Editing March on Rome (section)

== Background ==
In March 1919, Benito Mussolini founded the first [[Italian Fasces of Combat]] (FIC) at the beginning of the so-called [[Biennio Rosso|Red Biennium]], a two-year long social conflict between the [[Italian Socialist Party]] (PSI) and the liberal and conservative ruling class. Mussolini suffered a defeat in [[1919 Italian general election|the election of November 1919]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mack Smith |first=Denis |url=https://archive.org/details/modernitalypolit0000mack |title=Modern Italy: a political history |date=1997 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-07377-5 |location=New Haven, Conn. |pages=297}}</ref>{{explain|date=January 2024}}

During the "two red years", there were numerous [[strike action|strikes]], protests against rises in the cost of living, occupations of factories and land by industrial workers or agricultural laborers, and other types of clashes between socialists on one side and landowners and business owners on the other side.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pollard |first=John F. |url=https://archive.org/details/fascistexperienc00poll |title=The Fascist experience in Italy |date=1998 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-11631-2 |series=Routledge sources in history |location=London; New York |page=29}}</ref> The government tried to play the role of neutral mediator, which dissatisfied both sides.<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|1998|p=30}}</ref> Local elites felt themselves vulnerable and established an alliance with the small Fascist movement, which contained many veterans of [[World War I]] and had a reputation for violence, in the hope of using Fascist paramilitary squads to destroy socialist organizations.<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|1998|p=31}}</ref>

Since 1919, Fascist militias, known as ''[[Squadrismo|squadristi]]'' or "[[Blackshirts]]" due to their uniforms, had frequently attacked socialist politicians and militants. In August 1920, the Blackshirt militia was used to break the [[general strike]] which originated at the [[Alfa Romeo]] factory in [[Milan]], while in November 1920, after the assassination of Giulio Giordani (a right-wing municipal councillor in [[Bologna]]), the Blackshirts were active in the suppression of the socialist movement, which included a strong [[anarcho-syndicalist]] component, especially in the [[Po Valley]].

Local elections in 1920 were won by the socialists in many towns, cities and villages across Italy, and in response Fascist militias attacked [[Trade union|union]] organizers and municipal administrators, making it difficult for local governments to function.<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|1998|pp=31–33}}</ref> A local deputy from the town of [[Budrio]] sent a telegram to the prime minister in October 1921 to report that the Fascists had effectively taken over, that "unions and socialist clubs [were] ordered to dissolve themselves within 48 hours or face physical destruction" and that the "life of the town is paralysed, authorities impotent".<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|1998|p=33}}</ref> Similar situations also occurred in other towns across Northern and Central Italy from 1920 to 1922.<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|1998|pp=33–34}}</ref> The police repeatedly failed to intervene against Fascist violence, and in some cases police officers openly supported the Fascists and supplied them with weapons.<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|1998|pp=41–42}}</ref>

In the [[1921 Italian general election|1921 general election]] the Fascists ran within the [[National Blocs]] of [[Giovanni Giolitti]], an [[anti-socialist]] coalition of liberals, conservatives and fascists. The Fascists won 35 seats and Mussolini was elected in the Parliament for the first time.

After a few weeks, Mussolini withdrew his support for Giolitti and his [[Italian Liberal Party]] (''Partito Liberale Italiano'', PLI) and attempted to work out a temporary truce with the Socialists by signing the so-called "[[Pact of Pacification]]" in the summer of 1921. The Pact led to many protests by the radical members of the Fascist movement, led by local leaders like [[Roberto Farinacci]], who were known as ''[[Gerarca|Ras]]''. In July 1921, Giolitti attempted to dissolve the Blackshirts, but he failed; while the Pact with the Socialists was nullified during the Third Fascist Congress on 7–10 November 1921, during which Mussolini promoted a [[nationalist]] program and renamed his movement [[National Fascist Party]] (PNF), which enrolled 320,000 members by late 1921.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/mediterraneanfas00delz_0/ |title=Mediterranean fascism, 1919–1945 |date=1971 |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=978-0-06-138475-2 |editor-last=Delzell |editor-first=Charles F. |series=Documentary history of Western civilization |location=New York |page=26}}</ref>

In August 1922, an [[1922 Italian general strike|anti-fascist general strike]] was organized throughout the country by the socialists. Mussolini declared that the Fascists would suppress the strike themselves if the government did not immediately intervene to stop it, which enabled him to position the Fascist Party as a defender of law and order.<ref name="ModernItalyp308">{{harvnb|Mack Smith|1997|p=308}}</ref> On 2 August, in [[Ancona]], Fascist squads moved in from the countryside and razed all buildings occupied by socialists.<ref name="ModernItalyp308" /> This was then repeated in [[Genoa]] and other cities.<ref name="ModernItalyp308" />

In [[Milan]], on 3 and 4 August, there was street fighting between socialists and fascists; the fascists destroyed the printing presses of the socialist newspaper ''[[Avanti! (newspaper)|Avanti!]]'' and burned its buildings.<ref name="ModernItalyp308" /> Then, with the support of local business owners, they took over local government and expelled the elected socialist administration from the town hall.<ref name="ModernItalyp308" />

The Italian national government in Rome did nothing to react to these developments, and its inaction prompted Mussolini to plan a march on Rome.<ref name="ModernItalyp308" /> From their new power base in Milan, the Fascists gathered the financial support of large companies who were determined to fight against "strikes, [[bolshevism]] and nationalization".<ref>{{harvnb|Mack Smith|1997|p=313}}</ref> A delegation from the [[General Confederation of Italian Industry]] met with Mussolini two days before the March on Rome.<ref>{{harvnb|Mack Smith|1997|p=314}}</ref> Also a few days before the march, Mussolini consulted with the U.S. Ambassador [[Richard Washburn Child]] about whether the U.S. government would object to Fascist participation in a future Italian government and Child gave him American support. When Mussolini learned that Prime Minister [[Luigi Facta]] had given [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]] the mission to organize a large demonstration on 4 November 1922 to  [[National Unity and Armed Forces Day|celebrate the national victory during the war]], he decided to immediately implement the March.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 June 2019 |title=I "duci rivali": Mussolini e D'Annunzio a confronto |url=https://www.giornaledibrescia.it/tempo-libero/i-duci-rivali-mussolini-e-d-annunzio-a-confronto-1.3378268 |access-date=23 November 2021 |website=Giornale di Brescia |language=it}}</ref>