Page:L. W. - Fascism, Its History and Significance (1924).pdf/21

 Rh the ensuing elections offered the Fascists the privilege of inclusion in his electoral bloc. This, again, was an advantage to Mussolini who at that time had no organised party or electoral machinery. But in entering the bloc of the "parties of order," he naturally deprived himself of the power of attacking Giolitti and his agrarian supporters. Giolitti had drawn the teeth of the Fascists.

There followed a big drift of agrarians into the Fascist ranks. It was under the influence of this section that the fighting squadrons were formed. The earlier expeditions against the workers were carried out by Fascists selected ad hoc on each occasion. There was no "standing army" of trained assassins. The landlords came into the movement with the cleared and bloodied intention of smashing the resistance of the landworkers and reducing them to a condition of economic slavery. A formal organisation of armed men was established out of the most promising elements—at first, the sons of farmers and their hangers-on, and later such declassed elements as ex-officers, ex-N.C.O.s, and the like.

Mussolini was now faced with a serious menace. His organisation was diluted with numbers of the very class he was out to oppose. During the elections, he had perforce to accept this position: a split in the Fascist ranks would not only have ruined his electoral prospects, but would have ranged against him the forces of the State. So soon as the elections were over (in which the Fascists secured forty seats) he set about clearing the air. Once more he made a bid for the support of left wing elements, but only as a trick to drive out the agrarian right. He emphasised the "republican" character of Fascism and forbad the newly elected Fascists to attend the opening of Parliament, "since no true Fascist could cry 'God save the King!'" The move was partly successful, and a number of agrarians left the disloyal Fascists and entered other parties. Nevertheless, the agrarian section remained large and powerful, and other steps had to be taken to control it. The means adopted was the internal organisation of the movement into a centralised and disciplined party, subservient in every respect to Mussolini and his masters. In this Mussolini has never entirely succeeded. The agrarian section remains even to-day a thorn in his side. In general, the so-called "dissident" Fascists represent the agrarian element—the terrorist section which even to-day Mussolini cannot control. It is in this division of interest that is to be seen the seed of the ultimate collapse of the Fascist government.

Throughout the history of Fascism right up to the present time, one hears of warnings issued by Mussolini to his followers not to go "too far" in their acts of violence. This is no mere humanitarianism: it is a sign of the ever-present antagonism between the capitalist and the agrarian interests. The latter desired nothing