The
March on Rome (
Marcia su Roma) was a march by which Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (
Partito Nazionale Fascista, or PNF) came to power in the
Kingdom of Italy (
Regno d'Italia). The march took place from
October 27 to
October 29,
1922.
Context
In
March 1919,
Benito Mussolini founded the first "Italian Combat League" (
Fasci Italiani di Combattimento) at the beginning of the "two red years" (
biennio rosso). He suffered a defeat in the
the election of November 1919. But, by the
election of 1921, Mussolini gained entrance to Parliament.
Out of his "
Fascist" party the "
Blackshirts" (
Squadristi) were formed. In
August 1920, the Blackshirts were used to break the
general strike which had started at the
Alfa Romeo factory in
Milan. In
November 1920, after the assassination of Giordana (a right-wing municipal counsellor in
Bologna), the Blackshirts were used as a repression tool by the state to crush the
socialist movement (which included a strong
anarcho-syndicalist component), especially in the
Po Valley.
Trade unions were dissolved while left-wing mayors resigned. The fascists, included on
Giovanni Giolitti's "National Union" lists at the May 1921 elections, then won 36 seats. Mussolini then withdrew his support to Giolitti and attempted to work out a temporary truce with the
socialists by signing a "Pacification Pact" in summer 1921. This provoked a conflict with the most fanatized part of the movement, the "
Squadristi" and their leaders the "
Ras." In July 1921, Giolitti attempted without success to dissolve the
squadristi. The contract with the socialists was then broken at its turn in November 1921, Mussolini adopted a
nationalist and
conservative program and founded the
National Fascist Party, which boasted 700,000 members in July 1922. In August, an
anti-fascist general strike was triggered, but failed to rally the Italian People's Party (
Partito Popolare Italiano) and was repressed by the fascists. A few days before the march, Mussolini consulted with the U.S. Ambassador
Richard Washburn Child, whether the U.S. government would object to a Fascist participation in a future Italian governemt. Child encouraged him to go ahead. When Mussolini learned that Prime Minister
Luigi Facta had given
Gabriele d'Annunzio the mission to organize a large demonstration on
November 4,
1922 to celebrate the national victory during the war, he decided on the March to accelerate the process and sidestep any possible competition.
March
Fascists travelling towards Rome.
The
quadrumvirs leading the Fascist Party, General
Emilio De Bono,
Italo Balbo (one of the most famous
ras),
Michele Bianchi and
Cesare Maria de Vecchi, organized the March while the
Duce stayed behind for most of the march, though he allowed pictures to be taken of him marching along with the Fascist marchers. Generals Gustavo Fara and Sante Ceccherini assisted to the preparations of the March of October 18. Others militaries who organized the march included the Marquis
Dino Perrone Compagni and Ulisse Igliori.
On
October 24,
1922, Mussolini declared before 60,000 people at the Fascist Congress in
Naples: "Our program is simple: we want to rule Italy." Meanwhile, the
Blackshirts, who had occupied the Po plain, took all strategic points of the country. On
October 26, former prime minister
Antonio Salandra warned current
Prime Minister Luigi Facta that Mussolini was demanding his resignation and that he was preparing to march on Rome. However, Facta did not believe Salandra and thought that Mussolini would govern quietly at his side. To meet the threat posed by the bands of fascist troops now gathering outside Rome, Luigi Facta (who had resigned but continued to hold power) ordered a
state of siege for Rome. However,
King Victor Emmanuel III refused to sign the military order. On
October 28, the King handed power to Mussolini, who was supported by the military, the business class, and the right-wing.
The march itself was composed of fewer than 30,000 men, but the king in part feared a
civil war since the
squadristi had already taken control of the Po plain and most of the country, while Fascism was no longer seen as a threat to the establishment. Mussolini was asked to form his cabinet on
October 29,
1922, while some 25,000 Blackshirts were parading in Rome. Mussolini thus legally reached power, in accordance with the
Statuto Albertino, the Italian Constitution. The March on Rome was not the conquest of power which
Fascism later celebrated but rather a transfer of power within the framework of the constitution. This transition was made possible by the surrender of public authorities in the face of fascist intimidation. Many business and financial leaders believed it would be possible to manipulate Mussolini, whose early speeches and policies emphasized the
free market and
laissez faire economics. He also feigned to be ready to take a subalternate ministry in a Giolitti or
Salandra cabinet, but then demanded the presidency of the Council. Fearing a conflict with the fascists, the ruling class thus handed power to Mussolini, who went on to install the
dictatorship after the
June 10,
1924 assassination of
Giacomo Matteotti, who had finished writing
The Fascist Exposed: A Year of Fascist Domination, by
Amerigo Dumini and others agents of the
Ceka secret police created by Mussolini.
Other participants
See also
