Propaganda in Fascist Italy was used by the National Fascist Party in the years leading up to and during Benito Mussolini's leadership of the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 to 1943, and was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power and the implementation of Fascist policies.
History
Early Fascist Party (1919–1922)
From the formation of the Italian Fasces of Combat ("Fasci Italiani di Combattimento") in 1919, the Fascists made heavy use of propaganda, including pageantry and rhetoric, to inspire the nation into the unity that would obey. The party's main propaganda tool was Il Popolo d'Italia ("The People of Italy"), a pro-war political newspaper founded and directed by Benito Mussolini himself in 1914, which advocated for militarism, Italian irredentism, and the Italian intervention in the First World War.
During those years, Fascist propaganda was mostly targeted at opposing the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), the largest political movement in the country and the Italian Fascists' main antagonist to power. The PSI was accused of being a sock puppet of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was often labelled as a "Russian army". Those sentiments were often shared by the Italian liberal establishment, which condemned Fascist violence but was more afraid of a Bolshevik Revolution.
In addition to attacking the Italian socialists through the pro-war Fascist newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia ("The People of Italy"), Mussolini often also attacked the liberal establishment of the Kingdom of Italy, which he regarded as responsible for the so-called "mutilated victory", a term used to describe Italian nationalists' dissatisfaction on the territorial rewards at the end of the Great War.
In power (1922–1943)
Once Mussolini came in power, all propaganda efforts were grouped together under the press office;, and propaganda efforts were slowly organized until a Ministry of Popular Culture was created in 1937. A special propaganda ministry was created in 1935 and claimed that its purpose was to tell the truth about Fascism, refute the lies of its enemies and clear up ambiguities that were only to be expected in so large and dynamic a movement.
Themes
Personality cult
Benito Mussolini was the central figure of Italian Fascism and portrayed as such. The personality cult of Mussolini was in many respects the unifying force of the Fascist regime by acting as a common denominator of various political groups and social classes in the National Fascist Party and Italian society. The personality cult of Mussolini helped reconcile Italian citizens with the Fascist regime despite annoyance with local officials. A basic slogan in Fascist Italy proclaimed that Mussolini was "always right" (). Endless publicity revolved about Mussolini with newspapers being instructed on exactly what to report about him.
He was generally portrayed in a macho manner, but he could also appear as a Renaissance man or as a military, family, or even common man. That reflected his presentation as a universal man, capable of all subjects. A light was left on in his office long after he was asleep as part of propaganda to present him as an insomniac because of his nature of being driven to work nature. Mussolini, as a practitioner of various sports such as fencing, auto racing, skiing, horse riding, lion taming, and swimming, was promoted to create an image of a valiant and fearless hero. Mussolini's prestige as a hero aviator in the manner of Charles Lindbergh was especially important, as for Italian Fascism the aeroplane embodied qualities such as dynamism, energy, and courage. Mussolini himself oversaw the photographs that could appear and rejected some, such as because he was not sufficiently prominent in a group.
Mussolini's youthfulness (when he took office, he became the youngest prime minister in Italian history), and his virile and energetic appearance were promoted. In Fascist symbolism, youth constituted a metaphor for action and vitality, which emphasizsed the nature of Italian fascism as a revolutionary ideology in contrast to the stasis of liberal democracy. The official Italian Fascist hymn, Giovinezza ("Youth"), linked the concepts of youth, the rebirth of the nation, and the reign of Mussolini into symbolic unity. The publicising of Mussolini's birthdays and illnesses were banned for journalists to give an impression of him not aging. The erotic aspect of this personality cult was also prominent since although Mussolini was portrayed as a respectable family man, state propaganda did meanwhile little to counter the idea that he had sexual magnetism to women and was promiscuous.
