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Keywords
In this study, Goffredo Adinolfi attempts to trace the political and professional profiles of the ministers who served under Mussolini between 1922 and 1943. He
succeeds in highlighting three of the principal characteristics of these governments:
the concentration of the main portfolios into the hands of Mussolini himself; the
existence of an ex-Nationalist ministerial elite within Mussolinis cabinets; and
the high degree of ministerial mobility of the remaining ministers. The problem of
the Cabinets importance as the only Fascist governmental body that met regularly
throughout Mussolinis twenty-year regime is only briefly touched upon.
Fascism
ministerial elites
Italy
The aim of this article is to attempt to determine the political and the socioprofessional background of Mussolinis ministers, and to attempt to uncover
to what extent each of them had decision-making autonomy. It must be
stressed that here we will make no attempt to examine the locus of power,
that is to say, we will not be seeking to discover where the true decisionmaking centre of the Fascist dictatorship was. What can be said with some
certainty, however, is that over time, and in a process that was to have
important consequences for the regimes succession, Mussolini attempted to
emasculate those who could overshadow him by centralizing decisionmaking to himself. There are three principal interpretations on this theme:
that which sees the principal decision-making centre in the National Fascist
Party (Gentile 2001); that which points towards authority that was ever
more centralized into the hands of Benito Mussolini (De Felice 1974); and
that which views the Council of Ministers as one of the fundamental centres
of political decision-making (Candeloro 2002b). As well as these three
options, we also have to consider the important role played by the Catholic
Church and, even more so, the influence of the King (Mack Smith 1989).
In order to analyse the twenty years of Mussolinis regime I will follow
Paul Lewiss periodization (Lewis 2002). The first phase of the Fascist dictatorship began in 1922 until 1925, and was characterized by electoral
reform and the end of coalition government. The second period, from
1925 to 1935, saw the construction of the Fascist regime and the outlawing of all opposition. The third phase, which extended from January 1935
to October 1939, saw the beginnings of the regimes decline and the construction of an alliance with Hitlers Nazis.1 The fourth and final phase,
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which began in October 1939 and ended in July 1943, saw Italy enter the
Second World War and the final fall of the Fascist regime.
As opposed to the other dictatorships which, from the outset, sought to
break with the institutions that preceded them, Fascism had to exist
within Italys Constitution, the Statuto Albertino, without ever managing to completely eliminate it. This meant that Mussolini had to accommodate the institutions created by the Constitution: the Monarchy; the
Chamber of Deputies; and the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies - the only
elected body - was easily turned Fascist; the Senate, however, remained
largely aloof and passive (Musiedlak 2003). The Monarchys stance was
more ambiguous. Initially a loyal ally of Fascism, the King sought to distance himself from the regime only once Italy was on the verge of military
defeat: he then used his constitutional authority to appoint the head of
government to remove Mussolini from power.2
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28 per cent of the Cabinet were university professors. The next largest
groups were lawyers, with 23 per cent, and military men with 19 per cent.
It is also possible to note the relative continuity with previous governments
by the fact that 13 of the 21 ministers had been elected to the Chamber of
Deputies prior to 1921, and that only 3 of the ministers did not belong to
any of the two chambers of the Italian parliament (see Table 1).
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Speaking to party
members, Mussolini
said: il partito non
che una forza civile e
volontaria agli ordini
dello Stato. Il partito
lorganizzazione capillare del regime ... esso
arriva ovunque. il
partito con la massa
dei suoi gregari che d
autorit allo stato. Il
capo della provincia
ha ai suoi ordini tutte
le forze periferiche
nelle quali si esprime
lo Stato e il partito,
quindi anche il partito,
quindi anche il segretario provinciale che
assume la sua
funzione di vero e proprio funzionario extra
ruolo della regia
prefettura (Acquarone
1995: 16364).
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this had declined to 23 per cent. Political science graduates accounted for
6 per cent of government ministers during this second period of Fascism,
where previously they had been entirely absent. Another group that was
newly represented in government during these years were engineering
graduates, who now made up 13 per cent of ministerial appointments.
The number with humanities degrees, which previously amounted to 5
per cent, increased to 9 per cent. Finally, the number of military officers in
government declined from 19 per cent to 16 per cent - a consequence of
Mussolinis continuing lack of confidence in the militarys loyalty, a mistrust that was also evidenced by his decision to assume direct responsibility for the Ministries of War, Air Force and Navy for most of the decade.
The ministers professional background also changed quite significantly (Table 5). The percentage of university professors increased from 29
per cent to 32 per cent, with the majority of these (30 per cent) being law
professors, followed by engineering professors (20 per cent), then professors of history, humanities, economics and geology. The other professions
represented were: journalism (16 per cent), the military (13 per cent), professional politicians (6 per cent), lawyers (3 per cent), and engineers and
civil servants (each approximately 3 per cent). What is most surprising is
the low proportion of ministers who came from the civil service, especially
given their important role in the transmission of power. Within the Fascist
regime, it became very difficult to separate the ministers main profession
from their political profession. In 1931, the majority of ministers were
around 40 years old, meaning that most of them had studied, fought in
the First World War (48 per cent), and immediately afterwards joined the
Fascist movement. Some of them had abandoned their university courses
in order to volunteer to fight and later to enter politics.
Quite often, the ministers, before they assumed responsibility for their
ministry, were nominated to the position of under-secretary (55 per cent)
(Table 4). Of all ministers, 74 per cent were responsible for a single ministry, while 16 per cent controlled two, and 6 per cent had been in charge
of three (Table 9). To place this data into context, we ought to recall that
only three ministers served Mussolini for more than 10 years: Guiseppe
Bottai (Ministry of Corporations and National Education); Costanzo Ciano
(the Nationalist who served as Minister of Posts and Communications);
and Dino Grandi (Foreign Minister and Minister of Justice). Other ministers who served for relatively shorter periods of 59 years included:
Alfredo Rocco (another Nationalist who served as Minister of Justice);
Achille Starace (Secretary of the PNF); Giovanni Giuriati (Minister of
Public Works); Luigi Federzoni (the Nationalist Minister of the Colonies
and Interior Minister); and Emilio de Bono (Colonial Minister) (Table 8).
The remaining ministers stayed in office for very short periods: 16 per cent
for 02 years, and 52 per cent for 25 years. This data demonstrates the
importance of the Nationalists, a party that amalgamated with the
Fascists to form the PNF in February 1923, in Mussolinis government.
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cent, with law graduates being the largest proportion, increasing from
23 per cent to 41 per cent. The number of lawyers occupying ministerial
positions also increased, from 3 per cent to 12 per cent, while university
professors and journalists accounted for 29 per cent and 18 per cent of
ministers, respectively.
Not one of the ministers of this period had had any governmental experience prior to Mussolinis rise to power (see Table 1). A much larger proportion, 71 per cent of all ministers, had originally entered government as
under-secretaries. Most surprising, however, is the large increase in the
number of ministers who had joined the PNF after 1922 - up to 47 per
cent from 26 per cent during the previous period - and the proportion of
those who had previously been members of the Italian parliament, which
declined from 100 per cent to 88 per cent (see Table 4).
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declined from 53 per cent to 35 per cent. The same was true with the proportion ministers who had not been party members prior to 1922, falling
from 47 per cent to 8.69 per cent (Table 4). As many as 42 per cent of
ministers remained in government for less than 2 years, with a further
37.5 per cent holding office from 2-5 years (Table 8). Only three ministers
remained in office for more than 5 years, with only two - Bottai and
Grandi - serving for more than 10 years. Almost 80 per cent of the ministers led only one ministry during their time in government (Table 9). The
governments of these years also had the lowest proportion of ministers
with university qualifications of the entire regime, with only 52 per cent
holding degrees, of which 26 per cent held law degrees. Professionally, 18
per cent of ministers were university professors, while 9 per cent were military officers. Most surprising, however, is the fact that 27 per cent of ministers during these years had no professional career prior to entering
politics (Table 5).
The Fascist ministerial elite
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Conclusions
The Italian dictatorship lasted from October 1922 until 25 July 1943. In
little over twenty years, a total of 74 ministers had served 3.2 years each in
government on average, demonstrating the frequent ministerial reshuffles
that were a characteristic of Mussolinis regime (Table 1).8 Nevertheless,
when we consider only the major portfolios: Interior, Justice and Foreign
Affairs, the average duration of ministerial occupation increases significantly to 6.5 years. This signifies, on the one hand, that there was continuity in the most senior ministries, while, on the other hand, the continuity
within the other ministries was guaranteed through the various directorsgeneral - that is to say, the bureaucracy. The civil service was a power that
constantly preoccupied Mussolini, a force that acted as a regulator on the
dictatorship right up until the end.9
Throughout his dictatorship, Mussolini personally held on to some of
the most important portfolios: he was Interior Minister for 19 years;
Foreign Minister for 11 years; War, Navy and Air Minister for 14 years;
Minister for Corporations for 7 years; Colonial Minister for 4 years; and
Minister of Public Works for little less than a year. Two considerations
were uppermost in his mind. First, the Interior Minister was connected to
the network of prefects, who were the governments real representatives
throughout Italy, and who were above the ras (the local PNF bosses).10
The second consideration was related to the average duration of ministerial careers (3.2 years). Another consideration was related to the importance of the political decisions, which were shared between the Grand
Council, which, despite being Fascisms revolutionary driving force,
lacked any continuity particularly after 1935, and the Council of
Ministers, which had to approve all laws and which constituted the only
collegiate body to hold regular monthly meetings during the whole Fascist
era. It is difficult to establish a hierarchical relationship between these two
bodies.
We also ought to note the fundamental importance of those ministers
who had belonged to the Nationalist Party (see Table 11). This party was
formed by conservatives and intellectuals in the wake of the colonial crises
at the end of the nineteenth century. If, on the one hand, the first Fascists
were considered to be more trustworthy, the Nationalist ministers were
more involved in the construction of the regime. Alfredo Rocco was the
true architect of the totalitarian regime, while Giovanni Gentile was its
most important intellectual, being responsible for education reform and,
later, being in charge of the Italian Encyclopaedia project. The importance
of the Nationalists is also visible statistically, with Nationalist ministers
averaging five years in office, one-and-a-half years more than the overall
average. Relative to the number of Nationalists in the regime, above all in
matters related to ideology, this constitutes proof that Fascisms origins
were not limited to the immediate post-First World War period, but that
they can be traced back to the failures of the Liberal state at the end of the
nineteenth century.
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Suggested citation:
Adinolfi, G. (2004), The Fascist ministerial elite, Portuguese Journal of Social Science
3: 2, pp. 91102, doi: 10.1386/pjss.3.2.91/0
Contributor details
Goffredo Adinolfi is a contemporary history doctoral candidate at the State
University of Milan, Italy, and a Junior Visiting Fellow at the University of Lisbons
Institute of Social Science. His thesis is a study of the propaganda used by Salazars
New State. At the University of Lisbon he is participating in the project on southern
European authoritarian elites.
E-mail: goffredoadinolfi@hotmail.com
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