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Benito Mussolini: What is Fascism? (1932)
As the first step towards assessing Mussolinis success as the first Fascist ruler, we
need to be clear on what he aimed to achieve.
However, one of the greatest challenges for the historian of Fascist Italy is that
there is no clear agreement about what Fascism actually is.
Historians are agreed that Fascism aspired to be a totalitarian system (in other
words, it aimed for the state to have total control over every aspect of life). However,
the same could be said of the Communists and the Nazis.
Mussolini never produced a central text clarifying his ideology. In this respect
Fascism is very different to Nazism (which had Mein Kampf) and Communism
(which had The Communist Manifesto).
Task: Fascism in Mussolinis Words
Read through this article (written by Mussolini in 1932) and the quotes that follow.
Use this information to identify what you think are the FIVE most fundamental
beliefs of Fascism.
Highlight key phrases and use them to complete the following table. We will develop
our definition of Fascism later in the unit and use this as the basis for our essay
deciding how successful Mussolini was as a Fascist ruler of Italy.
Feature of Fascism
Warfare is essential and beneficial,
bringing strength to society.