There are so many plain and obvious reasons that Benito Mussolini is a villain. It seemed that he was bad enough when we learned about him in history class, but there is so much more to him that makes him who he became: a self-centered fascist dictator. Although those words may be enough to prove that he is a villain, I will provide you with a close look on what his life was like. Mussolini’s childhood, his transition to fascism, and his rule as dictator are three major topics that I will be discussing.
Childhood
Young Benito was the son of Alessandro Mussolini, a strong believer in socialist ideals. He was well-known to take after his unruly and fiercely anti-clerical father during the first part of his life. Many remembered him as a bully and hooligan, and it didn’t stop there. He had once stabbed a boy at a secondary school, in which he was expelled. He was never the ordinary and well-behaved boy that you commonly see sitting in their desk paying close attention to their respectable teacher. It was perhaps because of his father that gave him his whole outlook on life and shaped his entire personality. It only strengthened over the years as he moved out of childhood and into Italian society.
From Child to Fascist
Surprisingly, he began his adulthood working as a teacher. He continued his career until he was looked upon as a bad example, because he had a passion for gambling, drinking heavily, and womanizing. After his teaching ended, he moved to Switzerland and spent two years of his life there. He was then expelled from the country after being known as an “impulsive and violent” young man. When he returned to his birthplace, he became a leading member of a local socialist movement, and also worked on a socialist newspaper in 1908. Being an irredentist, he supported the act of force to change territorial boundaries between Austria-Hungary and Italy. He later became a popular writer for another socialist newspaper, and was also known for his fiery speeches. Although he seemed to strongly support socialism, his view would soon take a major shift. It was during World War I that he started a newspaper for the fascist movement.
Rise to Power
Mussolini began to lead an extremely nationalist group in 1919. That same year, he drew in his growing number of followers to form a militia, known by some as the Black Shirts. Finally, in 1920, he gained a foothold in the government, and, in the following year, he formed a well-organized political party that supported his beliefs. He had organized a strike that seized control of railroad stations and telephone exchanges, and destroyed trade union buildings and socialist newspaper offices. Eventually, he would come to control all communication in the northern half of Italy. In 1922, he declared himself the dictator after King Victor Emmanuel III put in his support for Mussolini’s ideals.
Law of the Land
In 1923, the Acerbo Law was introduced. It stated that the winning political party that had at least twenty-five percent of the votes would receive two-thirds of the seats in the government. This allowed it to be much easier for the fascists, along with their nationalist alliances, to win (although you will soon discover that persecution makes this law rather pointless.) In 1923, they secured 65.25% of all votes, although there were several intentional errors on the fascist’s part. Terrorism was spreading among the anti-fascist politicians. One socialist candidate was killed, and others were beaten. Also, names of the deceased were added to the electoral roll, and many opposing votes were destroyed. When 1925 came around, Mussolini declared that “no opposition to his power would be tolerated.” He created a policy that allowed persecution of all anti-fascist groups. In the courts, all decisions that were made could not be reversed by an appeal when one was imprisoned. Eventually, persecution became so extreme that anti-fascist politicians were detained in penal settlements, many of which died there. The limitations grew as 1928 came, and free elections were completely banned. Only the electorate could vote, which included 400 candidates that were nominated by the Fascist Grand Council. But even more, all leaders later became limited to fascists alone.
All Italians that were in the work force had to join the Corporazioni, which was a fascist organization. Children had a fascist organization of their own, named the Balilla. All women were forced to be homemakers and were strongly encourage to have many children. If a woman was able to give birth to at least seven kids, they were given medals. This was called the “Battle for Births.” All pregnant women were saluted, and any man that was not married was taxed.
