The Ideology

Mussolini was a fascist.  In fact, he came up with that term.  Now, we use this term to describe an "authoritarian government that is not communist." However, back in the 1930's fascism was a different things.  Mussolini said, "Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the state."  The fascists thought of themselves as one state and not individuals.  They dislike all the ideas that provoked the French Revolution. The goal behind fascism was to strive for strength, order, and a crime-free society. To achieve that you must give up your freedom, creativity, and individual rights. Mussolini blamed the communists for the failures in in Italy. Mussolini, when he was come to power, wanted to take out all of his competitors. He had a large group of followers called the black shirts. The black shirts planned and carried out a terrorist attack on the socialists. Mussolini was not a big fan of Jews. When he met with Hitler he said he remembered the warm welcome that he received from him because of their shared hatred of Jews. "I have been racist since 1921. I don't know why they think I'm imitating Hitler."Mussolini is quoted as boasting in August 1938. "We must give Italians a sense of race." Italy's racial laws restricted the rights of Jews and expelled them from the government, university and other fields of interest.