Italian Fascism

Section 20.103 & McKay Chapter 29 (964-966)

Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.

What is the message or meaning of

Raoul Hausmann’s ABCD (1924-

25)?

What is the message or meaning of

Raoul Hausmann’s ABCD (1924-

25)?

MANIFESTO OF FUTURISM (1912)•We want to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and rashness. •The essential elements of our poetry will be courage, audacity and revolt. •Literature has up to now magnified pensive immobility, ecstasy and slumber. We want to exalt movements of aggression, feverish sleeplessness, the double march, the perilous leap, the slap and the blow with the fist. •Beauty exists only in struggle. There is no masterpiece that has not an aggressive character. Poetry must be a violent assault on the forces of the unknown, to force them to bow before man. •We want to glorify war — the only cure for the world — militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of the anarchists, the beautiful ideas which kill, and contempt for woman. •We want to demolish museums and libraries, fight morality, feminism and all opportunist and utilitarian cowardice.

European Liberalism• Grew out of Enlightenment

• Enlightenment values

– Reason & Science

– Life, liberty, property

– Freedom of press, speech

– Value of individual

– Constitutionalism & rule of law

– Legal equality

– Laissez faire Capitalism

• Classic Liberal/ Victorian Paradigm shattered by during WWI

– 18 million dead

– Propaganda

– Planned economies

Rise of FascismOverview

• Authoritarian conservative governments had existed since Louis XIV– Absolutism– Concert of Europe/ Metternich

System• But had little control over individual• Post WWI saw rise of new Authoritative

governments– New intellectual zeitgeist embraced

social Darwinism, Nietzsche’s Will to Power, Freud’s irrationality

Totalitarian dictatorships • a state that regulates regulates

nearly every aspect of nearly every aspect of public and private public and private behaviorbehavior

• emerged in and Italy, Soviet Union, & Nazi Germany

• Western Liberal values greatly questioned after WWI

– constitutional democracy, individualism, civil liberties, free press, free trade, peaceful diplomacy, rationalism,

Fascist Totalitarianism• Extreme Nationalism• State > Individual• Emphasis on traditional family

• Large families encouraged• Emphasis on conformity, obedience• Contempt for intellectuals, critics• Praise of militarism, uniforms• Mass meetings, mass movements• Emphasis on race (fascism)• Secret police• Praise of violence• propagandapropaganda disseminated through the state-controlled

mass media….Thought controlThought control• personality cults (Il Duce, Der Fuhrer)• regulation and restriction of free discussion restriction of free discussion and criticism• mass surveillancemass surveillance

The State not only is authority which governs and molds individual will with laws and values of spiritual life, but it is also power which makes its will prevail abroad….For the Fascist, everything is within the State and…neither individuals nor groups are outside the State...For Fascism, the State is an absolute, before which individuals or groups are only relative….Liberalism denied the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts the rights of the State as expressing the real essence of the individual. -- Enciclopedia Italiana, 1932

Fascism

Mussolini’s Italy

1915 1919 1922 1924 1929 1935 1937 1939

Treaty of London

Treaty of Versailles

March on Rome

Lateran Agreement

Italy invades Ethiopia

Giacomo Matteotti

assassinated

Axis Treaty

Germany Invades Poland

Origins of Fascism• Liberalism still the Ism of the West at

Versailles in 1919– Russia, Turkey, China’s failure to

develop liberal institutions didn’t count as they were “backwards” nations

• Italy– Major force in Western Civilization

• Renaissance – Humanism– Individualism

• Nationalism & Liberalism– Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cavour

– But also strong conservative force• Syllabus of Errors• Papal Infallibility• Major class and regional

differences – North – industrial & liberal– South – agrarian and

socialistic

Origins of Fascism• Rooted in Pre WWI ideas of Nietzsche, Marx,

Futurism, French Utopian Socialism, Romanticism and especially Nationalism

• WWI left Italy disillusioned– 600 thousand casualties– Italia Irredentia Unredeemed– Mass unemployment, especially among

WWI vets– Hyperinflation destroyed savings of middle

class– Fear of Communism spread among the

wealthy (both urban and rural nobility)• Red Menace- peasants had seized land• They looked to a strongman who would

preserve their property and restore order• Liberal coalition government was divided

and seemed powerless• A wounded WWI veteran would capture this

disillusionment and channel it into fascism

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)• A socialist A socialist (before WWI)

– Editor of Avanti (socialist paper)– Against WWI (at first)

• Influenced by Marx• Saw war as capitalistic

• Became intensely nationalist intensely nationalist during WWI– “only blood makes the wheels of history

turn”• Influenced by Nietzsche’ Will to Power

• Wanted Italy to join the Allies and wanted Austrian territory of Italia irredenta (unredeemed Italy)– Wounded by a grenade while fighting in

Alps• Left socialist over their lack of support for Italy

in WWI• Saw that his attacks on socialists gained him

support of conservatives• An opportunist/Realpolitik• Became sworn enemy of socialists & champion

of property owners

The Blackshirts• Blackshirts

– Also known as Squadristi– Mussolini’s terrorist squads– Made up of ultra nationalists,

unemployed WWI vets– Called Freikorps in Germany – Attacked communists, socialists,

strikers, farm workers– beatings, murders, forced feedings

of castor oil (a pint at a time)– Exploited Marxism’s

internationalism over nationalism– Protected scabs – Financed by wealthy factory

owners, land owners • 1921 elections Fascists won 35 seats

out of 500– Popularity was growing

March on Rome• A march of the Blackshirts to Rome Rome from

various directions (October 1922)• Meant to intimidate the King and government• Mussolini waited in Milan• Coalition government (liberal dem)

– had allowed fascism to exist (as it rid nation of leftist troublemakers)

– But now realized Mussolini’s true intentions– Tried to enforce martial law but king backed

down• King Victor Emmanuel

– Old, indecisive and a whimp– Forced the cabinet to resign– Appointed Mussolini (Premier)Mussolini (Premier)– granted emergency powersgranted emergency powers to restore order

in Italy for 1 year– Bolshiviks won 3/5 of parliament seats in

next election • His gov. controlled the political

machinery• SquadristSquadristi greeted voters at the polls

Click for Clip 8-11

Matteotti Crisis• Well respected Socialist deputy Well respected Socialist deputy Matteotti exposedexposed

hundreds of cases of the heavy handed tactics (fraud, violenceviolence) of the FascistsFascists

• Socialist enquiry on the deeds of the fascists in Socialist enquiry on the deeds of the fascists in Italy Italy – Pamphlet outlining violent tactics of Fascists– Kidnapped in 1924 and brutally murderedbrutally murdered

• Italian press called for Mussolini’s resignation• Anti-Fascist parties abandoned the Chamber of

Deputies– Hoped to force Victor Emanuel to dismiss

Mussolini– King refused

• MussMuss refused to resign and began to began to centralize centralize his powerhis power– Reduced the Italian parliament to a nonentity– Put the press under censorship– Destroyed the labor unions– Deprived labor of the right to strike– Abolished all political parties– Left big business alone

The Lateran Accords (1929)• Agreement with Catholic Church Agreement with Catholic Church

• settled dispute over Catholic Church’s role in Italian politics & lost land

• 1st time in Italian history that the Church and the government agreed on their respective roles!

• Terms:

• Papacy was granted temporal sovereignty temporal sovereignty over Vatican Cityover Vatican City

• ReimbursedReimbursed for lost territorylost territory

• Property Tax-exemptTax-exempt

• Papacy guaranteed the free exercise of Roman Catholicism as the sole state sole state religion throughout Italyreligion throughout Italy

• Papacy accepted Italian sovereignty over former Papal States

• Yet by 1930s Pope called fascism “pagan worship of the state”

El Duce• El Duce (The Leader)• Portrayed self as vigorous, athletic man

– Riding horse, shirtless working in fields with peasants

– Speeches filled with bellicose fiery rhetoric

– Thrust jaw and chest out • Preached the need of vigorous action under a

strong leader• Criticized democracy as factional

– Out of date government that only accentuated class struggle

• Led to selfishness, futility, empty talk– Denounced liberalism, free trade, laissez-

faire capitalism, Marxism, materialism, socialism, and class consciousness

– evil offspring of capitalism and liberalism• Romanticized about creating a new Roman

Empire• More an act than a reality

“Corporatism”• state managed economystate managed economy• Brought a certain efficiency to Italy that was missing

– trains always on time• 1926 The National Council of Corporations National Council of Corporations created

• Guilds of employers and employees establishedestablished to manage the 22 sectors of the economy22 sectors of the economy

• Division leaders (made up of labor, employers, and government) were to direct the activities within their sector

• directed labor, organized the employers, directed labor, organized the employers, Monitored working conditionsMonitored working conditions

• Determined wages, prices, and policieswages, prices, and policies • Disputes arbitrated by Government

• Supported by small capitalists, low-level bureaucrats, and the middle class

• felt threatened by the rise of Socialist power!• The goal harmonize the interests of workers, harmonize the interests of workers,

managers and the state by abolishing class warfare.managers and the state by abolishing class warfare.• The reality This system inhibited technological

progress and destroyed workers’ rights

State Control of Economic Life• National council of division leaders

were to plan the economic activities of the nation– Focus on self-sufficiency

• Said that the state should be organized around the nations economic occupations

• IE. State determined all answers to economic questions (What to produce, Who makes it, gets it, at what price, …?) but allowed private enterprise (profit) to exist

• Mussolini called it a dictatorship of the state over many classes cooperating

Fascist Family & Education•“Battle for Births”•Fascists encouraged development of large families

–Goal- from 40 to 60 million by 1950–Fathers of more than 6 were tax-except

•Stay-at-home mothers who would instill civic discipline in children–“The Nation is served even by keeping the house swept”The Nation is served even by keeping the house swept”

•“a new Italian woman”•Government granted maternity leaves, subsidies for large families•Disseminated info on child rearing

–Advised mothers to dress babies in black shirts•Outlawed abortion, contraception

–Yet birthrate continued to fall–147 per 1 thousand in 1911–102 per 1 thousand in 1936

•1938 law limited number of women in workforce to 10%•First sentence pronounced by children at school was

• Let us salute the flag in the Roman fashion; hail to Italy; hail to Mussolini.

•Emphasized physical education & joining youth movements•Textbooks emphasized:

•glorious past of the ancient Romans•imperial destiny awaited Italy’s future

Blackshirt Youth

Organisation Age Group

Uniform

Sons of the She Wolf

4 to 8 Black shirt

Balilla 8 to 14 Black shirt, black cap, shorts, grey socks

Avanguardista 14 to 18 Same as Balilla except knickerbockers instead

of shorts.

The Battle of Wheat• Mussolini blamed the world for the

depression• Called for self sufficiency • Started public works projects

– Hydroelectric power– “Battle of wheat” proclaimed to

increase wheat production– Doubled b/t 1922-1940– Other nutritional foods greatly

decreased – Not emphasis on rearing of

animals/ fertilizers• Price of bread eventually rose

sharply• Lack of nutritious diet

Click to Play Clip

Militarism• 1/3rd of Italian budget went to military• Little reform was made between the social extremes of

wealth and poverty• Per capita income extremely low• 20% of Italian brides could not sign their names

(especially in South)• Fascism failed to provide economic security or

material well being for those it demanded so much sacrifice of individual freedom

• Spirit of recapturing the past glories of Rome was enough distraction for the population that it was less critical of Fascism

• Invaded Ethiopia in 1935– Provide sense of greatness & distracted the

Italians– Used poison gas when army failed to achieve

victory• Aided Francisco Franco with soldiers during Spanish

Civil War