WEBVTT

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Male: In the last video
we left off in 1922

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in October where you have several hundreds

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of thousands of fascists march on Rome,

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which causes the King
to put Benito Mussolini

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in power and this picture
right over here is

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from Mussolini coming to power from the

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march on Rome and not
only does he get appointed

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as Prime Minister, but
he has dictatorial powers

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for one year.

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Those dictatorial powers
are also backed up

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with the Blackshirts,this
loose band, kind of

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a paramillitary group.

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So he uses his powers
and the fact that he has

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his own force so to
speak to continue to just

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secure more and more power under him

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over the next few years.

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By 1923 he makes the
Blackshirts actually become

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a formal national militia, essentially

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the volunteer militia
for national security.

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In Italian the acronym is the MVSN.

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So, the Blackshirts become formalized

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as the MVSN.

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He also gets Parliament
or gets the legislature

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to pass what's known as the Acerbo Law

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or Acerbo Law.

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I'm sure I'm mispronouncing it.

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Acerbo Law.

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This is an interesting
one because this is a law

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that allowed whichever majority party,

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whatever the largest party
in the Deputy of Ministers,

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whatever the largest
party in Parliament is

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that party, as long as they
get more than 25% of the vote,

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they will get 2/3s of
the seats in Parliament.

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This is strange because traditionally

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in a Parliamentary system if you got ...

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Let's say you were the largest party

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and you got 26% of the
vote, you still would not

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have enough seats to govern properly.

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You would have to form a coalition with

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several other parties so that you could

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essentially form a government.

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But this is saying whoever
gets the plurality of votes,

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whoever gets the most
votes without necessarily

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being a majority, they will be by default

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become a majority.

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And you could imagine why the
fascists wanted this to happen.

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They felt that they could
get 25% of the votes,

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one maybe through popular support

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but also with the help
of the coercive tactics

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of the Blackshirts and
then that would give

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them stronger control in the legislature.

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Now, the big question is is why would the

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legislature pass this?

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Because at this point
the fascists were not

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the dominant party.

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They did not have a
majority in the legislature.

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In fact, this was why
they wanted to pass a law

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because they didn't have a majority.

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And once again it's one of those questions

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of history.

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Some would say that people were enamored

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with the fascists.

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They were enamored with Mussolini.

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They were eager to have strong leadership.

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They didn't want this
government of coalitions.

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They wanted one government to be able

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to take action.

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On the other side when
the votes were happening

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you actually had Blackshirts in the room.

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One argument is that there was also

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an element of pure intimidation.

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But needless to say the
Acerbo Law actually passed.

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There is irony here
because it was unnecessary.

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In 1924 when you actually have elections

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you have the fascists
getting 2/3s of the vote.

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Fascists get 2/3 of the vote.

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Now, many today and many
in Italy at the time felt

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that this was a fraudulent election.

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They felt the reason why the fascists were

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able to get so many votes is because

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they were able to intimidate folks.

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They were able to commit
fraud during the election.

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They were able to kind
of throw other votes out,

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and one of the most outspoken individuals

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when it came to criticizing the fascists

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and their tactics of coming to power was

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Giacomo Matteotti.

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He wrote a book about the fascists.

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He gave two really strong speeches

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in the Deputy of Ministers
where he talks about

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or the Chamber of Deputies I should say,

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where he talks about the corruption

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and the violence of the fascists.

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A few days after giving
those speeches he gets

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killed by Blackshirts.

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So, he gets actually
quite violently murdered

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by Blackshirts, and this puts Mussolini

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at least initially in a bit of a bind.

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He doesn't want to look like a thug,

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someone who goes out
and just murders people.

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It's not clear that he
actually, Mussolini,

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was involved in this in any way,

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but his followers had committed this act.

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To protest against the
murder of Giacomo Matteotti

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you actually have the
entire socialist party

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boycotts Parliament.

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This was known as the Aventine Secession

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or at least the 20th
century Aventine Secession.

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Aventine Secession.

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It's called the Aventine
Secession because if you go

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back to Roman times 2500 years ago

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you had the Plebeians
secede out of protest

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from harsh rule and they
go to the Aventine Hill.

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So, it was named after that same idea.

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The whole reason why the
socialists did this is they

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hoped that by boycotting Parliament

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that that would convince
the King to get rid

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of Benito Mussolini.

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Mussolini, as I say, he's also in a bind.

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He doesn't know quite what to do,

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and on top of all of this the Blackshirts

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are telling him, "Look, if you don't take

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control of the situation,
if you don't become

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a strong ruler we're going
to do it without you.

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We might even overthrow
you Mr. Mussolini."

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In 1925, early 1925,
Mussolini makes his famous

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January speech.

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1925, his famous January speech.

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This is normally viewed
as the formal start

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of his absolute dictatorship.

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In this Mussolini, instead
of the Aventine Secession

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somehow undermining Mussolini's power

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because the King did not dismiss Mussolini

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it actually strengthened
Mussolini's power.

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He used that as a pretext.

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He said, "Look, all of
these deputies they've

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decided not to show up at Parliament.

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They've essentially given up their seats,

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and he bans, he bans the
Italian Socialist party.

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He embraces the Blackshirts.

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He takes responsibility for them.

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He doesn't take responsibility directly

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for Giacomo Matteotti's murder,

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but he takes responsibility
for the Blackshirts,

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and he gives in kind of
classic Mussolini style

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a somewhat convoluted
argument about how strength

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and violence is going to give
stability to the Italian people.

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Obviously he is an amazing orator.

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He's very charismatic.

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This essentially gives
him the control he needs,

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and by the end of 1925 you
have the Christmas Eve Law

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that's passed by Parliament
that esentially puts

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no checks on Mussolini's power,

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and as you go then into 1926 they more,

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and more, the fascists
under Mussolini take

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absolute control, absolute power of Italy.

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So in 1926 they're banning other parties.

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So, other parties are banned.

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They're starting to force people to become

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members of the fascist party if they want

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roles in the government or even
in any type of institution.

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They're starting to take
control of the press.

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They're starting to have a very strong

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state police architecture.

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If this looks familiar
based on what we studied

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about the Nazis it's not a coincidence.

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Hitler, he admired Mussolini.

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In fact, Mussolini's
march on Rome inspired

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Hitler to attempt his
Beer Hall Putsch in 1923.

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A lot of these tactics
that brought Mussolini

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to power you see kind of
a parallel in what brought

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Hitler to power only
about seven years later.