This helps explain the immediate demobilisation of the black shirts, and the nature of the first Mussolini government, which included only four fascists, all the others being liberals, Popular Party Catholics and even two social democrats. Despite the mythology that later enveloped the "March on Rome" of October 1922, it was no revolution. In October 1922, Mussolini led the Fascists on a march on Rome, and King Emmanuel III, who had little faith in Italy’s parliamentary government, asked Mussolini to form a new government. Fascism came to power in Italy at the point when the real revolutionary period in Italy between 1920 and 1922 (the “biennio rosso”) had begun to wane. These had been made up mainly of low-life criminals and of self-. Army reports. In late October 1922, Fascist Party leaders planned an insurrection, to take place on 28 October. When the sufferings of the march by the Julia division almost up to Metzovo are known all will appear legendary. the Chatham House Foundation exists to promote support for Anglo-American relations, and to make the Institute more accessible While the fascists did defend the great landowners and Mussolini was terrified of the very notion of agrarian reform, his regime represented the interests of Italian imperialist capitalism. The latter, whose loyalty to the king was unquestioned, now had the “legal” green light to do what its generals were already disposed to do – stand aside and allow Mussolini to come to power. security and other key issues in the international arena. Meanwhile, all over Italy the Fascists prepared for action, and the March on Rome began. The Chatham House Rule, used worldwide But the monarch decided to make use of the powers granted to him by the constitution, and didn’t sign a decree from the then prime minister, Luigi Facta, calling for the suppression of the black shirts by the army. HISTORY: Mussolini and His Blackshirts March on Rome “Either the government will be given to us, or we will seize it by marching on Rome!” declared Mussolini. With strikes continuing to disrupt the economy and with the centrist leadership hesitating, mass sectors of the petit bourgeoisie became exasperated and swelled the ranks of fascism. aggrandising anti-democratic petit bourgeois intellectuals who claimed that they had fought and won the war on their own and therefore had an automatic right to political power. The board of directors consisted of Corradini and four industrialists, the most important of whom was Dante Ferraris, vice-president of Fiat and president of the Lega Industriale. As tens of thousands converged on Rome, government leaders became so unnerved that they resigned. He began by describing the Fascist Revolution as a movement which had paved the way for the creation of a new Europe. But to satisfy his inordinate vanity, Mussolini, a master of propaganda, later created the myth of the march on Rome. In early 1918 Mussolini called for the emerg… Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, National Fascist Party, Prime Minister of Italy, Il Duce Background: A crowd of 100,000 Italians celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Fascist march on Rome cheer enthusiastically for Mussolini's speech And the king, prepared to accept the Fascist alternative, dispatched the telegram for which Mussolini had been waiting. Paper battles. Demobilisation . JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. Fascism was the fulfilment of the imperialist ambitions of its ruling class from around the turn of the century and reached its full expression in the First World War. The nationalist imperialists proposed that since the nature of never-ending struggles abroad demanded increased unity at home, what was needed was a well-organised and disciplined hierarchical social system that did away with internal democracy and which crushed the “internal enemy”. In 1917 Mussolini got his start in politics with the help of a £100 weekly wage (the equivalent of £6000 as of 2009) from the British security service MI5, to keep anti-war protestors at home and to publish pro-war propaganda. It became an official political party. When he learned that the king had refused to order martial law that same day, Mussolini knew that he had won, even though a reported seven Blackshirts had been shot down by Army troops at Cremona. It was claimed at that meeting that Italy had been robbed of the territorial fruits of its “victory” at the Paris peace conference. The Crisis of Capitalist Globalisation and the Socialist Solution. ©2000-2021 ITHAKA. In a speech before thousands of his supporters in October 1922, Mussolini declared, “Either the government will be given to us, or we will seize it by marching on Rome.” A few days later, he unleashed his followers on a massive march to Italy’s capital city. All Rights Reserved. Benito Mussolini at a concert in Teatro Adriano, Rome, Italy 1940. I come among you to look you firmly in the eyes, feel your temperature and break the silence which is dear to-me, especially in wartime. … Since the political representatives of the bourgeoisie were wracked by a crisis of authority and were effectively unable to restore order, it was left up to the fascists to offer their solution. 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