Evaluate the Successes and Failures of Mussolini’s Domestic Policies
Evaluate the successes and failures of Mussolini’s domestic policies
By 1925, Mussolini had achieved a totalitarian regime, but now he needed to spread fascism into every area of life for the Italians, “everything within the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State”. As a Dictator with clear aims, Mussolini tried to replace all past policies with new ones which would help to achieve his fascist ideologies; these included the various economic “Battles” and the establishment of the Corporate State as well as policies which would control education, religion, women and youth. The “Battles” in particular were very much publicised and always depicted as a great success in the media, yet in reality Mussolini was far from achieving all of his aims and he did not succeed in obtaining total control over every aspect of Italian life.
One of Mussolini’s main objectives was to build a strong foreign and colonial policy so as to build an Empire to rival that of Ancient Rome; for this, a strong economy was vital therefore he needed to employ new policies such as the Corporate State. The Corporate State involved the formation of two syndicates for each profession – one for workers and one for employers – they would meet separately and together to agree on wages, hours and conditions of work as well as many other issues. In addition, the Vidoni Palace act of 1925 banned trade unions which made it much more difficult for workers to oppose their employers. Mussolini made it seem as though people had some control by forming the two syndicates, however each syndicate was controlled by a member of the Fascist party who, were all controlled by the Ministry of Corporations, of which Mussolini was the Minister. The Rocco Law of 1926 banned strikes and further confirmed the strong position of Fascist syndicates. In many ways, the establishment of the Corporate State was a success for Mussolini as it was referred to as the “true child of Mussolini” and it cleverly
By 1925, Mussolini had achieved a totalitarian regime, but now he needed to spread fascism into every area of life for the Italians, “everything within the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State”. As a Dictator with clear aims, Mussolini tried to replace all past policies with new ones which would help to achieve his fascist ideologies; these included the various economic “Battles” and the establishment of the Corporate State as well as policies which would control education, religion, women and youth. The “Battles” in particular were very much publicised and always depicted as a great success in the media, yet in reality Mussolini was far from achieving all of his aims and he did not succeed in obtaining total control over every aspect of Italian life.
One of Mussolini’s main objectives was to build a strong foreign and colonial policy so as to build an Empire to rival that of Ancient Rome; for this, a strong economy was vital therefore he needed to employ new policies such as the Corporate State. The Corporate State involved the formation of two syndicates for each profession – one for workers and one for employers – they would meet separately and together to agree on wages, hours and conditions of work as well as many other issues. In addition, the Vidoni Palace act of 1925 banned trade unions which made it much more difficult for workers to oppose their employers. Mussolini made it seem as though people had some control by forming the two syndicates, however each syndicate was controlled by a member of the Fascist party who, were all controlled by the Ministry of Corporations, of which Mussolini was the Minister. The Rocco Law of 1926 banned strikes and further confirmed the strong position of Fascist syndicates. In many ways, the establishment of the Corporate State was a success for Mussolini as it was referred to as the “true child of Mussolini” and it cleverly