Fascist Italy: How did Mussolini maintain power?
Mussolini’s use of successful domestic policies helped him to combat internal opposition.
The journey of the creation of an authoritarian state heavily relied on the decision done by its dictator or authority. Yet, to consolidate the power of a nation fully, the domestic policies played a significant role in helping the dictator combat internal oppositions. From Mao’s cultural revolution in China, to Stalin’s political reforms, and to Hitler’s orchestrated assassinations on his opponents, history has proven this point again and again. Italy’s fascist dictator of the 20th century, Benito Mussolini, consolidated his power and allowed himself to establish an authoritarian state through political reforms, armed forces, and social entertainment policies, to control his governmental and local oppositions, as well as gather more supporters.
The use of his position as the prime minister to construct a government towards his personal favor through political reforms can be seen as Mussolini’s first step to counter internal oppositions through domestic policies. In 1923, Mussolini passed the Acerbo Law, which allowed the winning party of an election to occupy two-thirds of the parliamentary seats. The law was passed by the parliament, where Mussolini used violence to threaten party leaders to support it. In fact, the passage of this law not only allowed Mussolini’s fascist party to win the 1924 election, but weakened the power of the other parties, especially the left-wingers, in the parliament. After Mussolini secured his position as prime minister, the establishment of the Fascist Grand Council forced all state decisions to be approved by Mussolini personally. Since all members of the council must be appointed by Mussolini himself, the prime minister’s personal oppositions within the party lost power and left Italy in the hands of one person. Therefore, one may conclude that the pass of the Acerbo Law and the establishment of the Fascist Grand Council were some of Mussolini’s successful political domestic policies that helped him to combat internal opposition.
The rise of the fascist party heavily depended on violence. Mussolini took it a step further to secure his position by forcefully threatening his internal opponents. After the Fascist Grand Council was created, the Voluntary Militia for National Security (sometimes known as the National Security Guards), or the MVSN, was created. This militia was made of former Mussolini supporters, mostly from the blackshirts, and they were loyal to Mussolini instead of the king. This is especially important because Mussolini had his own force to manipulate. The creation of this force further allowed him to decrease the power of regional ras, who were conducting violence against fascist opponents which negatively impacted Mussolini’s social reputation. Moreover, the MVSN caused fear over anti-fascists. This made anti-fascist movements back down significantly. The formation of the MVSN is surely a success in terms of helping Mussolini to crack down on regional oppositions across the country.
To make sure there will be no resistance from the left, Mussolini focused on the development of social entertainment as a form of propaganda, to reduce the influence of socialist and communist ideologies. Even after the end of the Bienno Rosso, Italians still lived in fear of a communist revolution. Left-wing ideologies thrive in the working class, who dreamed of a more equal utopia. Mussolini’s fascist party still needed to deal with rapid protests and uprisings organized by workers and peasants. To counter this problem, Mussolini introduced the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro, or the OND, which was a social organization that constantly organized sports activities to entertain the workers while spreading fascist propaganda. Entertained by free sports and activities, workers and peasants had more interest, energy, and time to play, instead of participating in strikes. This worked out very well. During the 1920s and 30s, around 40 percent of the workers, and 25 percent of the peasants were members of the OND, and strikes decreased drastically. It is also important to note that the rising interest in sports also increased patriotism, which with the help of propaganda, lead to increasing supports of fascist nationalism.
To conclude, Italy’s dictator, Benito Mussolini successfully used various domestic policies politically, socially, and militarily to help him to combat internal oppositions in an effective manner, which helped him to consolidate power for a long period of time.