued failures and misjudgments almost pushed Mussolini intopower. We must also take account of the fact that Mussolini certainly had his fair share of luck - a prime example is the Kings refusal to declare a stir of emergency, which would have allowed the army to attack the Fascists. However, it was his ability to act out the role of the Italian peoples dream leader that gave him the most success. He played upon the post-war crisis, and do it appear that Fascism was the only way in which socialism would be smashed, and Italys association and status would be rebuilt. To the Italian people, Mussolini was the great leader they had been desperately intrusive for - the leader who was going to make Italy a great power, and a respect force in the world.