Giacomo Matteotti - Consequences of The Murder

Consequences of The Murder

The death of Matteotti sparked widespread criticism of Fascism. A general strike was threatened in retaliation.

Since Mussolini's government did not collapse and the King refused to dismiss him, all the anti-fascists (except for the Communist Party of Italy) started to abandon the Chamber of Deputies. They retired on the "Aventine Mount", like ancient Roman plebeians. They thought to force the Crown to act against Mussolini, but on the contrary this strengthened Mussolini. After a few weeks of confusion, Mussolini gained a favourable vote by the Senate of the Kingdom, and tried to defuse the tension with a speech.

Despite pressure from the opposition, Victor Emmanuel III refused to dismiss Mussolini, since the Government was supported by a large majority of the Chamber of Deputies and almost all the Senate of the Kingdom. Moreover, he feared that compelling Mussolini to resign could be considered a coup d'état, that eventually could lead to a civil war between the Army and the Blackshirts.

But during the Summer, the trial against Matteotti's alleged murders and the discovery of the corpse of Matteotti once again spread rage against Mussolini: newspapers launched fierce attacks on him and the fascist movement.

On September the 13th, a right-wing fascist deputy, Armando Casalini, was killed on a tramway as retaliation to Matteotti's murder by the anti-fascist Giovanni Corvi.

During the Autumn of 1924, the extremist-wing of the Fascist Party threatened Mussolini with a coup, and dealt with him on the night of San Silvestro of 1924. Mussolini devised a counter-manoeuvre, and on the 3rd of January 1925 he pronounced in a famous speech, both attacking anti-fascists and confirming that he, and only he, was the leader of Fascism. He challenged the anti-fascists to prosecute him, and claimed proudly that Fascism was the "superb passion of the best youth of Italy" and grimly that "all the violence" was his responsibility, because he had created the climate of violence. Mussolini concluded with a menace: Italy needs stability and Fascism would assure stability to Italy in any manner necessary.

This speech is considered the very beginning of the dictatorship in Italy.