March 1919 - Mussolini establish the first Fascio di Combattimento. This was a small cell of discontented war veterans and nationalists. They were attracted by Mussolini’s liberal (in some ways socialist) ideas. On their program was;

Fulfill Italy’s demands at the Paris Settlement

8-hour day

Profit-sharing for workers

Worker participation in management

The members swore ”to follow without question the orders of the Duce”. Duce was Italian for leader and Mussolini took that title. The ancient Roman symbol of the fasces was adopted (a bundle of birch sticks, usually with an axe at the centre). The party at the beginning was;

Anti-socialist

Anti-clerical

Anti-monarchist

December 1919 - 31 cells with 870 members

1920 - 88 cells with 20.000 members

1921 - 834 cells with 250.000 members

Squadristi - the paramilitary organization that backed the Italian Fascists. This organization was formed towards the end of 1920. They were commonly called Blackshirts.

1921 - The PNF - Partito Nazionale Fascista (the Fascist Party) was formally founded.

First election success. In the election of April 1921, 35 Fascists were elected to the Italian assembly of 535 deputies (the coalition with Giolitti and the Liberals played a crucial role for this breakthrough). The Fascist Party had about 320.000 members in May 1922.

October 1922 - March on Rome!

December 1922 - Fascist Grand Council. This was formally the highest organ of the Fascist State though it could do little against Mussolini’s will. Nevertheless, it mere existence pointed to the fact that Mussolini was never in full control of his own party which the ”incident” of 1943 shows. The Fascist Grand Council voted with seventeen against seven to support the motion of Mussolini’s dismissal. He was arrested the next day, but eventually German troops liberated him...

In December 1922 the Squadristi was transformed into an official paramilitary body called the Volunteer Militia for National Security (MVSN - Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nationale). They took an oath of loyalty to Mussolini - not the King!!!

The origins of the fascist party, were the over two millions of W.W. I veterans which had been demobilized after the war ended. The unemployment in 1919 in Italy was high, so most of them had no jobs to go back to. Besides, the war had brutalized the individuals and it taught them to solve problems by force and it also gave them the taste for power. They soon founded a lot of different c lubs, organizations, associations which eventually emerged into the Fascist Party. Until 1922 it was still more of an interest organization of ex-soldiers than a political pa rty, emphasizing almost only on military questions and the paramilitaries such as the Squadrissimo. This radically changed after the take over of power the same year. The fascist party now created several organizations for people, such as Dopolavoro – an “After Work” organization which should take care of the citizen’s free time, a women’s organization, different youth organizations, culture organizations, etc…

They were all under the Local Administration Units. Above the Local Administration we find the "RAS" which was the Regional Fascist Administration and on the top was t he Fascist Grand Council which was the main ruling organ for the Fascist Party.

However the real ruler was of course Mussolini who indirectly controlled all the three stages of the fascist party. After 1930 it became difficult to differentiate w hich organizations that belonged to the Italian State and which organizations that were part of the Fascist Party. T he Italian Parliament was for example in 1928 replaced by the Fascist Grand Council. Another fact is that this organization basically only existed in northern Italy . In the south it was limited to the main cities.

The end of WWII was also the end of the Fascist Party. Mussolini was shot in 1945.