Italian fascism: path towards seizure of power
Editor’s note: Fascism, and Mussolini, saw socialists as their main enemies. Liberals were nothing more than an annoying distraction to them, doomed either way. The year 1922 proved this: the liberals ceded to the fascists without a fight. The only major force opposing fascists were socialists. But socialists were too disorganized, too weak. They didn’t manage to convince the masses. Fascists, in the absence of strong socialists, quickly took over Italy: Mussolini’s fascist party had one million members just four years after the end of World War I. And soon they started using their main problem-solving weapon: violence.
