The Cult of the Duce in Mussolini's Italy

Abstract

During Mussolini's regime, Italian society, contrary to appearances, was a very depoliticized society. The organizations of the regime mobilized great masses of people, and the towns of every region in Italy were frequently packed with crowds extolling the Duce. But if by 'political' we mean active participation in community life, information about facts and the comparison of ideas, we have to recognize that society in Mussolini's day was the very opposite of a politicized society. The masses nearly always took part in political demonstrations as if in a ritual, circulation of news and information was always controlled by censorship, and any comparison of ideas was extremely limited, even within the Fascist Party. The Fascist Party did not contribute towards framing a policy: it confined itself to carrying out the directives that came from above, supporting the regime's propaganda and assistance activities, and incorporating its political following. In 1939, out of a population of 44 million, the Party and its dependent organizations distributed a total of 21,600,000 membership cards. But in fact the tendency to regiment the whole population and, the consequent absence of selection among registered members contributed to making the organizations rigid and thereby suppressed political debate. Mussolini made little use of the Party for purposes of government. Instead he used the State with its great bureaucratic apparatus. Above all, he used the prefects, who were State officials dependent on the Ministry of the Interior, charged with representing the central government in the various provinces of the realm. They had been in existence ever since the earliest years of the Kingdom of Italy, and had always