Italy From Liberalism To Fascism example essay topic

Rise and Fall of Fascism In 1912 Italy, under the rule of Giolitti and its Socialist Party, introduced universal manhood suffrage. This was considered a victory ofDemocracy. Ten years later in 1922, King Emmanuel called Benito Mussolini, the founder of the Italian Fascist Party, to head the government. Mussolini's appointment as Prime Minister put an end those years of democracy. Both internal and external causes can account the rise and fall of Democracy in Italy, where political and social instability created an overall crisis.

In ten years of Democratic rule, the Italian economic and politicalsituation had not improved. On the contrary, it had created a situation of political discontent and chaos. The decline of Democracy and rise of Fascism in Italy was accelerated by international events such as the break of World War I and the Bolshevik revolution. The rise of Democracy tended to benefit the economic and political interest of a dominant group. While Fascism movement arose to crush the basis of socialist power that threatened to take the control of Italian politics between 1918 and 1920.

The revolutionary threat emerged from the difficulties faced by the ruling Italian Socialist Party which internal conflict plagued, organizational problems, but more important, by the precarious economic situation of the working class. Before the twentieth century Italy was overwhelming agricultural, and much of the industry that exist-was based on agricultural production. Atthe turn of the century agriculture accounted for 51 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and only 15 percent of the total work force was in the industry. Between 1896 and 1908, the country experience a positive economic growth. Agriculture made progress in the fertile and rich Po Valley, where new techniques and a reorganization of the agricultural labor force increased grain production.

Nevertheless, tensions between peasants and the elite over working conditions wer not extinct. During the late twentieth century the elites were particularly concern over the increasing radicalism and military among the land peasants, especially in the central regions of the country. Peasant demands of injustice and repression along with their actions triggered most of the strikes in the 1880's and 1890's. Their typical activities were communal riots and the occasional large-scale land occupation. Although it was as scene of some small-scale political organization, the mass of peasants in some areas were able to unite. As early as the mid 1880's an organized worker's movement started growing in Milan, where the Italian workers' Party was created in 1882, and by 1895 had evolved into the Socialist Party (PSI).

Between 1860 and 1912 Italy entered a transitional period in which major changes in economic and social power was taken place. Tensions existed not only between regions, but political interests of the newsgroups of industrial and agrarian entrepreneurs, produced stress between them and the political class. In 1901, Giovani Giolitti sought to bring the radical and socialist left into the constitutional picture and introduced a policy of reform to meet the demands of the upper strata of the working classes. Giolitti " 's policy encouraged the rapid growth of the organized labor movement.

In that same year there was notable expansion of the trade unions' councils, which later became increasingly socialist. While there was a gradual spread of peasants' associations in regions with big Capitalistic farms, such as in the Po Valley. In this way masses of farms workers we reorganized and set of the strikes designed to raised low wages and improve working conditions. However, many of the labor aspirations of the upper strata aim to improve their own labor conditions while limiting those ofthe peasants. The National unification of the Socialist trade unionsocurred in 1906 with the establishment of the General Confederation Labour. Where again, only the upper strata were able to benefit from the any improvement in labor conditions.

During the Giolitti period, the government actively acted in the economy and tended to favor the interest of those in the upper strata. With the economic expansion of those years, the liberal government engaged with the Banca Italiana in an expensive but important railroad expansion. Nevertheless, not long after Italy had to face a dramatic economic crisis and the social conflicts that later followed. An internal crisis in Italy arose by economic discontent along with lower stratum resentment against their working conditions, creating social and political instability. By 1911, the country's political instabilities worsen caused by an external conflict with Giolitti's decision to conquest Libya. The nationalists opposed the Libyan War, who were starting to grow aggressive and gained the supported by the Catholic world.

Under political and social pressure Giolitti introduced an alternative forItaly's Liberal political system. In 1912 Giolitti and its Socialist Party, universal manhood suffrage was introduced. Even though it was considered a victory of Democracy, it caused an imbalance in the existing Liberal politics. Overnight, the electorate had increased from just more than three million voters to almost nine million. The existing monarchs' associations were not prepared for this increase as it threatened their status quo. Giolittitrying to hold on to his power sought the support of the Catholics that alienated the anti-clerical left wing of his government coalition.

The general state of Italian politics was one of confusion and discontent, especially among young middle class Italians. Blue-collar workers had begun to organize and to win concessions that narrowed the gap between industrial and white-collar salaries. Democracy failed to bridge the gap between the different social groups and by 1922 Italy was a country at war with itself. World War I was an accelerator for the downfall of an already shaky Democratic System.

It widened cleavages that had already existed since the nation's unification and it increased dissension within the political parties. At the time World War I broke out, in 1914, Giolitti still governed Italy. He decided that it was in Italy's best interest to maintain a neutral position. However, other sectors of the Parliament andthe population overall did not agree to this decision.

Even within parties Italy's role on the War could not be agreeing on. The Democrats, Social Reformists and Socialists on the left believed an intervention. Onthe right, the Liberals, the Popo lari and the Nationalist also called forItaly's intervention. Neutralists included the Socialists, the LeftistPopolari and the Liberals.

While the interventionists found a common goal and could work together, the neutraslists' unwillingness to decide resulted in the Chamber of Deputies voting for the intervention by more than a five to one margin. Although a minority, the interventionists' parties were successful in convincing Parliament that it was economic and political viable for a major power such as Italy to take part in the War. However, parliaments' decision to involve Italy in the War was not only the result of the interventionist' pressure, it was also a response to the pressure from the nationalist mobs that staged unruly demonstrations in the Piazzas. Most of the people in favor of the intervention belonged to the upper and middle classes. The government realized that the participation in the War was not the best decision, but at the same time it was greatly concerned with the rise people into violent riots. This was another sign that the government was not able to exercise its authority and allowed itself to be pressure by small groups.

This course of action shows an erosion of the Democratic system. Italy entered the War on the side of the Allies on May 24, 1915 under the terms agreed upon the Treaty of London of April 26, of the same year. The Treaty promised Italy a frontier on the Brenner Pass in the Northeast, annexation of the Trieste and the Istrian Peninsula part of the Dalmatian Coast. Italy's new Prime Minister Sal andra, believed that the War would not last a long time.

They expected a quick victory. However, the War lasted three and a half years. This created much unrest among the Italian population. Italy came out of the War victorious but a general disappointment was felt among Italians. The army which peasants made, returned from the War unhappy with the government and with the treatment they received in the front. "With the War at an end, they were returning in a mood that was far from being passive and many peasants came in touch with a newly acquired sense of solidarity and appreciation of large scale organization and cooperation".

It is not a coincidence then, that much ofthe peasants sided with the Socialists in the next election and helped them increase their power. Nationalism also grew in the Post-War in Italy. Nationalists were not satisfied with the outcome of the War. They believed that Italy should have received more territory than it was granted. "The Parliamentary system emerged from the War with its stature still further diminished in the eyes of the peasants".

The dissatisfaction with the government role in the War resulted in a shift ofthe power to the left after the War. This served to increased the fears of a leftist take over from the middle and upper class. Post-War Italy saw the rise of the Socialist Party and the downfall of liberalism. The "Bien no Rosso", the Red two years, took place from 1919-1920. These two years compromise the period when mass politics became a reality.

Even though universal manhood suffrage had been granted in 1912, it was not until the end of the decade when politics in Italy really involved the masses. The PSI and PPI were the two parties that controlled Italian politics during these years. Italy was swept away bythe idea of a revolution that it never occur. It was during the Red years that workers began to strike, peasants demanded land and threats of revolution grew. "Day Labourers and sharecroppers agitated for, and won so many significant improvements that the contracts came to be called the Red Pacts. The Pacts granted peasants with basic rights such as the freedom to choose what crops were to be planted.

These Pacts made landowners unhappy and to look for alternative way that would put them back in control. "Discontent took the form of an aggressive nationalism". Politics became a test of will between classes. Middle class Italians were frustrated with the political forces of power and the growing power of the working class.

They sought a replacement to Socialism and a return to the old political class. Fascism seemed to provide the answers for the middle class Italians. Socialism had failed to achieve a unified and effective form of government. "The Socialist Party significantly failed to provide national organization to take advantage of the working class distress". The failure of the Socialists to provide national policies and to implement them were openings for the emergence of the Fascist Party. Amidst the dissatisfaction of thousands of workers that had no jobs, veterans that were bitter against their government, and two mass parties that opposed each other and criticized the government, Fascism began to gain the support of many Italians.

Fascism was led by Mussolini, a former Socialist who promised to bring order to Italy and to make it a great nation. Fascism favored strict government control of labor and industry. "The threat of Bolshevism was exploited cunningly by Mussolini and it is difficult to overestimate its importance in lunging Fascism to power". Fascism exposed the government's inability to exercise its authority. Fascism prospered in the provinces with the aid of the state authorities that after years of "Subservience to provinces socialist bosses" were happy to exert their authority. "Policemen and army officers refused to regard Fascism as subversive and justified its illegality and violence by its patriotic aims".

The authorities failed to see Fascism's violence as the very essence of the movement or to recognize it as a movement dedicated to destroy the new Democratic system. After the War the major problem facing the Italian governing class and the upper class groups was the restoration of social control of the rural and urban class. The established Parliament system had broken downunder the conflict that the War brought about. The social unrest was not suppressed by calling out the army or the police.

The Fascist movement created its own body of control alongside the existing state apparatus. It did not meet any resistance from the governments as it took place mainly in the rural areas and away from Rome. However, it was an ever increasing paramilitary force that included large numbers of discontent young officers, students, estate managers, small farmers and some sharecroppers. This body was created to defend the existing social order and to prevent a revolution of masses. The Fascist movement met with the approval of the Church, industry and even the military as the saw Fascism as an alternative to a weak, inefficient Liberal political system. Fascism offered them way of reasserting control over the workers and the peasants that after the War had become actively political.

Fascism would give them a chance to reorganize the political system and to find more suitable leadership. Mussolini's coming to power was eased by the chaotic and politicalsituation of Italy during the ten years of democracy, the economic ruin ofthe country, and the exclusion of a large part of society from thepolitical life of the nation. Once these sectors of population started participating, fascism emerges as a deterrent. It was relatively easy to destroy these sources of power as they were separated units rather than a strong unify front. In many provinces, by 1920, unions and cooperatives had formed to challenge the control of large landowners and the traditional political hierarchies. However each provincial socialist organization was a world into it self and could be attacked singularly.

This became a main target of the new Fascist movement. The peasants' leagues were a threat to the established order. A successful Agrarian Fascism paved the way for the taken over of 1922. In 1920, there were more than one million strikers in agriculture, where in the next year only 80,000.

This was accomplished bythe fascist use of physical punishment as well as intimidation. With military precision, whole towns were surrounded by fascist squads. During the first six months of 1921,119 labour chambers, 107 cooperatives and 83 peasant league offices were attacked and destroyed. The peasants, depraved of protection and poor, did not have the means to resist the attacks.

The Fascist movement became the instrument of the Burg oise revival. Most of the Fascist support came from the middle class. Absent at least initially were the representative of the heavy industry. The movement wasa protest of the rural and small-town Italy with some large participation of the urban professionals.

Among all the different groups that formed the Fascist Party the common enemy the Socialist and the threats that their institutions posed to the security of the established order. While the Fascist movement kept on growing and taking control of the nation, the Liberal government was not able to come up with ways of controlling Fascism and Socialism. Furthermore, they allowed the Fascism movement to transform from a loose movement into the National Fascist Party (PDF) a party with a conservative orientation. By 1922, political control could not be exercise by Parliamentary means. The system had become weak and it was clear that a change was needed. Even Liberals who had supported Democracy, believed by Fascism wasa necessary alternative for the malfunctioning of the Democratic system.

However, it was supposed to be only a temporary alternative until order was reestablished. Even Italy's social and economic elite was open to an understanding with this system. Fascism seizure of power was semi-constitutional, it was not a revolutionary victory nor did really saved Italy from the revolution. TheSocialist Party, had become so divided that it did not pose any threat tothe state. Fascism provided the structure for the bourgeois to take away the power from the unions and workers. During the last years of the Democratic regime there were many others other than the landowners and the industrialists waiting for revenge.

Small peasant pro pieters and tenant farmers had also suffered just as muchas the large landowners from the pressure of organized labor. They were scared by talks of nationalizing the land. They had collaborated with theSocialist Unions more out of fear than out of conviction. Shopkeepers had also lost income through a reduction of prices. And even some house owners had lost income through rent control. Affirming that much of the fear of losing social position, was not exclusively existent among themiddle class.

Besides the threat of revolution by the organized labor, many people felt insulted by the anti-militarism and the revolutionary slogans of the socialists. To all these the government lack of action or ineffectiveness to control a situation that was coming out of hand, provided the perfect path for the emergence of the Fascist movement. Mussolini who had been a socialist himself knew the weakness of the Party. This knowledge combine with his personal charisma made him a leader thatthe middle class and the elite had been looking for.

By the end of 1920, there was ample material, in both industrial and rural areas for a reactionary movement which would promise strong government, order and discipline. In 1921, Mussolini participated in the elections as way of entering Parliament. These served two purposes: to legitimatize his movement and to have a position from which to manipulate in the Parliament itself. Fascism was able to exploit the political confusion created by the attempted democratization of Italian society. The rise of Democracy faced an economic and a social crisis that created overall political instability.

The Liberal, Socialist and the Catholic political forces, failed to provide the means of easing tensions between society and the state. It is a fact that the universal suffrage was granted in 1912. However, this did not mean that the masses had an active political participation. The Socialist Party represented a meer urban minority. It did not take into account the needs nor the demands of the large discontent of the rural population. After the War, many peasants who had participated in it did not in fact returned to their rural towns, instead they established in the cities.

Their mobilization to the cities was also seen as threat to the young professional urban population. Fascism grew out of both the governing and opposition forces of Giolitti in Italy. I twas the outcome of the incapability of Liberalism to turn into liberal democracy based on universal suffrage and the fear of the bourgeois to lose the established status quo. "Italy was profoundly immature and badly adjusted to Democracy.

From this came all the events that later followed". The rise and decline of Democracy in Italy reflects a consisted political and social instability that made possible the shifts of its political system. BIBLIOGRAPHY Seton-Watson, Christopher. Italy from liberalism to fascism. London: Meu then, 1967. This book does provide detail on the important events that occurred during both Liberal and Fascism Period.

It is useful because though the reader may have an overview on how Fascism occurred, this book provides detailed information on the events that preceded it. De Grand, Alexander. Italian Fascism: Its Origins and Development. U.S. : Nebraska University Press, 1989. This book is very well written and easy to understand. The author divides it into clearly define subsections, where he explains in synthesis the events that led to Fascism. The reader may find it very useful because it identifies the external conflicts and the internal political division that influenced the development of Fascism.

Allen, Christopher. European Politics in Transition. New York: Health &Co., 1987. Although this book mainly concentrates on Italy after Fascism had taken over, it provides a good political history to understand why such transformation took place. Linz, Juan. The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes.

Georgetown: The Hopkins University Press, 1978. This book concentrates on the political instability that Italy faced before and after universal suffrage was introduced. It went into great detail to show the reader just how divided Parliament was. It does a good job of outlining what each political party believed and why they disagree on certain issues such as Italy's part in the war. Alan, Cassel's. Fascist Italy.

London: Routledge & Kegan, 1969. This book gives a brief description of what caused the downfall ofDemocracy. It mentions the most events that occurred but it does not get into great detail. The book is useful because it gives the reader a basic idea of what occurred in simpler matter. villars, Luigi. The Fascist experiment. London: Faber & Coyer, 1972.

The author tries to explain the rise of Fascism through a social point of view. He focuses for example in the labor conditions of themiddle class Italians. It is useful because it shows the reader the importance of the economic and labor conditions that influence thepolitical stability. Hebert Matthews, The Fruits of Fascism. NewYork: Harcourt, Bruce &Co., 1943.

This book concentrates when the Fascism had taken over. Although they may outdate this information, it does provide the reader with a firsthand experience of what was occurring at this time.