Leadership of Benito Mussolini Essay Example

It is difficult to believe that Benito Mussolini, the great fascist leader of Italy who believed strongly in an authoritarian state, was once an advocate of socialism. Mussolini abandoned socialism for the nationalist ideology however, as he believed that with facsism there would be a cultural revolution and nationalism would rise. After the war was over and Italians were devastated, Mussolini rallied up a crowd of veterans who shared his anger and his fear and convinced them to join him.  He argued that the only way that Italy could be great once again was via a one-party state that advocated strongly for nationalism, which we see is a common theme in Mussolini’s propaganda (Benito Mussolini).  He preached nationalism while completely absorbing and practicing facismist ideologies. In this analysis, the term fascism is defined as a strong regiment of a society via authoritarian power which sets ideologies and practices on a nation about its culture and history. The term nationalism is defined as patriotism, loyalty and love for one's nation in which they support their nation's best interest.  

Benito Mussolini had a deep adoration for Ancient Rome, as he viewed it as Italy’s greatest period of time. Although during his rule Mussolini worked hard to erase pre-fascist Italy, he continuously highlighted Ancient Rome in his regime. Mussolini used the Ancient Roman history of Italy to pride Italians in being Italian as well as the myth of the Italic race. Mussolini used respected scholars and exhibits to create the myth that Italians are descendants from a “pure Italic race” and that there was the ideal Italian known as the “new man” (Cannistraro 128). Mussolini believed that the people of  Italy should absorb the quality and the essence of being an Italian and thus the new man was heavily based on that. The new man was someone who was physically fit, hard working, disciplined and someone who fit the stereotype of a “peace-loving, spaghetti-eating Italian” who embodied the thoughts and the actions of Mussolini's revolution (Cannistraro 131). Facist propaganda painted Mussolinis as the mold of this “new man” thus he was the perfect example of an Italian therefore he was “an object of worship” (Cannistraro 132). Older members of youth organizations received a prayer card which contains an image of Mussolini in which its purpose was to provide spiritual inspiration. It was not uncommon for Mussolini to be presented so godly during his rule. 

In fact, he was treated like one. Mussolini's grasp on the Italian people was almost terrifying. In his speech in Rome on September 17, 1938, Mussolini asks the Italians if they were looking for honours, rewards or a comfortable life when it came to war in which all the Italians screamed “no!”. Mussolini had achieved his goal in making nationalism in Italy rise to a level unlike any other. During his regime, the people of Italy constantly showed patriotism, loyalty and love for their country. However, commonly in Mussolini reigmine, the phrase, “believe, obey and fight” became the dogma of facist Italy in which the Italian people promise to believe in Mussolini, obey Mussolini and fight in the name of Mussolini (Speech, 17/09/1938), which takes us back to the godlike treatment Mussolini received from adoring Italians. 

Continuing on with Mussolini's cultural changes, he did not stop with the “new man”. He sought to create a new culture in Italy as he viewed current Italian culture as something that was too heavily influenced by forgeign culture. And so, Operas and Latin dramas were performed in ancient Roman amphitheatres in order to revive Roman culture and to assert a sense of 

 amongst the people of Italy (Cannistrato 127). Some could argue that that move of creatiing a pure Italian culture was very nationalistic of Mussolini however as mentioned previously, controlling the nations culture, ideas and history is far to extreme to be considered nationalist. In fact, Historians argue that the usage of Romanita in the facist regime was simply a facade in which its purpose was to give an outsider the idea that Mussolini had grasped the greatness of old Italy and brought it back to life (Visser, 6). To create this new culture Mussolini and his men had to go through great lengths to permanently remove the existence of pre-fascist Italy since they knew it would be nearly impossible. Many popularized things were banned in Italy due to the fact the fascists viewed them as something that was too foreign, for example, New Year eves. Christmas trees were greatly discouraged because they were a foreign import and therefore were not in the nation's heritage. Instead, the fascist party hoped to replace those practices with new practices that fit into the fascist regime such as claiming the March on Rome as the new fascist new year. Other celebrations, such as religious festivals, during Mussolini's rule were heavily linked to fascism and ancient Italian heros (Cannistrato 133).

Another way that Mussolini created this new culture was by instructing the media to refrain from mentioning old Italy in any of their articles, including the usage of old Italian phrases. Instead, newspapers were told to increasingly praise the achievements of Mussolini and fascit Italy and that they must only describe what occurred during the time of Mussolini's rule. Mussolini continuously tightened his grip on the media that by the late 1920s he had banned the publishing of any sort of expression that was in folk culture dialect as it may recall to the mind of the old (Cannistraro 130). The absolute control that Mussolini had at the time had grown significantly.

In conclusion, it is difficult to categorize Mussolini's leadership as a rule with national intent due to the fact that he had absolute control over Italy. There is no denying that Mussolini raised the levels of nationalism in Italy and that he had made the people of Italy feel whole once again after that war, however that does not excuse his dictatorial power. As mentioned in the earlier paragraphs, facism is defined as a strong regiment of a society via authoritarian power which sets ideologies and practices on a nation about its culture and history. Mussolini displayed fascism by controlling the media to set ideologies that facism was the right path. He also changed Italian culture in order for it to fit into his regime. With nationalism, the adoration should be towards one's country and its people, not to its leader. The treatment that Mussolini received, or demanded, does not fit into the nationist idea. Mussolini had twisted and abused the nationalist idea for his own good.