Benito Mussolini Fascism Essay

Mussolini once stated that “The Socialists ask what is our program? Our program is to smash the skulls of the Socialists.” With the particular declaration, Benito Mussolini made it clear that his regime was mainly built upon violence and terror of people and classes that were inferior (Laqueur, 1996). The term of Italian Fascism is generally difficult to determine as there is the problem concerning the differentiation between the two different stages both of the movement and of the regime. (Payne, 1980). As Payne stated in his book “Fascism: Comparison and Definition” (1980), Fascism in general may be considered the most doubtful contemporary term in politics. This is the case as the word “fascism” does not have an ‘implicit political reference’ as it happens regarding democracy, communism, socialism and liberalism. When taking into consideration the phenomenon of Fascism in Italy it is

It is necessary to contemplate the environment in and the conditions under which Mussolini was raised in order to be able to justify his desire of constructing the political movement of fascism. Benito Mussolini was born in 1883 in Predappio of Emilia-Romagna. There has been a discussion whether his place of birth had an impact on the formation of his personality (Whittam, 1995). In his book “Fascist Italy” John Whittam presents the ‘formative influences’ in Mussolini’s early life. These appear to be his father, Alessandro Mussolini, his schooling and his trips to Switzerland and to the Austrian Trentino. More specifically, his father was the one to trigger Mussolini’s immense interest towards politics and precisely, politics of violence. During his attendance in a school located in Faenza, young Benito observed and experienced the concept of social divisions as the less fortunate ate their meal on a separate table from the rest and their food was inferior in comparison to the richer