ITALY UNDER THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT When Fascism came into power (Oct. 28, 1922), Signor Mus solini, although rejecting alliances with other parties, accepted their collaboration, and admitted several of their members into his first cabinet. Nationalism was absorbed by Fascism early in 1923, but as the Opposition became more violent in its attacks, especially after the Matteotti murder, the party tended to concen trate more and more on itself, satisfied with its own strength and the general approval of public opinion, not attached to any party; and it still has millions of supporters who are not Fascists. The party underwent certain changes in its constitution, among which the most important were the fusion with Nationalism and the creation of the Fascist grand council. This body, which sums up, co-ordinates and directs all the activities of the party, is composed of the prime minister as chairman, and all the members of the Cabinet, with the general secretary of the party and certain other party officers both central and local. At its meetings the opinion of Fascism in the direction of various legislative reforms is mani fested, and the proposals voted are then submitted to the cabinet. Although party and Government are separate, the connection be tween the two is very close, as Signor Mussolini is at once the head of the Government and the leader of the party. (For the transformation of the grand council into an organ of the State see ITALY : History.) Relations with the Vatican.—Fascism, since it has become the Government of Italy, has shown a marked sympathy for Catholicism, which as the religion of the vast mass of the Italian people is regarded to some extent as a national institution. After long negotiations with the Vatican the Government, in Feb. 5929, agreed to surrender a territory of 44 hectares (1o8 acres) to the pope as absolute temporal sovereign, and ended an impasse which had troubled Italian politics since 187o (see PAPACY).
The Fascist tendency to isolate itself and re ject alliances with other parties was steadily advocated by Roberto Farinacci (q.v.) after his appointment as general secretary early in 1925. After the Matteotti trial, he resigned in March 1926 his appointment, having accomplished the task of reorganizing the party, and was succeeded by Augusto Turati. The party direc torate was also changed. But the general character of Fascism re mains unaltered. Its aim is to get its main principles generally accepted by the nation and embodied in a series of legislative re forms which shall make of Italy an essentially national State, as opposed to the pre-existing Liberal State, wherein the seditious elements were free to conspire against the general welfare in the interests of class or clique. These reforms comprise the restoration of national finance, the reorganization of the bureaucracy in the interests of efficiency, the reform of education, the peaceable regu lation of labour conflicts, the re-establishment of discipline in every department of the State and every aspect of national life, the im provement of agriculture and the progress of industry. Many of these reforms have already been carried out, and others are in progress. Opponents accuse Fascism of crushing liberty ; but the Fascists reply that if the freedom of the press is limited, and parties, other than the Fascist, are reduced to inactivity, the essen tial liberty of the people has been secured as never before—the freedom to work and to produce for the common good—and that only a strong Government like that of Signor Mussolini could achieve such a series of necessary and far-reaching reforms, which Liberal Governments may have desired, and even attempted, but had always failed to carry out owing to the tyranny of parlia mentary obstruction. The people, he said in July 1924, never asked him to free them from a tyranny which did not exist, but asked for railways, houses, roads, bridges, drains, water and light.
Fascist doctrine, as it has been evolved dur ing the last years, was authoritatively set forth by Prof. Alfredo Rocco, minister of justice, in a speech at Perugia on Aug. 31, 1925. After rejecting the Liberal, Socialist and Democratic theories of the State, he declared that, according to Fascism, so ciety does not exist for the individual, but the individual for so ciety, although Fascism does not annul the individual as the indi viduals annulled society under certain older doctrines, but merely subordinates him to society, while securing his right to develop his personality. Economic progress is a social interest, but Fascism considers it best to leave the production and distribution of wealth to individual enterprise in order to secure the maximum results in the interests of the community. The social problem is not solved, however, by merely rejecting the Socialist doctrine ; Fascism wishes to secure justice between classes, but class warfare must be eliminated, as it is the State which must establish justice between classes just as it does between individuals. Signor Mussolini in an article in Gerarchia (Oct. 192 5) compares "the incessant and fer tile activity of the Government with the paralysis of all the opposition parties within the chamber and without. Everyone, explicitly or otherwise, is convinced that in the Italy of 1925 Fascism alone towers like a giant." The defects of Fascism are the general defects of the Italian character : the tendency to rhetoric, arrivismo (excessive pushfulness of men on the make), which at first was accentuated by the creation of many party offices and appointments, then filled not by the worthiest but by the most pushful and ambitious. Of the deeds of violence occa sionally committed by Fascists, usually reprisals for similar deeds committed by adversaries, Signor Mussolini wrote in the above quoted article : "This violence does not facilitate the work of the Government, but compromises it." Fascism has gradually ceased to be a mere political party in the ordinary meaning of the term and has penetrated into and absorbed every manifestation of national activity. It is the driving force of the Government and of national life, and may to-day be described as a state of mind, and is accepted and warmly approved by millions of persons who are not registered members of the party organization.
Labour Syndicalism has be come one of the most important aspects of Fascism. The first statute of the party, drafted in Dec. 1921, defined the Fascist labour corporations. Labour is declared to be the basis of human welfare and progress, and all who devote themselves to productive work are regarded as workers. Fascist Syndicalism, unlike the Socialist unions, accepts the patriotic idea, recognizes the im portance of capital, and considers the fate of the worker as bound up with that of the whole nation. (Fuller details will be found in the article entitled FASCISM, ECONOMICS OF.) The National Milizia.—Before Fascism came into power its action was largely that of the armed squadre and it was the 200,000 Black Shirts (though estimates of their number vary con siderably), who effected the "March on Rome," enabling Fascism to become the government of the country. But once this was achieved, the existence of irregular Fascist forces was incom patible with Mussolini's intention of constitutionalizing the Fascist movement. To have disbanded them would have savoured of ingratitude, while their constituent elements might still be use ful to overawe the revolutionary and anti-national parties and to consolidate the Fascist regime. At a cabinet council on Dec. 28, 1922, it was decided to disband all the squadre—Fascist, Nation alist, Arditi and Legionari fiuinani, and by royal decree of Feb. 10, 1923, the Milizia volontaria per la sicurezza nazionale was created in their place. The force was voluntarily recruited from among the squadristi, the men appointed by the prime minister or the authorities delegated by him, and the officers by royal decree on the proposal of the ministers of war and of the interior. Neither officers nor men are paid, except those on permanent duty at the general or territorial headquarters (700 in all), while those who are temporarily called out for service outside their place of residence receive a daily allowance.
The total budget comes to 53,000,000 lire annually, although certain special detachments, such as the railway militia, are paid for by other departments. The force, which comprises some 300,000 men, is "at the service of God and the Italian Fatherland, and takes orders from the head of the Government." Its duties are to "assist, together with the armed forces for the public safety and the army, in the maintenance of internal order and to pre pare citizens for the defence of Italian interests in the world." It has relieved the army of many troublesome services, and al though it has never been necessary to employ it to put down revolutionary outbreaks, its mere existence has sufficed to deter the seditious elements from such action. The organization of the milizia was subsequently brought into closer harmony with exist ing institutions; the royal decree of Aug. 4, 1924, provides that its members shall take the oath of allegiance to the king, and that the officers shall be recruited from among the reserve officers of the army, navy and air force. The force is also entrusted with the pre-military training of youths under 20; the object of this measure is to give a large part of the nation a military educa tion without involving the country in too heavy expenditure. Three legions of the milizia have served with distinction in Libya.
On Oct. 25, 1927, the membership of the Fascist party and the organizations connected with it were as follows:—Fascists (regu lar registered members), 1,027,010; Avanguardisti (boys from 14 to 18 destined to become members of the party), 325,127; Balilla (schoolboys under 14 destined to become Avanguardisti), 780,937; student groups, 16,965; women Fascists, 88,083; Gio vani italiane (corresponding to the Avanguardisti), 66,253 ; Pic cole italiane (corresponding to the Balilla), 318,781; members of the workers' syndicates, 3,577,128; members of associations (civil servants, postal employees, railwaymen, teachers, etc.),
grand total: 6,814,703. By the end of 1934 this total figure had increased to nearly 1 o,000,000.
Save in a few cases of persons having rendered exceptional services, admission to the party is regularly granted only to those from the Avanguardisti (youths over 18 years).
