continued from Papal Bull...
As in Germany, the rise of Fascism* in Italy stemmed from the post World War I period of civil unrest, political instability and economic inflation. In Milan in 1919, a former newspaper editor and political opportunist, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, formed a local political party standing on what has been termed an "ambiguous" Fascist platform - ambiguous in that it sought to embrace all traditional ideological and class groupings.
This former Socialist and master of propaganda began toying with and preying upon on the general population's fear of Socialism, Communism, and Anarchism, all of which had briefly flared in the post-war period. Coupled with his strong Nationalist and Law-and-Order policies and his gift for written and spoken rhetoric, it would be only a matter of time before Italy fell into Mussolini's hands.
The measure of his success
In 1921, just two years after inaugurating the Milan Fascist Party, he was able to form the National Fascist Party and gain 35 seats in a Parliament of 355.
The measure of his convictions
With the scent of victory in his nostrils, Mussolini then abandoned his previously held anti-Catholic position.
In November 1919, Mussolini had said...
But less than a year later, he said...
The measure of his ambition
In 1922, Mussolini seized the day. Amidst a spreading paralysis of government and the threat of civil war, Mussolini demanded the formation of a Fascist Government to restore order.
to be continued..
* The word derives from the fasces, an ancient Roman symbol of collective power and authority consisting of a bundle of rods tied around an axe.
** See The Roman Question : The "Prisoner of the Vatican"
*** The Vatican and Italian Fascism 1929-1932 : A study in conflict, John F. Pollard, Cambridge University Press, 2005, page 22.
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