demonstrations, the almost forgotten Mussolini decided to attempt to

revive his Fasci movement. A meeting was held in a hall in a Milan and

was attended by some fifty malcontents. From this seemingly small and

insignificant event the Fascio di Combattimento' (Combat Group) was

born. Initially, it would seem that the Fasci were destined for

failure with none of their candidates (including Mussolini) winning a

single seat in the 1919 elections. How was it that a party with no

clear programme, save a belief in action of some sort, became a ruling

dictatorship little more than ten years later? By the end of 1919,

Mussolini possessed hardly more than 2% of the vote in Milan, less

than 5000 votes against 170,000 for the Socialists. Was this a

complete disaster? At the time it seemed so; the Socialists were so

confident of their success that they staged a mock funeral in Milan

stopping outside Mussolini's house to invite him to attend the burial

of his party. Incredibly, by 1921 the membership of this previously

tiny group was to rival the size of the Socialists. How was this

achieved? It was certainly by no easy means; Mussolini's skill

than a blunder. It did nothing but highlight the weakness of the

and once in power again he would discard the tougher elements' among

also true to say that undoubtedly Mussolini helped the Fascist party

the opposition. There were still a number of potential obstacles to

the bonds which were a main form of Church property at the time. As a

Socialists to end their mutual violence. However, his lieutenants in

succeed; in view of his resignation, the Fascist leaders hesitated as

their opposition inevitably clashed. The fact that Gioletti's

presente by the army. After a series of parades and speech-making to

ministers. He was secure in the knowledge that he had the nations

to resign, though his cabinet still ran the government until a new

essence they were simple; there was to be a new cabinet with at least

support for a government which was prepared to act. In addition, he

as well as a party, and therefore making it a viable choice in an

the overall demise of the Socialist and government opposition to

Some common words found in the essay are:
Fascists Socialists, Fascist Party, Rachele Mussolini, Secondly Mussolini, Party Congress, Mussolini Fascists, Initially Fasci, Primarily Mussolini's, Socialist PSI, Fascist Action, fascist party, prime minister, socialist opposition, own skill, played mussolini's hands, opposition government, benefitted greatly, mussolini met, 28 october, government fascist, increasing support, weakness government unrest, power own skill, prime minister gioletti, government unrest country,
Approximate Word count = 2659
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)