How Far Do You Agree That Mussolini Rise to Power Was Due to Violence?

Mussolini rise to power through the use of violence is widely evident as it is summed up in this Mussolini himself ‘for my part, I prefer 50 000 votes to 5000 votes’. Alternatively, there are also many other factors that shows Mussolini did not depend on violence but however considered it a useful tool. This could be from his foreign policy, effort with socialist trade unionist and his effort in gaining political power legally. As Fascism began as a radical socialist movement, it was only inevitable that radical measures be taken. Mussolini use of violence mainly relied on the squadristi. This was his main instrument of violence and it was made up of a group of paramilitaries, the famous black shirts. The extent to which they were use could be evident in the result of the squadristi killing over 2000 opponents between the period between 1920 and 1922. the squadristi also fought battles with the socialist which shows how they were used in order to eliminate opponents ensuring that the survival of fascism. They were also involved in vital events such as the ‘matteotti crisis’ which could have easily led to Mussolini’s downfall. This showed the overwhelming use of violence which result in Mussolini gaining power. An alternate view could be the underestimation of fascism. This is illustrated through the fascism violence going without any suppression from the law, even killings as the government saw the socialist threat as being priority. Also in the countryside, farmers also welcome the fascism as they saw them as taking on the socialist. They disliked the way socialism bullied them into employing people all year around whereas other believe socialist were planning to seize their land. From this, we can see how violence was incorporated into the everyday running of the fascist government to eliminate, appease and consolidate power. The violence can also be justified by the fascism government as they only had limited options available to them in gaining power.