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To what extent did Mussolini erode democracy and establish a Fascist dictatorship between 1922 and 1929? Mussolini was undeniably a strong leader and fascism was seen by many as the lesser of two evils. The fear of socialism rocked the already fragile foundations of Italy and a combination of luck and strategic opportunism allowed Mussolini to consolidate his power. Over a period of seven years Mussolini eroded and then completely destroyed Italian democracy. Until 1924 Mussolini played the system, weakening the foundations of democracy within the guides of the law and the constitution.
Mussolini made three major actions to secure his political power. The first being making himself Minister of the Interior, this gave him control over the elections, the police and the courts. Meaning the fascist vote rigging would go undiscovered and fascist violence and intimidation could be overlooked. Secondly Mussolini was granted emergency powers for one year starting in November 1922. He managed to convince the King and the rest of parliament that the socialist threat was so great that if Italy were to survive this crisis Mussolini needed almost complete control.
Lastly Mussolini introduced the Acerbo Law which was passed with 303 to 40 votes in 1923. This meant the party with the most votes, assuming they received more than 25%, were given two thirds of the seats, easily making them the largest party with more than enough power to pass legislation without opposition. Mussolini’s original cautious deceitful approach was due to fear of the elite. He couldn’t be certain of people’s support for Fascism and it wasn’t until the Murder of Matteotti in 1924 that Mussolini was assured of his power.
In June 1924 Matteotti, a prominent figure in the socialist party, was abducted and murdered by Fascists. This was a turning point for Mussolini; his initial cautious erosion of democracy quickly progressed. Historians cannot be certain whether Mussolini ordered the murder of Matteotti or if radical fascists broke away from Mussolini’s orders. Either way Mussolini appeared weak, if he had ordered the attack he would be shown as a man of impulse, violence and his actions were out of his control and if not then it would appear he was not in control of his fascists.
After the news of the Matteotti murder spread the Socialists assumed the King would dissolve parliament and remove Mussolini thus started the Aventine Secession. The socialists and communists formed a breakaway parliament in the Aventine hills in an attempt to force King Emmanuel’s hand and bring down Mussolini. However they did not get the response they anticipated. The King remained silent as did the Catholic Church the fear of a socialist uprising if Mussolini were to be brought down was too large.
The Liberals also did nothing in retaliation, because of the Acerbo Law the only party other than the fascists that could possibly gain 25% of the vote were the socialists and Mussolini was seen by many as the lesser of two evils. The deafening silence that rang throughout the ranks of the elite symbolised Mussolini’s strength and power and he realised it was much greater then he originally anticipated. This gave Mussolini the confidence to accelerate his destruction of democracy.
After Matteotti’s death Mussolini made no effort to hide his dictatorial ideas for the country and introduced a lot of radical legislation in a very short space of time. If Mussolini was to eradicate democracy he had to abolish any opposition. He did this very successfully with a series of laws. July 1924 press censorship limited the media to the interests of the state, August 1924 opposition party meetings were banned and by December 1925 all opposition groups were banned no political parties or trade unions were allowed to exist.
However until January 1926 Democracy was not totally dismantled. Mussolini was granted freedom from parliament and was able to rule by decree. Until 1928 the king could still choose to dismiss Mussolini however that right was also removed and his only power was to choose from a list of potential rulers, decided by the grand council of fascism. Mussolini strategically removed any opposition, as he realised that creating a dictatorship was not only demolishing democracy, but stamping out any opposition posing a threat to the dictator’s power and control.
The elite and the church posed a possible threat to Mussolini’s carefully crafted dictatorship. To ensure he did not encounter any resistance Mussolini set about appeasing them, particularly the Catholic Church. The Lateran Agreement signed in 1929 by the fascist party and the Roman Catholic Church established the Vatican City, a sovereign state in the centre of Rome. They compensated the Church ? 30 million for any lost land in the unification of Italy, Catholicism was granted the official religion of Italy, divorce, abortion and contraception were banned.
In return the Church promised to keep out of politics. Mussolini enforced taxes that benefitted the big businesses rather than the working classes. This appeasement could only continue whilst Mussolini had something to offer the elite as soon as they had gained all they could the support was bound to stop. Mussolini strategically dealt with the possible threat from the church and businesses however it was not sustainable and whilst he was fighting off external opposition a rising distaste from within the fascist party was posing an additional threat.
Mussolini had a hard time uniting the fascist party when there only real commonality was anti socialism. The original and often more radical fascists were irritated by Mussolini’s puppet like behaviour when complying with the demands of the elite. Especially the banning divorce, contraception, abortion and civil marriages which completely opposed the original fascism manifesto. Mussolini tactically squashed this internal opposition by flooding the party with moderates and paying off many original fascists giving them titles and pensions.
By doing this Mussolini successfully liquidated extremism within his party. The deciding moment for Italian democracy came with the elite’s shockingly silent reaction to the Matteotti murder in 1924. Mussolini’s confidence boost, shown clearly though his sudden accelerated actions brought democracy to its knees. Mussolini kept up the facade of democracy until 1928 when he relieved the king of his right to choose a ruler knocking the final nail into the coffin of democracy and establishing Mussolini as the Dictator of Italy.