| Civil unrest in Italy (1919–1926) Fascist Revolution | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theRevolutions of 1917–23 | ||||||||
.jpg) Benito Mussolini and fascists during theMarch on Rome in 1922 | ||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
| Far-left andanti-fascists | Government | Fascists | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
 Amadeo Bordiga (communist)Antonio Gramsci (communist) Errico Malatesta (anarcho-communist) Guido Picelli (Arditi del Popolo, an anti-fascist coalition) | 1919–1922 1922–1926  Victor Emmanuel IIIBenito Mussolini |  Benito Mussolini (allied with the government after 1922) | ||||||
TheKingdom of Italy witnessed significant widespread civil unrest and political strife in theaftermath of World War I and the rise ofItalian fascism, thefar-right movement led byBenito Mussolini, which opposed the rise at the international level of thepolitical left, especially thefar-left along with others who opposedfascism. This period of unrest was labelled by the Fascists and later by some historians"the Fascist Revolution" (rivoluzione fascista), although the term did not become commonly accepted by Italian historiography.
Fascists and leftists fought on the streets during this period as the two factions competed to gain power in Italy. The already tense political environment in Italy escalated into major civil unrest when fascists began attacking their rivals, beginning on 15 April 1919 with fascists attacking the offices of theItalian Socialist Party's newspaperAvanti![1]
Violence grew in 1921 withRoyal Italian Army officers beginning to assist the fascists with their violence againstcommunists andsocialists.[2] With the fascist movement growing,anti-fascist of various political allegiances but generally of theinternational left combined into theArditi del Popolo (People's Militia) in 1921.[3] In 1922, with the threat of ageneral strike being initiated by anarchists, communists, and socialists, the fascists launched acoup against thesecond Facta government with theMarch on Rome, which pressured Prime MinisterLuigi Facta to resign and allowed Mussolini to be appointedprime minister of Italy byKing Victor Emmanuel III. Two months after Mussolini took over as prime minister, fascists attacked and killed members of the local labour movement inTurin in what became known as the1922 Turin massacre.[4]
The next act of violence was the assassination of socialist deputyGiacomo Matteotti by the fascist militantAmerigo Dumini in 1924. Armando Casalini, aNational Fascist Party deputy, was killed on a tramway in retaliation for Matteotti's murder by the anti-fascist Giovanni Corvi. This was followed by a fascist takeover of the Italian government and multiple assassination attempts were made against Mussolini in 1926, with the last attempt on 31 October 1926. On 9 November 1926, the fascist government initiatedemergency powers, which resulted in the arrest of multiple anti-fascists including communistAntonio Gramsci. Afterwards, serious opposition toFascist Italy collapsed.[citation needed]
This period of unrest was labelled by Fascist intellectuals and later by the Italian historianRenzo De Felice"the Fascist Revolution" (rivoluzione fascista), although the term did not become commonly accepted by Italian historiography.Gaetano Arfé argued against Felice's term in 1975: "With this we also get closer to the answer to whether fascism was or was not a revolution. In my opinion, it was not a direct revolution, and it is no coincidence that historiography has not accepted the term fascist revolution, there is no one who speaks of fascist revolution." Other historians stated that it was a revolution in a way the term "revolution" was understood prior to the French Revolution, since this period saw rapid political changes, but did not change the fundamental structures of society.[5]
The term became supported byEmilio Gentile,Zeev Sternhell andGeorge L. Mosse, who argued that "the Fascist Revolution" was a "totalitarian" revolution from the right.[6] According to Sternhell "the fascist revolution sought to change the nature of the relationships between the individual and the collectivity without destroying the impetus of economic activity - the profit motive, or its foundation - private property, or its necessary framework - the market economy. This was one aspect of the novelty of fascism; the fascist revolution was supported by an economy determined by the laws of the market."[7]
These historians are criticized byEnzo Traverso:
No fascist movement came to power without being supported, in a more or less explicit way, by the traditional elites. [...] It is important to take these precautions into account whenever we speak of fascist revolution', unless we are to risk being blinded by the language and aesthetics of fascism itself. Swiss historianPhilippe Burrin has persuasively argued that the 'fascist revolution' historically appears as a revolution without revolutionaries.' Because of the emphasis they placed upon the revolutionary matrix of fascism, Mosse, Sternhell, and Gentile tend to ignore the presence of a conservative component within fascism. They insist upon its modern dimension, on its will to build a 'new civilization', and its totalitarian character. At the same time, however, they forget that conservatism comes with modernity. In fact, conservatism constitutes one of its faces. As Isaiah Berlin suggested in an essay on Joseph de Maistre, the classical ideology of counterrevolution itself prefigured some of the features of fascism.[6]