How Mussolini established a fascist regime

Fascism is a form of reactionary thought, political movement and political power that has emerged in imperialist countries with a greater influence on the traditions of feudalism and militarism in order to overcome crises, resist revolutions and strive for world domination.

Fascism arose after the First World War, when the tide of the world revolution was at its peak. At that time, the capitalist countries were already in a political crisis, the original parliamentary politics, the courts, the parliament, etc. were no longer sufficient to maintain the original rule, and the proletariat could not seize power because the conditions were not yet ripe, and when these two forces could not stand each other, fascism took advantage of the opportunity.

The development of the Fascist movement in Italy has a gradual evolutionary process. At first it was only a petty-bourgeois left-wing movement, which was then exploited by the ruling class. The leaders of the fascist movement willingly united with the big bourgeoisie and the remnants of feudalism and became in their hands a tool for suppressing the workers' and peasants' movement internally and calling it national chauvinism externally. Finally, with the support of the ruling class, the Italian fascist movement developed rapidly or became the most important force in the political arena, and seized state power and established a fascist dictatorship headed by Mussolini.

Mussolini was born in 1883 to a family of blacksmiths. In his early years, he leaned toward socialism and joined the Italian Socialist Party. In 1912, he became editor-in-chief of the Socialist party organ newspaper, The Forward, and became one of the leaders of the Socialist Party. After the outbreak of the First World War, Mussolini was expelled from The Forward and expelled from the Socialist Party for publicly supporting the government's entry into the war. In October 1914, he joined the first Fascist organization in Italy, the National Action Revolutionary Fascists, and three weeks later founded a new newspaper, Le Petito des Peoples.

In January 1915, the "International Action Revolutionary Fascists" was renamed "Revolutionary Intervention Action Fascism" and a national organization was established in Milan, and Mussolini soon became the central figure of this organization.

In 1915, the Italian government officially declared war on Austria, Mussolini and other leaders immediately enlisted in the army, and the "revolutionary intervention action fascists" were not officially dissolved, but they were extinct in name only. After the end of world war I, Mussolini and others decided to rebuild the fascist organization.

In March 1919, the "Fighting Fascists" was proclaimed. It called for "the Paris Peace Conference to honour the territorial promises made to Italy by the Treaty of London" to expand its influence among the populace and win the support of the petty bourgeoisie, intellectuals and nationalists; it supported the land claims of veterans and peasants in order to win their favor; and it catered to the suppression of revolutionary movements by the ruling class in order to forge alliances with old and new politicians, monopoly capital, feudal landlords and the royal family. These tactics and measures enabled the Italian fascist movement to develop rapidly.

May 1920 was an important turning point in the Italian fascist movement. The Fighting Fascists held their Second National Congress in Milan, re-elected the leading body of the Party and adopted the new Basic Points of the Fascist Programme.

This new program shows a clear tendency to turn to the right, both politically, economically, and in the social and military aspects.

Since then, the fascist movement has turned reactionary. After that, a fascist action team with the primary goal of opposing the Socialist Party was established, which changed from sympathizing with and supporting the workers' and peasants' movement in the past to using cruel means to frantically sabotage the workers' and peasants' revolutionary organizations, beating and killing the leaders of the Socialist Party and the trade unions, openly participating in the suppression of the mass movement by the military and police, and conspiring with them to create white terror.

The new dynamics of the fascist movement enabled the ruling class, dominated by the monopoly bourgeoisie and the feudal royal family, to dispel doubts about it and begin to turn to vigorous support for its development.

With the support and support of the ruling class, the fascist movement achieved significant development in a year or two. By the end of 1920, the number of fascist members fighting had reached more than 20,000; by the end of May 1921, the number of members had soared to 180,000; by May 1922, the number of members who had been renamed the "National Fascist Party" was more than 320,000.

Italian fascists have jumped from an insignificant organization to the largest armed party in the country. In the face of the rapid development of the fascist movement, Mussolini and other leaders were no longer content to play only a secondary role in the stronghold of the ruling class, and began to seek to seize power in the whole country. It first seized much of the local power in Italy, and then decided to march on Rome.

On October 27, 1922, a march of more than 30,000 fascist action men marched in three directions toward Rome, and Prime Minister Fakt asked Parliament to issue a national martial law order, which was rejected by the king and the Farkett government was forced to resign. On the 29th, King Emanuele III authorized Mussolini to serve as Prime Minister. On the 31st, the first fascist cabinet was formed, with Mussolini as prime minister and minister of the interior and foreign affairs, and since then, through violent terror and illegal means, fascist totalitarian rule has been established. In order to ensure the absolute control of the fascist party over the state power, Mussolini, on the one hand, further improved relations with monopoly capital, abolished the "progressive tax law", and provided funds to the big capitalists in various names and ways to help them get rid of the economic crisis they faced after the war, in order to win their full support. On the other hand, it strengthens the control of the party and the fascist armed forces, disbands all party armed forces and the 40,000-strong Royal Guard, establishes a national security volunteer militia under his direct control, and establishes a high-level party leadership body" "above and above the original political institutions", the "Fascist Grand Council".

From May 1925 onwards, the fascist regime issued a series of decrees providing legal guarantees for Mussolini's dictatorship.

On 16 May 1925, the Anti-Secret Societies Act was promulgated, abolishing freedom of assembly and association; on 20 June, the Fascist Censorship Act abolished freedom of speech; and on 24 December, the Law on the Duties and Privileges of Heads of Government and Cabinet Members was promulgated, granting Mussolini the dictatorship to make cabinet ministers and deputy ministers act like soldiers and obey the orders of the "leader" in all their actions.

On 26 November 1926, the Law on State Defensive Measures was promulgated, which abolished all political parties other than the State Fascist Party, and on 9 December 1928, the Law on the Powers of the Fascist Grand Council was promulgated, which provided for Mussolini, the head of government and the chairman of the Fascist Grand Council.

By April 1929, Mussolini, as head of government, was also the minister of the cabinet of the interior, foreign affairs, army, navy and air force, corps, colony and public works. He controlled everything in Italy and became the supreme ruler of Italy. Fascist totalitarian rule has been fully established and consolidated.