Misplaced Pages

#963036

117-463: The newsreel was founded after the war by Sandro Pallavicini, founder and president of the film production company INCOM. Funded by the state, and strongly backed by Christian Democrat Senator Teresio Guglielmone, with its 2555 episodes it represented for nearly two decades one of the most important and popular sources of information for the Italian audience. In the first ten years, the only editor of

234-560: A September 1920 speech: When dealing with such a race as Slavic—inferior and barbarian—we must not pursue the carrot, but the stick policy ... We should not be afraid of new victims ... The Italian border should run across the Brenner Pass , Monte Nevoso and the Dinaric Alps  ... I would say we can easily sacrifice 500,000 barbaric Slavs for 50,000 Italians ... In the same way, Mussolini argued that Italy

351-483: A Socialist ) in the radical periodical La Voce . He also wrote several essays about German literature, some stories, and one novel: L'amante del Cardinale: Claudia Particella, romanzo storico ( The Cardinal's Mistress ). This novel he co-wrote with Santi Corvaja, and it was published as a serial book in the Trento newspaper Il Popolo from 20 January to 11 May 1910. The novel was bitterly anticlerical, and years later

468-522: A classmate with a penknife and was severely punished. After joining a new non-religious school in Forlimpopoli , Mussolini achieved good grades, was appreciated by his teachers despite his violent character, and qualified as an elementary schoolmaster in July 1901. In July 1902, Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland, partly to avoid compulsory military service. He worked briefly as a stonemason but

585-630: A condition for being pardoned was serving in the army, he joined the corps of the Bersaglieri in Forlì on 30 December 1904. After serving for two years in the military (from January 1905 until September 1906), he returned to teaching. In February 1909, Mussolini again left Italy, this time to take the job as the secretary of the labour party in the Italian-speaking city of Trento , then part of Austria-Hungary . He also did office work for

702-513: A daughter, Edda, at Forlì in 1910. In 1915, he had a son with Ida Dalser , a woman born in Sopramonte, a village near Trento. He legally recognised this son on 11 January 1916. By the time he returned from service in the Allied forces of World War I, Mussolini was convinced that socialism as a doctrine had largely been a failure. In the autumn of 1917, he was recruited as a MI5 agent with

819-594: A historical and political biography about the life and mission of the Czech ecclesiastic reformer Jan Hus and his militant followers, the Hussites . During this socialist period of his life, Mussolini sometimes used the pen name "Vero Eretico" ("sincere heretic"). Mussolini rejected egalitarianism , a core doctrine of socialism. He was influenced by Nietzsche's anti-Christian ideas and negation of God's existence . Mussolini felt that socialism had faltered, in view of

936-405: A historical basis—belonged to Italy anyway. In Mussolini's thinking, demography was destiny; nations with rising populations were nations destined to conquer; and nations with falling populations were decaying powers that deserved to die. Hence, the importance of natalism to Mussolini, since only by increasing the birth rate could Italy ensure its future as a great power. By Mussolini's reckoning,

1053-614: A message that was articulated by the Fascist newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia , which was now edited by Mussolini's brother, Arnaldo . To that end, Mussolini obtained from the legislature dictatorial powers for one year (legal under the Italian constitution of the time). He favoured the complete restoration of state authority, with the integration of the Italian Fasces of Combat into the armed forces (the foundation in January 1923 of

1170-611: A new party called Christian Democratic Centre and form an alliance with Silvio Berlusconi 's new party, Forza Italia (FI). The left-wing factions stayed within the new PPI, though a minority would form the Social Christians in 1993 and would join forces with the post-communist Democratic Party of the Left (DPS). Some right-wingers, feeling Casini was still too moderate, joined the National Alliance . In 1995,

1287-429: A number of ideas that fascism promoted, such as rule by an elite promoting the state as the ultimate end, opposition to democracy, protecting the class system and promoting class collaboration, rejection of egalitarianism, promoting the militarisation of a nation by creating a class of warriors, demanding that citizens perform civic duties in the interest of the state, and utilising state intervention in education to promote

SECTION 10

#1732782685964

1404-407: A progressive, led the party and Andreotti the government. This custom, in clear contrast with the principles of a Westminster system , deeply weakened DC-led governments, so that even with broad majorities they were unable to resolve differences between the several factions of the party, and ultimately turning the Italian political system into a de facto particracy ( partitocrazia ). From the 1980s

1521-647: A short-lived government led by Fernando Tambroni relying on parliamentary support from the Italian Social Movement (MSI), the post-fascist party. In 1963 the party, under Prime Minister Aldo Moro , formed a coalition with the PSI, which returned to ministerial roles after 16 years, the PSDI and the PRI. Similar " Organic Centre-left " governments became usual through the 1960s and the 1970s. From 1976 to 1979

1638-484: A speech that acknowledged the nation as an entity, a notion he had rejected prior to the war, saying: The nation has not disappeared. We used to believe that the concept was totally without substance. Instead we see the nation arise as a palpitating reality before us! ... Class cannot destroy the nation. Class reveals itself as a collection of interests—but the nation is a history of sentiments, traditions, language, culture, and race. Class can become an integral part of

1755-625: A threat to the "white race". Mussolini believed that the United States was doomed as the American blacks had a higher birthrate than whites, making it inevitable that the blacks would take over the United States to drag it down to their level. The fact that Italy was suffering from overpopulation was seen as proving the cultural and spiritual vitality of the Italians, who were thus justified in seeking to colonise lands that Mussolini argued—on

1872-474: A unified region that had belonged to Italy from the times of the ancient Roman province of Italia , and was claimed as Italy's exclusive sphere of influence. The right to colonise the neighbouring Slovene ethnic areas and the Mediterranean, being inhabited by what were alleged to be less developed peoples, was justified on the grounds that Italy was allegedly suffering from overpopulation. Borrowing

1989-595: A £100 weekly wage by Sir Samuel Hoare , the agency's representative in Rome , in return for which he promised not only to keep up pro-war propaganda in Il Popolo but also to send army veterans in to break up any pro-peace strikes in Milan factories . In early 1918 he called for the emergence of a man "ruthless and energetic enough to make a clean sweep" to revive the Italian nation. On 23 March 1919 Mussolini re-formed

2106-776: The 1948 general election the party had its best result ever (48.5%) and an absolute majority in the Italian Parliament . The party won 66.8% in eastern Lombardy (73.6% in the Province of Bergamo ), 60.5% in Veneto (71.9% in the Province of Vicenza ), 69.6% in Trentino and 57.8% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia , that is to say where the late Italian People's Party had its strongholds. In the Centre-South

2223-773: The 2001 election . DL would be formed as an official political party in 2002, succeeding the PPI and its three allies. In 2007, DL would merge with the Democrats of the Left , the successor of the DPS, to form the Democratic Party , which is today the largest centre-left political party in Italy. The party's ideology drew on the Christian democratic doctrines developed from the 19th century referred to as Catholic social teaching ,

2340-799: The Christian Democratic Centre (CCD), while others directly joined Forza Italia . A split from the PPI, the United Christian Democrats (CDU), joined Forza Italia and the CCD in the centre-right Pole of Freedoms coalition (later becoming the Pole for Freedoms ), while the PPI was a founding member of The Olive Tree centre-left coalition in 1996. In its early years, the party was stronger in Northern Italy (especially in eastern Lombardy and Veneto ), due to

2457-759: The Italian Communist Party was the largest opposition party. From 1946 until 1994, the DC was the largest party in the Italian Parliament , governing in successive coalitions, including the Pentapartito system. It originally supported liberal-conservative governments, along with the moderate Italian Democratic Socialist Party , the Italian Liberal Party , and the Italian Republican Party , before moving towards

SECTION 20

#1732782685964

2574-549: The Italian Communist Party , DC members had ample opportunity to abuse their power, and some did. In the 1960s, scandals involved frauds such as huge illegal profits in the administration of banana import quotas and preferential allocation of purposely misprinted and therefore rare postage stamps. Giovanni Leone was forced to resign as President of the Italian Republic in 1978 after the Lockheed bribery scandals . He

2691-540: The Italian Parliament , De Gasperi continued to govern at the head of the centrist coalition, which was successively abandoned by the Liberals, who hoped for more right-wing policies, in 1950 and the Democratic Socialists, who hoped for more leftist policies, in 1951. Under De Gasperi, major land reforms were carried out in the poorer rural regions in the early postwar years, with farms appropriated from

2808-533: The Marxist idea of class struggle . The party thus advocated collaboration between social classes and was basically a catch-all party which aimed to represent both right-wing and left-wing Italian Catholics under the principle of the "political unity of Catholics" against socialism , communism and anarchism . It ultimately represented the majority of Italians who were opposed to the Italian Communist Party . The party was, however, originally equidistant between

2925-662: The National Fascist Party at a congress in Rome. In 1921 , Mussolini won election to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time. In the meantime, from about 1911 until 1938, Mussolini had various affairs with the Jewish author and academic Margherita Sarfatti , called the "Jewish Mother of Fascism" at the time. In the night between 27 and 28 October 1922, about 30,000 Fascist blackshirts gathered in Rome to demand

3042-676: The Organic Centre-left involving the Italian Socialist Party . The party was succeeded by a string of smaller parties, including the Italian People's Party , the Christian Democratic Centre , the United Christian Democrats , and the still active Union of the Centre . Former DC members are also spread among other parties, including the centre-right Forza Italia and the centre-left Democratic Party . It

3159-466: The Segni Pact , and contemporary polling suggested heavy losses for the DC in the upcoming 1994 general election . In hopes of changing the party's image, the DC's last secretary, Mino Martinazzoli decided to change the name of the party into the Italian People's Party (PPI). Pier Ferdinando Casini , representing the right-wing faction of the party (previously led by Forlani) decided to launch

3276-635: The Spanish Civil War . Mussolini took part in the Treaty of Lausanne , Four-Power Pact and Stresa Front . However, he alienated the democratic powers as tensions grew in the League of Nations , which he left in 1937. Now hostile to France and Britain, Italy formed the Axis alliance with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan . The wars of the 1930s cost Italy enormous resources, leaving it unprepared for

3393-521: The University of Lausanne 's Department of Social Science on 7 May 1904, attending the lectures of Vilfredo Pareto. In 1937, when he was prime minister of Italy, the University of Lausanne awarded Mussolini an honorary doctorate . In December 1904, Mussolini returned to Italy to take advantage of an amnesty for desertion from the military. He had been convicted for this in absentia . Since

3510-563: The Voluntary Militia for National Security ) and the progressive identification of the party with the state. In political and social economy, he passed legislation that favoured the wealthy industrial and agrarian classes (privatisations, liberalisations of rent laws and dismantlement of the unions). In 1923, Mussolini sent Italian forces to invade Corfu during the Corfu incident . The League of Nations proved powerless, and Greece

3627-632: The general strike , and the use of neo-Machiavellian appeals to emotion, impressed Mussolini deeply. Mussolini became active in the Italian socialist movement in Switzerland, working for the paper L'Avvenire del Lavoratore , organising meetings, giving speeches to workers, and serving as secretary of the Italian workers' union in Lausanne . Angelica Balabanov reportedly introduced him to Vladimir Lenin , who later criticised Italian socialists for having lost Mussolini from their cause. In 1903, he

La Settimana Incom - Misplaced Pages Continue

3744-712: The interwar period . Mussolini was originally a socialist politician and journalist at the Avanti! newspaper . In 1912, he became a member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), but was expelled for advocating military intervention in World War I . In 1914, Mussolini founded a newspaper, Il Popolo d'Italia , and served in the Royal Italian Army until he was wounded and discharged in 1917. Mussolini eventually denounced

3861-653: The 1920s, he ordered the Pacification of Libya , the bombing of Corfu over an incident with Greece , and annexed Fiume , after a treaty with Yugoslavia . In 1936, Ethiopia was conquered following the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and merged into Italian East Africa (AOI) with Eritrea and Somalia . In 1939, Italian forces annexed Albania . Between 1936 and 1939, Mussolini ordered an intervention in Spain in favour of Francisco Franco , during

3978-511: The 1980s, the Italian economy was being undermined by a constant devaluation of the Italian lira and the issuing of large amounts of high-interest treasury bonds, so that, between 1982 and 1992, the excessive budget deficit built a significant proportion of the debt that would plague the country well into the 21st century. In 1992 the Mani pulite investigation was started in Milan , uncovering

4095-821: The Allies, in September 1943, Mussolini was rescued in the Gran Sasso raid by Germany. Hitler made Mussolini the figurehead of a puppet state in German-occupied north Italy, the Italian Social Republic , which served as a collaborationist regime of the Germans. With Allied victory imminent, Mussolini and mistress Clara Petacci attempted to flee to Switzerland, but were captured by communist partisans and executed on 28 April 1945. Mussolini

4212-546: The Communists and the hard right represented by the Italian Social Movement . As a catch-all party, the DC differed from other European Christian Democratic parties, such as the Christian Democratic Union of Germany , that were mainly conservative political groupings. The DC, which included conservative as well as social-democratic and liberal elements was characterised by factionalism and by

4329-575: The DC gained more than 50% of the vote in Lazio (51.9%), Abruzzo (53.7%) and Campania (50.5%). From the late 1950s, the DC's support started to move South and by the 1980s it was stronger in the South than in the North, with the exception of Veneto, which remained one of the party's strongholds. In the 1983 general election the party suffered a dramatic decrease in term of votes and its electoral geography

4446-671: The DC governed with the external support of the PCI, through the Historic Compromise . Moro, who was the party main leader and who had inspired the Compromise, was abducted and murdered by the Red Brigades . The event was a shock for the party. When Moro was abducted, the government, at the time led by Giulio Andreotti , immediately took a hardline position stating that the "State must not bend" on terrorist demands. This

4563-454: The DC played a dominant role in the politics of Italy for fifty years, and had been part of the government from soon after its inception until its final demise on 16 January 1994 amid the Tangentopoli scandals. Christian Democrats led the Italian government continuously from 1946 until 1981. The party was nicknamed the "White Whale" ( Italian : Balena bianca ) due to its huge organisation and official colour. During its time in government,

4680-471: The First World War that resulted in his ousting from the Italian Socialist Party: Professor Benito Mussolini, ... 38, revolutionary socialist, has a police record; elementary school teacher qualified to teach in secondary schools; former first secretary of the Chambers in Cesena, Forlì, and Ravenna; after 1912 editor of the newspaper Avanti! to which he gave a violent suggestive and intransigent orientation. In October 1914, finding himself in opposition to

4797-419: The Italian Futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti , French Socialist Gustave Hervé , Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta , and German philosophers Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx , the founders of Marxism . Mussolini had taught himself French and German and translated excerpts from Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and Kant . During this time, he published Il Trentino veduto da un Socialista ( Trentino as viewed by

La Settimana Incom - Misplaced Pages Continue

4914-609: The Italian Socialist Party and its support of orthodox socialism, he claimed that his failure as a member of the party to revitalise and transform it to recognise the contemporary reality revealed the hopelessness of orthodox socialism as outdated and a failure. This perception of the failure of orthodox socialism in the light of the outbreak of World War I was not solely held by Mussolini; other pro-interventionist Italian socialists such as Filippo Corridoni and Sergio Panunzio had also denounced classical Marxism in favour of intervention. These basic political views and principles formed

5031-550: The Italian population had to reach 60 million to enable Italy to fight a major war—hence his relentless demands for Italian women to have more children. Mussolini and the fascists managed to be simultaneously revolutionary and traditionalist ; because this was vastly different from anything else in the political climate of the time, it is sometimes described as "The Third Way". The Fascisti, led by one of Mussolini's close confidants, Dino Grandi , formed armed squads of war veterans called blackshirts (or squadristi ) with

5148-404: The Milan fascio as the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Italian Combat Squad), consisting of 200 members. The ideological basis for fascism came from a number of sources. Mussolini drew from the works of Plato , Georges Sorel , Nietzsche , and the economic ideas of Vilfredo Pareto . Mussolini admired Plato's The Republic , which he often read for inspiration. The Republic expounded

5265-484: The PPI would ally with the DPS and several smaller centre-left parties to form The Olive Tree . The alliance, whose primary components were two legal successors to the two major political forces of pre-1990s Italy, won the election. Romano Prodi , an independent former PPI member, led the list and became prime minister. Faced with flagging poll numbers, the PPI formed Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL) after allying three other smaller, social liberal parties to contest

5382-500: The PSI, his views now centering on Italian nationalism , and founded the fascist movement which opposed egalitarianism and class conflict , instead advocating " revolutionary nationalism " transcending class lines . In October 1922, following the March on Rome , Mussolini was appointed prime minister by King Victor Emmanuel III . After removing opposition through his secret police and outlawing labour strikes , Mussolini and his followers consolidated power through laws that transformed

5499-403: The Second World War; Mussolini initially declared Italy's non-belligerence. However, in June 1940, believing Allied defeat imminent, he joined the war on Germany's side, to share the spoils. After the tide turned, and the Allied invasion of Sicily , King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini as head of government and placed him in custody in July 1943. After the king agreed to an armistice with

5616-415: The Socialist Party, as they were two " revisionists " who had supported the war. In 1912, he became a member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). He was rewarded with the editorship of the Socialist Party newspaper Avanti! Under his leadership, its circulation soon rose from 20,000 to 100,000. John Gunther in 1940 called him "one of the best journalists alive"; Mussolini

5733-464: The anti-interventionist orthodox socialists resulted in violence between the Fascists and socialists. These early hostilities between the Fascists and the revolutionary socialists shaped Mussolini's conception of the nature of Fascism in its support of political violence. Mussolini became an ally with the irredentist politician and journalist Cesare Battisti . When World War I started, Mussolini, like many Italian nationalists, volunteered to fight. He

5850-423: The basis of Mussolini's newly formed political movement, the Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria in 1914, who called themselves Fascisti (Fascists). At this time, the Fascists did not have an integrated set of policies and the movement was small, ineffective in its attempts to hold mass meetings, and was regularly harassed by government authorities and orthodox socialists. Antagonism between the interventionists versus

5967-452: The beginning of the 1980s, the DC had lost part of its support among Italian voters. In 1981, Giovanni Spadolini of the PRI was the first non-Christian Democrat to lead a government since 1944, at the head of a coalition comprising the DC, the PSI, the PSDI, the PRI and the PLI, the so-called Pentapartito . In the successive 1983 general election , the DC suffered one of its largest declines in votes up to that point, receiving only 32.5% of

SECTION 50

#1732782685964

6084-423: The centre-left) and Giulio Andreotti (closer to the centre-right). Moreover, it was often the case that if the government was led by a centre-right Christian Democrat, the party was led by a left-winger and vice versa. This was what happened in the 1950s when Fanfani was party secretary and the government was led by centre-right figures such as Scelba and Segni, as well as in the late 1970s when Benigno Zaccagnini ,

6201-505: The centre-right United Christian Democrats , which were led by Rocco Buttiglione , split off from the PPI and also entered in alliance with FI. In the following years, most Christian Democrats joined FI, which became the party with the most ex-DC members in absolute terms. In December 1999, Forza Italia gained full membership in the European People's Party . The PPI would continue in a rump fashion, usually finding itself in left of centre political coalitions. In 1996 , under Franco Marini ,

6318-465: The common people of Italy to be participating members in what would be Italy's first national war. Thus he claimed that the vast social changes that the war could offer meant that it should be supported as a revolutionary war. As Mussolini's support for the intervention solidified, he came into conflict with socialists who opposed the war. He attacked the opponents of the war and claimed that those proletarians who supported pacifism were out of step with

6435-475: The continuation of the struggle in which he was engaged ... But assuming these modifications did take place ... he always wanted to give the appearance of still being a socialist, and he fooled himself into thinking that this was the case. After being ousted by the Italian Socialist Party, Mussolini made a radical transformation, ending his support for class conflict and joining in support of revolutionary nationalism transcending class lines. He formed

6552-438: The danger of a totalitarian evolution. As Prime Minister, the first years of Mussolini's rule were characterised by a right-wing coalition government of Fascists, nationalists, liberals, and two Catholic clerics from the People's Party . The Fascists made up a small minority in his original governments. Mussolini's domestic goal was the eventual establishment of a totalitarian state with himself as supreme leader ( Il Duce ),

6669-409: The development of warriors and future rulers of the state. The idea behind Mussolini's foreign policy was that of spazio vitale (vital space), a concept in Italian Fascism that was analogous to Lebensraum in German National Socialism. The concept of spazio vitale was first announced in 1919, when the entire Mediterranean , especially so-called Julian March , was redefined to make it appear

6786-551: The directorate of the Italian Socialist party because he advocated a kind of active neutrality on the part of Italy in the War of the Nations against the party's tendency of absolute neutrality, he withdrew on the twentieth of that month from the directorate of Avanti! Then on the fifteenth of November [1914], thereafter, he initiated publication of the newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia , in which he supported—in sharp contrast to Avanti! and amid bitter polemics against that newspaper and its chief backers—the thesis of Italian intervention in

6903-541: The double adherence of members to the party and to factions which were often identified with individual leaders. The DC's factions spanned the political spectrum from left to right and continually evolved over time. In the early years, centrists and liberal-conservatives such as Alcide De Gasperi , Giuseppe Pella , Ezio Vanoni and Mario Scelba led the party. After them, progressives led by Amintore Fanfani were in charge, though opposed by right wing led by Antonio Segni . The party's left wing, with its roots in

7020-446: The fact that DC's share of the vote was always between 38 and 43% from 1953 to 1979 , the party was more and more fractured. As a result, Prime Ministers changed more frequently. From 1954 the DC was led by progressive Christian Democrats, such as Amintore Fanfani , Aldo Moro and Benigno Zaccagnini , supported by the influential left-wing factions. In the 1950s the party formed centrist or moderately centre-left coalitions, and even

7137-452: The failures of Marxist determinism and social democratic reformism , and believed that Nietzsche's ideas would strengthen socialism. Mussolini's writings came to reflect an abandonment of Marxism and egalitarianism in favour of Nietzsche's übermensch concept and anti-egalitarianism. When World War I began in August 1914, many socialist parties worldwide followed the rising nationalist current and supported their country's intervention in

SECTION 60

#1732782685964

7254-437: The fall of Hohenzollern and Habsburg monarchies and the repression of "reactionary" Turkey would create conditions beneficial for the working class, and that the mobilisation required for the war would undermine Russia's reactionary authoritarianism and bring Russia to social revolution. He said that for Italy the war would complete the process of Risorgimento by uniting the Italians in Austria-Hungary into Italy and by allowing

7371-472: The goal of restoring order to the streets of Italy with a strong hand. The blackshirts clashed with communists, socialists, and anarchists at parades and demonstrations; all of these factions were also involved in clashes against each other. The Italian government rarely interfered with the blackshirts' actions, owing in part to a looming threat and widespread fear of a communist revolution. The Fascisti grew rapidly; within two years they transformed themselves into

7488-468: The idea first developed by Enrico Corradini before 1914 of the natural conflict between " plutocratic " nations like Britain and "proletarian" nations like Italy, Mussolini claimed that Italy's principal problem was that "plutocratic" countries like Britain were blocking Italy from achieving the necessary spazio vitale that would let the Italian economy grow. Mussolini equated a nation's potential for economic growth with territorial size, thus in his view

7605-439: The interventionist newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia and the Fascio Rivoluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista ("Revolutionary Fasces of International Action") in October 1914. His nationalist support of intervention enabled him to raise funds from Ansaldo (an armaments firm) and other companies to create Il Popolo d'Italia to convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war. Further funding for Il Popolo during

7722-421: The large landowners and parcelled out to the peasants. In addition, during its years in office, Christian Democrats passed a number of laws safeguarding employees from exploitation, established a national health service, and initiated low-cost housing in Italy's major cities. De Gasperi served as prime minister until 1953 and died a year later. No Christian Democrat would match his longevity in office and, despite

7839-426: The left of the late Italian People's Party ( Giovanni Gronchi , Achille Grandi and controversial Fernando Tambroni ), was reinforced by new leaders such as Giuseppe Dossetti , Giorgio La Pira , Giuseppe Lazzati and Fanfani himself. Most of them were social democrats by European standards. The party was often led by centrist figures unaffiliated to any faction such as Aldo Moro , Mariano Rumor (both closer to

7956-438: The local Socialist Party, and edited its newspaper L'Avvenire del Lavoratore ( The Future of the Worker ). Returning to Italy, he spent a brief time in Milan , and in 1910 he returned to his hometown of Forlì, where he edited the weekly Lotta di classe ( The Class Struggle ). Mussolini thought of himself as an intellectual and was considered to be well-read. He read avidly; his favourites in European philosophy included Sorel,

8073-430: The military authoritarianism of Garibaldi, and the nationalism of Mazzini. In 1902, at the anniversary of Garibaldi's death, Mussolini made a public speech in praise of the republican nationalist. Mussolini was sent to a boarding school in Faenza run by Salesians . Despite being shy, he often clashed with teachers and fellow boarders due to his proud, grumpy, and violent behaviour. During an argument, he injured

8190-405: The nation into a one-party dictatorship . Within five years, Mussolini established dictatorial authority by legal and illegal means and aspired to create a totalitarian state. In 1929, Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty to establish Vatican City . Mussolini's foreign policy was based on the fascist doctrine of " Spazio vitale " ("living space"), which aimed to expand Italian possessions. In

8307-421: The nation, but the one cannot eclipse the other. The class struggle is a vain formula, without effect and consequence wherever one finds a people that has not integrated itself into its proper linguistic and racial confines—where the national problem has not been definitely resolved. In such circumstances the class movement finds itself impaired by an inauspicious historic climate. Mussolini continued to promote

8424-467: The need of a revolutionary vanguard elite to lead society. He no longer advocated a proletarian vanguard, but instead a vanguard led by dynamic and revolutionary people of any social class. Though he denounced orthodox socialism and class conflict, he maintained at the time that he was a nationalist socialist and a supporter of the legacy of nationalist socialists in Italy's history, such as Giuseppe Garibaldi , Giuseppe Mazzini , and Carlo Pisacane . As for

8541-708: The newsreel was Giacomo Debenedetti . The episodes, each lasting about 10 minutes, were projected in cinemas before the beginning of the films. The reports were largely focused on the needs of the reconstruction of a country steeped from wartime destruction, in addition to the prospect of redemption and progress. In 1967 the Istituto Luce acquired the complete archive of the newsreel. Augusto Sainati (2001). La Settimana Incom: cinegiornali e informazione negli anni '50 . Lindau, 2001. ISBN   8871803523 . Christian Democracy (Italy) Christian Democracy ( Italian : Democrazia Cristiana , DC )

8658-547: The party was divided between the centre-right led by Arnaldo Forlani (supported also by the party's right wing) and the centre-left led by Ciriaco De Mita (whose supporters included trade unionists and the internal left), with Andreotti holding the balance. De Mita, who led the party from 1982 to 1989, tried to transform the party into a mainstream "conservative party" in line with the European People's Party to preserve party unity. He became prime minister in 1988 but

8775-449: The political thought of Romolo Murri and Luigi Sturzo , and ultimately the tradition of the defunct Italian People's Party . Two Papal encyclicals , Rerum novarum (1891) of Pope Leo XIII , and Quadragesimo anno (1931) of Pope Pius XI , offered a further basis for the DC's social and political doctrine. In economics , the DC preferred competition to cooperation , supported the model of social market economy , and rejected

8892-584: The problem of poverty in Italy could only be solved by winning the necessary spazio vitale . Though biological racism was less prominent in Italian Fascism than in National Socialism , right from the start the spazio vitale concept had a strong racist undercurrent. Mussolini asserted there was a "natural law" for stronger peoples to subject and dominate "inferior" peoples such as the "barbaric" Slavic peoples of Yugoslavia. He stated in

9009-681: The proletarians who had joined the rising interventionist vanguard that was preparing Italy for a revolutionary war. He began to criticise the Italian Socialist Party and socialism itself for having failed to recognise the national problems that had led to the outbreak of the war. He was expelled from the party for his support of intervention. A police report prepared by the Inspector-General of Public Security in Milan, G. Gasti, describes his background and his position on

9126-426: The public. Leaders such as Antonio Gava , Calogero Mannino , Vito Ciancimino , Salvo Lima and especially Giulio Andreotti were perceived by many to belong to a grey zone between simple corruption and Mafia business, even if most of them were later acquitted. Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (in Switzerland known as Benedetto Mussolini ; 29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945)

9243-487: The resignation of liberal Prime Minister Luigi Facta and the appointment of a new Fascist government. On the morning of 28 October, King Victor Emmanuel III , who according to the Albertine Statute held the supreme military power, refused the government request to declare martial law , which led to Facta's resignation. The King then handed over power to Mussolini (who stayed in his headquarters in Milan during

9360-506: The side of the Allies and utilised the Società Dante Alighieri to promote Italian nationalism. Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war. Prior to Mussolini taking a position on the war, a number of revolutionary syndicalists had announced their support of intervention, including Alceste De Ambris , Filippo Corridoni , and Angelo Oliviero Olivetti . The Italian Socialist Party decided to oppose

9477-407: The so-called Tangentopoli scandals (endemic corruption practices at the highest levels), and causing numerous, often controversial, arrests and resignations. After the dismal result in the 1992 general election (29.7%), also due to the rise of Lega Nord in northern Italy and two years of mounting scandals (which included several Mafia investigations which notably touched Andreotti), the party

9594-720: The strong Catholic roots of those areas, than it was in the South . There, the Liberal establishment that had governed Italy for decades before the rise of Benito Mussolini still had grip on voters, as well as the Monarchist National Party and the Common Man's Front . The DC was very weak in Emilia-Romagna and Central Italy , where the Italian Communist Party was the dominant political force. In

9711-588: The successor parties of the DC continued to be key political actors only in the South, where the clientelistic way of government practised by the Christian Democrats and their allies had left a mark. In the 1996 general election the League gained 7 out of 8 single-seat constituencies in the Province of Bergamo and 5 out of 6 in the Province of Vicenza, winning well over 40%, while the combined score of

9828-473: The talks) by asking him to form a new government. The King's controversial decision has been explained by historians as a combination of delusions and fears; Mussolini enjoyed wide support in the military and among the industrial and agrarian elites, while the King and the conservative establishment were afraid of a possible civil war and thought they could use Mussolini to restore law and order, but failed to foresee

9945-559: The three main post-DC parties (the new PPI , the CCD and the CDU ) was highest in Campania (22.3%). In the 1996 Sicilian regional election the combined score of those parties was 26.4%. The electoral results of the DC in general (Chamber of Deputies) and European Parliament elections since 1946 are shown in the chart below. Having ruled Italy for over 40 years with no alternative other than

10062-516: The vote cast (a decline of -5.8% relative to 1981). Subsequently, Bettino Craxi (leader of the rising PSI) reclaimed for himself the post of prime minister, again at the head of a Pentapartito government. DC re-gained the post of prime minister in 1987, after a modest recovery in the 1987 general election (34.2%), and the Pentapartito coalition governed Italy almost continuously until 1993. While Italy experienced steady economic progress in

10179-503: The war after anti-militarist protestors had been killed, resulting in a general strike called Red Week . Mussolini initially held official support for the party's decision and, in an August 1914 article, Mussolini wrote "Down with the War. We remain neutral." He saw the war as an opportunity, both for his own ambitions as well as those of socialists and Italians. He was influenced by anti-Austrian Italian nationalist sentiments, believing that

10296-600: The war against the militarism of the Central Empires. For this reason he was accused of moral and political unworthiness and the party thereupon decided to expel him ... Thereafter he ... undertook a very active campaign in behalf of Italian intervention, participating in demonstrations in the piazzas and writing quite violent articles in Popolo d'Italia ... In his summary, the Inspector also noted: He

10413-494: The war came from French sources, beginning in May 1915, in part from French socialists who wanted Italian intervention on France's side. Britain, and possibly Russia and the United States, also subsidized the paper. On 5 December 1914, Mussolini denounced orthodox socialism for failing to recognise that the war had made national identity and loyalty more significant than class distinction. He fully demonstrated his transformation in

10530-961: The war offered Italians in Austria-Hungary the chance to liberate themselves from rule of the Habsburgs . He eventually decided to declare support for the war by appealing to the need for socialists to overthrow the Hohenzollern and Habsburg monarchies in Germany and Austria-Hungary who he said had consistently repressed socialism. Mussolini further justified his position by denouncing the Central Powers for being reactionary powers; for pursuing imperialist designs against Belgium and Serbia as well as historically against Denmark, France, and against Italians, since hundreds of thousands of Italians were under Habsburg rule. He argued that

10647-447: The war. In Italy, the outbreak of the war created a surge of Italian nationalism and intervention was supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war was Gabriele d'Annunzio who promoted Italian irredentism and helped sway the Italian public to support intervention. The Italian Liberal Party under the leadership of Paolo Boselli promoted intervention on

10764-657: The way for a centrist coalition that included the Italian Workers' Socialist Party (PSLI), a centrist break-away from the PSI, as well as its usual allies, the PLI and the PRI. In the 1948 general election the DC went on to win a decisive victory, with the support of the Catholic Church and the United States , and obtained 48.5% of the vote, its best result ever. Despite his party's absolute majority in

10881-403: Was a Christian democratic political party in Italy . The DC was founded on 15 December 1943 in the Italian Social Republic (Nazi-occupied Italy) as the nominal successor of the Italian People's Party , which had the same symbol, a crusader shield ( scudo crociato ). As a Catholic -inspired, centrist , catch-all party comprising both centre-right and centre-left political factions,

10998-797: Was a devout Catholic schoolteacher. Given his father's political leanings, Mussolini was named Benito after liberal Mexican president Benito Juárez , while his middle names, Andrea and Amilcare, were for Italian socialists Andrea Costa and Amilcare Cipriani . In return his mother required that he be baptised at birth. Benito was followed by his siblings Arnaldo and Edvige . As a young boy, Mussolini helped his father in his smithy. Mussolini's early political views were strongly influenced by his father, who idolised 19th-century Italian nationalist figures with humanist tendencies such as Carlo Pisacane , Giuseppe Mazzini , and Giuseppe Garibaldi . His father's political outlook combined views of anarchist figures such as Carlo Cafiero and Mikhail Bakunin ,

11115-578: Was a founding member of the European People's Party in 1976. The party was founded as the revival of the Italian People's Party (PPI), a political party created in 1919 by Luigi Sturzo , a Catholic priest. The PPI won over 20% of the votes in the 1919 and 1921 general elections , but was declared illegal by the Fascist dictatorship in 1926 despite the presence of some Popolari in Benito Mussolini 's first government. As World War II

11232-541: Was a very different position from the one taken in similar cases before and after (such as the kidnapping of Ciro Cirillo , a Campanian DC member for whom a ransom was paid thanks to the local ties of the party with the Camorra ). It was however supported by all the mainstream parties, including the PCI, with the two notable exceptions of the PSI and the Radicals . In the trial for Mafia allegations against Andreotti, it

11349-658: Was a working reporter while preparing for the March on Rome, and wrote for the Hearst News Service until 1935. Mussolini was so familiar with Marxist literature that in his writings he would not only quote from well-known Marxist works but also from the relatively obscure works. During this period Mussolini considered himself an "authoritarian communist " and a Marxist and he described Karl Marx as "the greatest of all theorists of socialism." In 1913, he published Giovanni Hus, il veridico ( Jan Hus, true prophet ),

11466-494: Was an Italian dictator who founded and led the National Fascist Party (PNF). He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922, until his deposition in 1943, as well as Duce of Italian fascism from the establishment of the Italian Fasces of Combat in 1919, until his summary execution in 1945 . As a dictator and founder of fascism , Mussolini inspired the international spread of fascist movements during

11583-487: Was appointed Prime Minister of Italy . The Christian Democracy party was opposed to both Fascism and Communism. In elections Italians were voting based on a way of life, not just a political party. Christian ideals were usually paired with the idea of freedom. In the 1946 general election the DC won 35.2% of the vote. In May 1947 De Gasperi broke decisively with his Communist and Socialist coalition partners under pressure from U.S. President Harry Truman . This opened

11700-710: Was arrested by Bernese police because of his advocacy of a violent general strike, spent two weeks in jail, and was handed over to Italian police in Chiasso . After he was released in Italy, he returned to Switzerland. He was arrested again in Geneva, in April 1904, for falsifying his passport expiration date, and was expelled from the canton of Geneva . He was released in Bellinzona following protests from Genevan socialists. Mussolini then returned to Lausanne, where he entered

11817-512: Was born on 29 July 1883 in Dovia di Predappio , a small town in the province of Forlì in Romagna . During the Fascist era, Predappio was dubbed "Duce's town" and Forlì was called "Duce's city", with pilgrims going to Predappio and Forlì to see the birthplace of Mussolini. Benito Mussolini's father, Alessandro Mussolini , was a blacksmith and a socialist, while his mother, Rosa (née Maltoni),

11934-454: Was compromising with his personal and political honesty by making use of every means—no matter where they came from or wherever he might obtain them—to pay for his newspaper, his program and his line of action. This was his initial line. It is difficult to say to what extent his socialist convictions (which he never either openly or privately abjure) may have been sacrificed in the course of the indispensable financial deals which were necessary for

12051-423: Was disbanded in 1994. In the 1990s most of the politicians prosecuted during those investigations were acquitted, sometimes however on the basis of legal formalities or on the basis of statutory time limit rules. In 1992, Mario Segni led a breakaway faction called Populars for Reform (PR). The DC suffered heavy defeats in the 1993 provincial and municipal elections. Subsequently, Segni's PR would be reformed as

12168-539: Was ending, the Christian Democrats started organising post-Fascist Italy in coalition with all the other mainstream parties, including the Italian Communist Party (PCI), the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), the Italian Liberal Party (PLI), the Italian Republican Party (PRI), the Action Party (Pd'A) and the Labour Democratic Party (PDL). In December 1945 Christian Democrat Alcide De Gasperi

12285-526: Was forced to comply with Italian demands. In June 1923, the government passed the Acerbo Law , which transformed Italy into a single national constituency. It also granted a two-thirds majority of the seats in Parliament to the party or group of parties that received at least 25% of the votes. This law applied in the elections of 6 April 1924 . The national alliance , consisting of Fascists, most of

12402-525: Was later acquitted. Like the other parties of the Pentapartito coalition, the DC was invested in the Tangentopoli scandals and in the subsequent Mani pulite . Moreover, as Southern Italy had become the party's stronghold in the 1970s and the 1980s, it was likely that the Sicilian Mafia and dishonest politicians tried to collaborate. The DC was the party most associated with Mafia among

12519-630: Was promoted to the rank of corporal "for merit in war". The promotion was recommended because of his exemplary conduct and fighting quality, his mental calmness and lack of concern for discomfort, his zeal and regularity in carrying out his assignments, where he was always first in every task involving labor and fortitude. Mussolini's military experience is told in his work Diario di guerra . He totalled about nine months of active, front-line trench warfare. During this time, he contracted paratyphoid fever . His military exploits ended in February 1917 when he

12636-566: Was replaced by Forlani in 1989. Disagreements between de Mita and Forlani brought Andreotti back to the prime-ministership from 1989 to 1992. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the great Cold War ideological conflict, and ultimately the Tangentopoli scandals, the heterogeneous nature of the party led it to its collapse. The bulk of the DC's membership joined the new Italian People's Party (PPI), but immediately several centre-right elements led by Pier Ferdinando Casini joined

12753-480: Was right to follow an imperialist policy in Africa because he saw all black people as "inferior" to whites. Mussolini claimed that the world was divided into a hierarchy of races (though this was justified more on cultural than on biological grounds), and that history was nothing more than a Darwinian struggle for power and territory between various "racial masses". Mussolini saw high birthrates in Africa and Asia as

12870-480: Was said that he took the chance of getting rid of a dangerous political competitor by sabotaging all of the rescue options and ultimately leaving the captors with no option but killing him. During his captivity Moro wrote a series of letters, at times very critical of Andreotti. . Later the memorial written by Moro during his imprisonment was subject to several plots, including the assassination of journalist Mino Pecorelli and general Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa . At

12987-607: Was stronger precisely in the traditional Christian Democratic heartlands, the DC was reduced to 21.0% in Piedmont (with the League at 16.3%), 32.1% in western Lombardy (League at 25.2%), 31.7% in Veneto (League at 17.3%) and 28.0% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia (League at 17.0%). As the DC's role was reduced, the 1919 PPI strongholds and the DC's traditional heartlands would become the Lega Nord's power base. Meanwhile,

13104-573: Was the ideal editor of Avanti! for the Socialists. In that line of work he was greatly esteemed and beloved. Some of his former comrades and admirers still confess that there was no one who understood better how to interpret the spirit of the proletariat and there was no one who did not observe his apostasy with sorrow. This came about not for reasons of self-interest or money. He was a sincere and passionate advocate, first of vigilant and armed neutrality, and later of war; and he did not believe that he

13221-604: Was turned down because of his radical Socialism and told to wait for his reserve call up. He was called up on 31 August and reported for duty with his old unit, the Bersaglieri . After a two-week refresher course he was sent to Isonzo front where he took part in the Second Battle of the Isonzo, September 1915. His unit also took part in the Third Battle of the Isonzo, October 1915. The Inspector General continued: He

13338-410: Was unable to find a permanent job. During this time he studied the ideas of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche , the sociologist Vilfredo Pareto , and the syndicalist Georges Sorel . Mussolini also later credited Charles Péguy and Hubert Lagardelle as influences. Sorel's emphasis on the need for overthrowing decadent liberal democracy and capitalism by the use of violence, direct action ,

13455-534: Was very different from 30 or even 10 years before, as the region where it obtained the best result was Apulia (46.0%). In the 1992 general election the shift was even more evident as the party was over the 40% mark only in some Southern regions (41.1% in Campania , 44.5 in Basilicata and 41.2% in Sicily ), while it barely reached 20-25% of the vote in the North. As a result of the rise of Lega Nord , which

13572-531: Was withdrawn from circulation after Mussolini made a truce with the Vatican. He had become one of Italy's most prominent socialists. In September 1911, Mussolini participated in a riot, led by socialists, against the Italian war in Libya . He bitterly denounced Italy's "imperialist war," an action that earned him a five-month jail term. After his release, he helped expel Ivanoe Bonomi and Leonida Bissolati from

13689-519: Was wounded accidentally by the explosion of a mortar bomb in his trench. He was left with at least 40 shards of metal in his body and had to be evacuated from the front. He was discharged from the hospital in August 1917 and resumed his editor-in-chief position at his new paper, Il Popolo d'Italia . On 25 December 1915, in Treviglio , he married his compatriot Rachele Guidi, who had already borne him

#963036