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=CONSOLIDATION OF POWER=

Introduction
The March on Rome was a coup d’état by which Mussolini’s National Fascist Party came to power in Italy and ousted Prime Minister Facta. The march took place in 1922 between Oct 27 and Oct 29. On Oct 28 the King refused to support Facta and handed over power to Mussolini. Mussolini was supported by the army, the business class and the liberal-right wing. On the 30 October 1922 Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister. However, Mussolini was aware that a fully Fascist government was not yet possible: - The Fascists did not command a majority in parliament - The King, supported by the army, would not allow parliament to be disbanded - Mussolini was the head of a coalition government with only 4 Fascists in a Cabinet of 14 and only 35 Fascist MPs in the Chamber of Deputies

As we can see, Mussolini’s dreams of complete, unchallenged personal power were still a long way from realization.

Fascist Militias
Fascist violence helped Mussolini to crush potential opponents, yet it also alarmed his conservative supporters and threatened to develop into a Fascist revolution that might go beyond his control. In January 1923, he consolidated the squads into the ‘Fascist Militia’ ( M.S.V.N. ), paid by the state and answerable to him. This helped to centralize control and also provided a private army of 30,000 men that was a visible sign of Fascist power.

The Acerbo Law
The party that received the highest number of votes in an election, provided that it won at least 25% of the votes, would automatically receive two-thirds of the seats in the Chamber. This would put an end to the weak coalition governments, and it was for this reason it was supported by Parliamentarians like Giolitti (Liberal) and Salandra (Liberal-Conservative).

1924 Elections
These elections were a huge victory for the fascist electoral alliance. Fascists and their supporters won some two-thirds of the votes (4.5 million). This provided the King with reasons to take no action against the fascists - people had shown their overwhelming support for them.

The Matteotti Crisis
Politician Giacomo Matteotti accused Mussolini and the fascists of corruption and intimidation, and he condemned the elections as a sham. On June 10th Matteotti was kidnapped in the middle of Rome and he was found murdered August 16th. Mussolini was now accused of murder. The opposition parties set up a committee that took the name Aventino. The Aventino group appealed to the king but he refused to support them. Instead he openly showed his support for Mussolini. On January 3rd 1925 in a speech to the Chamber of Deputies, Mussolini assumed all responsibility for what had happened – as a leader of the fascists. Several historians says that this speech marks the beginning of the fascist dictatorship in Italy. Mussolini had the support of the king and also received support from the army and the industrialists.

Tying the loose ends…
From January 1925, Mussolini moved quickly towards the establishment of a Fascist Dictatorship through a number of measures including:
 * increased censorship of the press
 * the legalisation of arbitrary arrest
 * the banning of other political parties
 * the creation of a secret police force (O.V.R.A.)
 * and various other measures designed to eliminate any opposition

Several assassination attempts on Mussolini provided a convenient pretext for emergency measures.

On a local level, Fascist ‘podestas’ replaced elected mayors and in December 1925 a law was enacted that made Mussolini answerable only to the king and not to Parliament.