Introduction

This topic introduces the political issues which weakened the fragile democratic government of Italy after the war.

Overview

The main problem was the interaction of two factors:

The complacency of the Liberal leaders like Nitti and Giolitti, who had too much faith in the flexibility of the political system; and
The emergence of mass parties which could not be 'captured' by the political system, which included:

- the Christian Democrats, or 'popolari'. Established in 1919 and supported largely by agricultural workers, this new party was near-socialist on its left wing but very Catholic and conservative on the right. It was led by the Sicilian priest Don Sturzo; in 1920 it had 100 seats in the Chamber. However, the 'popolari' were not prepared to make a long-term alliance with the anti-clerical liberals, although they would ally with fascism against them.
- the Socialists. By 1920 the Socialists had a membership of over 200,000, 156 seats in the Chamber and control of 2000 municipalities and 26 provinces. They were especially strong in the northern industrial cities and old radical Romagna. The problem was that their leaders' talk of revolution raised fears of the 'red menace'.
- The Fascists also emerged as a force.

Read and Make Notes

Read pages 116 to 118 in European Dictatorships 1918-1945 and make notes on the topic.

Tasks

Research and fill in the chart to show the results of the elections between 1919 and 1922 in Italy:

PRINT OUT & COMPLETE – Chart: Election Results Between 1919 and 1922 in Italy

Stretch Activities

Explain the links between the difficult post-war Italian economic situation and the end of the parliamentary system.
What was the relative importance of economic, social and political factors in the unrest of the early 1920s?