Fascist Rule: between Assent and Repression

Author: Milan Spindler

For many anti-fascists, democratic France, with its capital Paris, was an obvious destination for political exile. This came to an end with the German and Italian occupation of France in 1940 © Istituto Storico Resistenza Piero Fornara, antifascisti espatriati a Parigi

Political opposition to Fascism under Benito Mussolini, who ruled unchallenged from 1922 and from 1925 as head of a one-party dictatorship, was systematically suppressed and dismantled in the regime’s early years. The regime relied on a combination of repressive laws, arrests, and political exile to eliminate all forms of organised resistance. Many opponents of the regime were imprisoned, forced into exile, or withdrew from political and public life. Although there were isolated acts of resistance, by the early 1930s, most leading opposition figures had been imprisoned, had gone abroad, or had been compelled to operate clandestinely.

As a result, organised resistance largely went underground. The Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) played a central role; despite severe repression, it succeeded in establishing a clandestine network that would later become a core component of the Resistenza. The Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano, PSI) also remained active, though it was less well-organised. Another important force was the radical-liberal movement Giustizia e Libertà (Justice and Freedom), which operated mainly from exile in France and was composed largely of intellectuals.

At the same time, political life in 1930s Italy was shaped by broad popular support for the regime. Propaganda, social control, and the systematic persecution of dissenters created a climate in which active resistance was barely possible. Mussolini’s political successes, such as the 1929 Lateran Pacts (which secured the Vatican’s recognition of the Fascist state), consolidated his position, particularly among Catholic Italians. After the victory in the Abyssinian War in 1936, Mussolini was widely regarded as a leader who had led Italy out of the political and economic crisis of the post-war period.

By the late 1930s, the remaining opposition forces were confronted with a society that was either loyal to or largely indifferent towards the regime. Only with Italy’s military defeats in the Second World War did this situation begin to change, opening up new scope for the revival of anti-fascist resistance.

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