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To what extent was Mussolini in control of Italy by 1928?

Society and Leisure
1. Dopolavoro - controlled leisure activities, influenced workers towards a Fascist way of life; soccer clubs, 1,350 theatres, 2,000 dramatic societies
2. OND - national after work group, aimed to raise living standards and aimed to 'brainwash' Italians - set up on Labour day in order to rival socialists
  1. controlled the Ministry of Economics until 1927
  2. It had a lot of control - 300,000 members in the first year and 4,000,000 by 1939
  3. They didn't focus too much on Fascist ideology
3. Attempts to control behaviour didn't work - greeting wasn't changed
Personal Rule
1. Mussolini made laws by decree
2. the King lost the right to select the Prime Minister
3. Mussolini purged people who disagreed with him out of the Fascist Party - or sent them away e.g. Italo Balbo was sent to Libya
4. the Fascist Grand Council was created - later replaced the Cabinet
5. Officials were promoted to high positions - people joined the Fascist Party to get better careers
6. Mussolini controlled the judges by blackmailing them into being sympathetic towards Fascism
7. The King was still able to sack Mussolini - he didn't until 1943
8. People were suspicious towards the government
9. People in the South didn't understand messages from Rome - illiteracy was still a problem
Removal of Opposition
1. They had prison camps on islands
2. People were arrested with charges of conspiracy
3. Censorship - anti-Fascist propaganda was treason, journalists had to register with the government
4. OVRA - secret police, 2,000 actions weekly, had informants and agents
5. 10,000 people in internal exile 'confino'
6. 50,000 armed militia; squadristi violence reduced after 1925
7. Comparison with Hitler and Stalin
  1. less prisoners than Nazis (5,000 compared to 100,000s)
  2. not systematic
  3. make opponents conform instead of being brutal
  4. 400 killed by legal means
  5. didn't repress as much as Stalin and Hitler
Control of the Media
1. Mussolini was glorified with photography and his visual image
2. Heavy censorship - mostly done by newspaper editors
3. LUCE - set up to produce documentaries and newsreels
4. The government intervened with the film industry - part of Autarky policy
5. Newspapers were attacked by squaristi - some journalists and editors were arrested
6. The only press agency was run by a Fascist
7. Fascist newspaper only had 10% of circulation
8. The amount of official broadcasts increased in the 1930s
Propaganda and the Cult of Personality
1. Mussolini was portrayed as heroic and fit (he wasn't)
2. Most people were sceptical of the 'Cult of Ducismo', but it did help to convince people there was no alternative to Fascism
3. Italians were told that foreigners liked Mussolini - they didn't
Fascism and the Catholic Church
1. Improved relations
  1. Pope withdrew from politics
  2. Popoolari - Catholic party formed in 1923
  3. Lateran agreements - 1929
  4. Support for invasion of Ethiopia - 1936
  5. Catholicism recognised as state religion
2. Dsiputes over Catholic action youth group (1931)
3. Papal opposition to anti-Semitism (1938)
Fascism and anti-Semitism
1. 1938 - Italian Fascism became closer to Nazi Regime
2. lots of members of anti-Fascist group 'Justice and Liberty' were Jewish
3. July 1938 - Jews declared as non-Italians
4. August 1938 - Jews banned from state schools
5. October 1938 - banned from Fascist Party
6. November 1938 - banned from marrying non-Jews - however this law was inconsistent
7. November 1943 - 7,500 Jews sent to concentration camp

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To what extent was Mussolini in control of Italy by 1928?

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	Created by Eva Clifton almost 10 years ago