The purpose of this material is to show that Benito Mussolini and his political movement were elements of the left of the politico-economic spectrum.

Fascism is the name Benito Mussolini chose for his movement and later it was applied to similar movements elsewhere. Mussolini came from a socialist revolutionary family that named him after Benito Jaurez, the Mexican revolutionary. He grew up as a socialist and maintained his belief in the efficacy of socialism until the end of his life. He undoubtably considered Fascism as just a variant of if not socialismat least of collectivism that was nationalistic. The internationalist socialist expelled him when he advocated for nationalistic reasons the entry of Italy into World War I.

Italy did enter WWI and on the side of the Allies (Britain, France and Russia. This was long before Mussolini came to power in Italy.

Here is the timeline of Benito Mussolini's career:

• 1883: He was born July 29. His father was a blacksmith who was a lieutenant in the National Guard of Italy and sometimes served as a journalist for socialist publications. His mother was a school teacher. He was their first child.
• He was an unruly child and was sent sent to religious boarding schools because the local teachers could not contol him. The boarding school teachers could not control him and his misbehaviour included stabbing students and teachers with a penknife. But he passed his final exams easily and did graduate with a diploma for teaching. .
• c. 1901: He publically announced that he was an advocate of revolutionary socialism.
• 1902: After teaching for a short while he moved to Switzerland and lived by taking short-term jobs. He also wrote pieces for socialist and union publications. He was a follower Karl Marx. He gave public speaches and came be known as an advocate revolution and political violence. He was arrested a number of times.
• 1904: He returned to Italy. He became a school teacher again for a while. But after a period political inactivity he returned to revolutionary journalism and the support of labor union actions. In the course this he was arrested and imprisoned.
• 1909: Out of prison and at age 26 he initiated a romantic relationship with the 16 year old daughter of father's mistress. She went to live with him and later they married. Soon afterwards he was again imprisoned.`Once out of prison he again began to write articles for Marxist socialist publications. He then started his own newspaper with the very Marxist title of La Lotta di Classe (The Class Struggle). It was a notable success in terms of circulation.
• 1912: Because of the success of the newspaper he started he was appointed editor of the major socialist newspaper Avanti!. He was able to double its circulation.
  
  Benito Mussolini, well known in Italy
  as a Marxist revolutionary socialist

• 1914: As World War I was developing Avanti! took the standard socialist position that the working class had no interest one way or another in the war. It was simply a battle between the ruling classes of the various countries. Mussolini as editor initially supported that line. Then Mussolini changed his mind. He saw the opportunity for Italy to gain territory at the expense of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He had Avanti! publish articles strongly advocating Italy entering the war on the side of Britain and France. He also gave public speeches supporting that position. He was forced to resign his editorship of Avanti! and he was expelled from the Socialist Party. There was no indication that he himself had given up his advocacy of socialism. He became the editor of another newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia. He stated his nationalistic position, "From this day onward we are all Italians and nothing but Italians. Now that steel has met steel, one single cry comes from our hearts--Long Live Italy." To make his new position palatable to the general public and because of the organized socialists rejected him he had give his new position a different political orientation. He chose Corporatism, a collectivist sociopolitical developed in the 19th century by Catholic intelllectuals as an alternative to Marxist socialism. The various economic interest groups were to brought together in political organizations to settle their differences by negotiation. Corporatism was collectivist but did not involve confiscation of all private property as did socialism. Mussolini called his system National Corporatism. Other European leaders in the 1930's copied Mussolini in adopting a collectivist economic system and appended nationalistic to its title. In Franco Spain it was National Syndicalism. Syndicalists believe labor unions should run the economy, In Germany Hitler changed the name of the German Workers' Party which he joined to the National Socialist German Workers' Party
• 1919: Mussolini in Milan created his Fasci di Combattimento. He chose the name and its icon from the Roman/Etruscan fasces, a bundle of sticks wrapped together around a two-heaed ax. It was a symbol of government authority and is widely used to symbolize the strength of collectivity. It even appeared on U.S. ten cent coin.
  
• After the war there was political turmoil in Italy. Nationalists thought Italy did not get properly rewarded for supporting the winning side. Socialists wanted to duplicate the revolutionary success of the socialists in the Russian Empire. The non-socialists of Italy feared that this just might happen.
• 1922: Mussolini's rhetoric and oratory had made him a publically well known figure. His physical appearance contributed to his political renown.

  The socialists called for a general strike. General strikes were well known preliminaries to revolutions. Mussolini called for the government to prevent the general strike and announed that if the government did not do so his Fasci di Combattimento would do so. He then further announced that in four days time four columns of fascists would march on Rome from different directions, Mussolini himself waited at a place where the king of Italy could contact him. As the Fasci di Combattimento dismissed the current prime minister and sent Mussolini a telegram asking him form a new government in the legislature with him as prime minister. Mussolini allayed fears of a facist dictatorship by requesting the appointment of ministers the majority of whom were not fascists.

• 1924: An election was held which led to Mussolini's gaining majority control of the legislature. Mussolini then restored public order and carried out a program of public works. He was hailed in Italy and also across Europe as a political hero.
• 1932: The accomplishments of Mussolini and his Fascist Party were widely admired and was looked upon as having saved Italy from a communist dictatorship of the type that developed in the Russian Empire. An American admirer was Hugh Johnson, the man who managed government policy during World War I. Franklin Roosevelt chose Hugh Johnson to design his program c alled The New Deal for coping with the problems of the Great Depression. Johnson adopted so me of the policies of Mussolini for the Roosevelt New Deal. He also adopted programs of oth er corporatist leaders in Europe such as Miguel Primo de Riveria in Spain. This was the origin of the Tennessee Valey Authority (TVA). Thus the modern platform of the Democratic Party ha d its origin in corporatist programs of Mussolini's Fascist Party in Italy and other statist leaders..
  
  Hugh Johnson, architect of Roosevelt's
  New Deal and an admirer of Mussolini's system

• 1935: After a decade of domestic success Mussolini decided to conquer Abyssinia (Ethiopia). A previous Italian invasion had been defeated there. Many countries expressed their objection to his African venture but did not impose any sanctions which would have thwarted it.
• 1936: In Rome Mussolini announced to a crowd of 400,000 that victory had been achieved in A byssinia and that Rome had a new empire.
• Adolph Hitler was one of the few leaders who did not object to Mussolini's conquest of Abys sinia. Hitler and Mussolini admired each other. From their personal relationship the Axis Pact of Germany and Italy.
• 1 939: Hitler was trying to retrieve sections of Germany that had been given to Poland in its creati on at the end of World War I. He decided to dismember Poland and bring the the So viet Union in on the dismemberment. He knew Britain and France could n ot possibly go to war with Germany and the Soviet Union simultaneously and app arently believed they would not go to war with just one party to the dismemberment. He was wrong. Britain and France both declared war with Germany over the dismemberment. France w as ill prepared for war and was defeated in a couple of weeks. The British army of several hu ndred thousand had to desperately seek escape at Dunkirk.
• 1940: Mussolini honored the Axis Pact and attacked France from the south. On his own Mussolini d ecided to conquer Greece by an invasion through Albania. It was a military disaster and Hitler h ad to rescue the Italian invasion by launching a German conquest of Greece.
• 1943 The Allies invaded Sicily. The Fascist Grand Council, the legislative authority of I taly at the time, voted overwhelingly to dismiss Mussolini from office. M ussolini thought he could ignore this action but he was arrested at royal command. Aft er an audience with the king he send for imprisonment on a mountain on an island off the coast of Sardinia. It was thought to be an impregnable prison but but Hitler sent a daring paratroop commando squad that rescued him.
• Mussolini was installled as the leader of a northern section of Italy under Ger man control. Mussolini was given authority to create the Repubblica Soci ale Italiana. He spent his time at the city of Saló formulating the la ws and policies of the ideal socialist state. This shows he never gave up his belief in socialism as the ideal form of society. This effort was of no conse quence in Italy but it is alleged that Tito (Joseph Broz) adopted as the system for Yugoslavia after his break with Stalin.
• The Italian Communists decided to assassinate Mussolini. They caught him and his mistress trying to cross the border into Austria. They hung them up by their l egs and beat them to death.