Mussolinis successful rise to power by 1922 Essay Example for Free

Mussolinis successful rise to power by 1922 Essay Analyze the claim that Mussolinis successful rise to power by 1922 was largely a consequence of the impact of the First World War. Without a doubt, the role of the First World War in Mussolinis spectacular rise to power between 1920 and 1922 was considerable, for it was surely a strong catalyst for change and Italys renewal, meaning it gave way to many problematic economical and political aspects, which in turn gave Mussolini the chance to strike at the precise moment in order to have a direct affect on people and ergo win their support. These were aspects such as the damage of the foundations of Liberal Italy, which had as a consequence the rise of frustration within nationalists and the decrease in wages and increase in the level of unemployment in the country, all of which were obviously disastrous. Therefore, Italian people started to doubt their government, which seemed weak, and initiated a search for a new, stronger leadership which would bring to cease the social unrest and economic problems; to this, Fascism seemed like the perfect alternative and solution. Nevertheless, the impact of the First World War was just to certain extent the reason for Mussolinis rise to power, for there were many other factors affecting the path of Italy into a Fascist dictatorship. These other factors were the already mentioned weak liberal regime, nationalist dissatisfaction and social and economic unrest, as well as Mussolinis opportunism, the Fascists actions and the Kings (Victor Emmanuel) doings. Dealing first with the impact of the war and the numerous consequences it had, it is necessary to point out that it was the war that brought the distress among soldiers and their families, who consequently turned to Fascism as a comfort, which implicates that the war provided a great number of employers for Fascism who were from the elite troops of the Italian army, (or Arditi); this gave Mussolinis movement a great deal of prestige. The war also brought discontent within the Italian political system; this had an effect on million of Italians who started believing that the time of liberalism was finally over; a fact which greatly accelerated the process of the formation of new political parties, such as the Socialist party, and the Popolari (formed by catholic radicals). The formation of these new parties meant a heavy burden for the Liberal government, because with a new opposition and challenge their regime was in danger, nevertheless the Liberal State found itself in a high level of vulnerability seeing that it was incapable of mobilizing the economy with the purpose of eliminating the countrys economic troubles, and finding a way around its limited economic resources; this only provided the masses with new restlessness concerning their government, and ergo made them consider what seemed a more decisive power: Fascism, which seemed to have the key property to put an end to the domestic situation, which after the war was only deteriorating further; causing lifestyles to worsen for the majority of the Italian population, which was the main reason for the sense of social breakdown that was spreading throughout the country. To this, Giolitti could either see no solution, or simply did nothing to stop it, for the Liberal regime could not get rid of the social unrest which gave way to strikes of over 40000 workers. On the other hand, communism seemed to be growing in the form of a political power: the Socialist party, which was in great scale believed to be an enormous threat and therefore any show of strength from this party was greatly feared for it was thought that it might bring revolution. This encouraged most of the social classes to believe in Fascism as it posed as the savoir to this menace and as the defender of law and order. The adoption of this heroic image by the fascists could also be regarded as a degree of opportunism from Mussolinis character, for the tension that was created by the fear of Socialism of the industrialists (who feared revolution was near), small land owners (who were deeply hit by inflation and therefore felt that their government was a weak one), Industrial workers (who were threatened by the seizure of their jobs by the socialist forces) and rentiers created the perfect atmosphere for Mussolini to put into practice his skills and tactics. Mussolini successfully abused the fears of a Socialist takeover from these classes to enable them to consider Fascism not only as an alternative, but as a perfect answer to the request of a powerful and decisive government. Mussolini, to great extent, persuaded people to believe the above by the use of his extraordinary speaking skills, to which he integrated the ideas of bringing order, stability, commitment, discipline and a strong government to Italy; (which were the exact properties of a government that the Italian masses were seeking at the moment), as well as convincing the middle classes that liberalism was finished, (as already mentioned). Moreover, his astuteness served him in convincing people that they (fascists) were violent because it [was] necessary to be so (a direct line from a speech he makes after the murder of a socialist leader), meaning that he was doing what was necessary to complete the correction of Italy. While he convinced the masses that the atrocities committed by fascists were perfectly reasonable by saying that blood alone moves the wheels of history, he was simultaneously using this violent authority to secure political power for his own later use; this meant that the black-shirted actions squads were taking law into their own hands, and by doing so, they were eliminating all those who dared to oppose this fascist movement. To some degree, this use of intimidation was very effective, for it meant that fascism would gain support by force which was obviously directed by fear within the supporters. An example of this successful intimidation was the violent general elections where Fascism gained a considerable amount of seats due to the brutality used to achieve control. But although violence was greatly used, and regardless of the fact that it put Mussolini in position to threaten the state, Mussolini was aware of all the possible consequences that his actions could bring, such as provoking the conservatives to make the authorities crush the fascists if their use of violence went too far; this measure of consciousness made him a great politician. Furthermore, in contrast to the slow Liberal reaction, Fascists were fast to accept their role as the alternative to Socialism and dealt with the Social General Strike with great speed; and by putting a stop to the socialist threat they won many votes in the parliament and had an effective result in the support of Italians; on the other hand, the lack of reaction from the Liberals only showed their incompetence to restore law, order and public confidence in their regime; which in turn continued encouraging the urban educated classes to keep thinking that they were in the path towards a civil war, meaning that the sense of crisis in the circumstances had not yet ceased to exist. In addition, Mussolini exploited to the full the situation of the General Strike and thought of it as the opportune moment to oppose the communist threat and hence use the socialists failure to appeal to the people as a man whose intentions were to save Italy from its inadequate Liberal government and propose a new regime which would be the salvation of Italy. All the while, Mussolini used his character and skills at discourse to reassure to the Liberal government that fascism, unlike Socialism, was not to be feared, this could be regarded as another opportunist strike from Mussolinis part for it served him into luring Giliotti into thinking that Fascism (Mussolinis PFN) could be controlled and absorbed into the existing political regime, meaning the official government list of coalition partners, to form an anti-socialist government coalition. This would come to be one of the biggest mistakes from the Liberals side, for; of course, Mussolini used absorption to his advantage for it gave him a level of respectability as a political party and therefore allowed the Fascists to win more seats, this was a great occasion for Mussolini for he wanted to come to power through parliamentary means. Then again, as expected, this invitation by Giolitti to enter the coalition was the result of a loss of liberal maintained seats in the parliament; seats that were lost to the Socialist party. This situation in which Giolitti was forced to look towards coalitions for support is linked to when he had formed a coalition with the Popolari, which was a political party formed by radical Catholics. This, again, clearly shows the fundamental weakness of the Liberal government for it was completely dependant on this coalition to survive within the parliament and to ad to its already mentioned problems; this was a very problematic relationship because the Popolari were rather suspicious of the Liberals anti-clericalism. The fact that it was once before also dependent on the making of coalitions, the weaknesses of the Liberal Parliamentary System are shown to have been evident long before 1922. Likewise, a further great weakness that the Liberals possessed was the lack of political will to use their own power of violence against the Squadrisimo fascist squads in order to restrain them; and by being deficient in having this determination, the fascist squads continued to perform acts of violence which ensured the fascist to induce fear and therefore eliminate opposition by intimidation. Yet in contrary to all these factors affecting Mussolinis rise to power; his vagueness and lack of any definite political beliefs gave Mussolini a unique sense of ambiguousness, and due to this Mussolini was able to influence and manipulate people so that they would perceive fascism in the way he wanted the to; this opened many paths to Mussolini throughout his career as a politician. The actions of King, Victor Emmanuel, were also crucial in the process of Mussolinis rapid rise to power. This is mainly because the King could have stopped the fascist forces if only he had not been afraid of being replaced by his cousin, Aosta. He was afraid of this because he believed that his cousin, being a fascist sympathizer, would want to replace him if he dared to oppose Mussolini in any aspect. On the other hand, it is believed that the King believed Mussolinis claims that the Monarchy and Fascism could coexist and therefore acceded to his demands, and actually appointed him head of coalition government. On the other hand, it is also said that it was weakness which made the King give into fascism as easily, for he did not believe that anything could be done against fascism; that is was too strong. Nevertheless, it is also greatly believed that Fascism could have been destroyed in 1922, in the March on Rome, of only the King had been strong enough as to oppose Mussolini, because there was a great deal of disorganization within the Fascists, meaning there was a lack of planning of this supposedly great movement, plus Mussolini was under a immense amount of pressure (from the RAS), and was going through a great depression which made him somehow weaker and easier to defeat; and therefore the army could have easily stopped it if only orders have been transmitted to it. A counter argument for this claim that it was weakness which stopped the king from acting is that he thought that Italy was walking into a full-scale civil war, and therefore, to prevent it, he took no measures against Fasc ism, and that, in addition, in that time he was under a great deal of pressure, and ergo did not make what could have been the best decision. Another vital decision that the King took was to appoint Mussolini as Prime minister, although this decision could also be blamed on the weakness of the Liberal regime, because if it had not been so indecisive, the King would not have been forced to take this step towards a dictatorship, thus if the Liberal government had been more able, and had not underestimated Mussolini then the King would not have been under so much pressure and would have probably made a better decision than to appoint Mussolini as Prime Minister. But as we can see, the March on Rome, instead of leading to a disastrous moment in Mussolinis life as it could have; it was the catalyst to the rise of power of Mussolini, for it provided the exact amount of pressure the King needed to make Mussolini the youngest Prime Minister of Italy. With the above historical debate we can say that the First World War provided the necessary conditions for Mussolinis rise to power, however, these were not sufficient and therefore other affecting factors were eventually needed to complete his successful rise to power, such as the terribly weak Liberal government which enabled the Italian people to look elsewhere for strong leadership and ergo turn to Fascism as an alternative and solution to the Socialist threat, and the brilliant tactics that Mussolini uses as well as his great deal of opportunism which made him capable to turn disastrous situations to his advantage. Such as the Matteoti crisis which forced him to use his ability to speak in front of the masses and convince them of the justification for violence; he also benefited from this crisis by abusing the fact that all other forces in the parliament left hi alone and in control of it. Having said the above, it can be understood that Mussolinis rise to power was, as Richard Parrish describes: a multi-causal phenomenon.

George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 :: Free Essays on 1984

As Winston Smith entered his apartment building, he passed a familiar poster. "It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran." Then Winston opened the door to his flat to be greeted by a voice on his "telescreen" - a device he could dim, but never shut off completely. Telescreens broadcasted government propaganda and served as the eyes and ears of the Thought Police, who scrutinized everyone for any possible deviation from acceptable thought or action. In the flat was a tiny alcove just out of sight from the telescreen's vision. Winston sat down to write in his diary, an act that was not officially illegal "but if detected it was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death . . . " While he sat writing, a recent memory stirred in his mind; the "Two Minutes Hate," a government-sponsored work break in which every worker at the Ministry of Truth was required to participate, had consisted that day of an interlude when everyone raged and screamed as the telescreen alternately flashed images of enemy Eurasian soldiers and Goldstein, an abhorred traitor. That morning, Winston had noticed a "bold-looking girl of about twenty-six" who worked in the Fiction Department. This particular girl - wearing the bright scarlet sash of the official anti-sex league - gave him "the impression of being more dangerous than most," and Winston had that unnerving feeling that she was watching him. A few days later, Winston walked through the working-class "prole" neighborhood to the antique shop where he had bought his diary. Though class barriers stood tensely in place throughout Oceania, Mr. Charrington, the shop owner, welcomed him and invited him upstairs to see other items. There wasn't much there, but Winston liked the old-fashioned room; it didn't even have a telescreen. When Winston again slipped out onto the street, he passed the dark-haired girl from the Fiction Department. Now he was sure she was an informant. Back at work, as Winston walked toward the lavatory, the girl reappeared in the hall. Then, just a few feet in front of him, she stumbled and fell. When he offered his hand to help her up, she slipped him a scrap of paper. Shaken, Winston decided to open the paper later at the cubicle where he rewrote old newspaper articles, deleting any reference to persons who had deviated from orthodoxy.

How can Wal-Mart Keep Low Prices

When Sam Walton opened his first store, the Five and Dime, he had no idea that he would become a success. He started his first store with one vision – to keep prices as low as possible. He knew that by keeping the prices low, his profit would not be as large as his competitor’s but he also knew that he could compensate this by the volume of sales. Soon he was opening new stores in other states and its sales reached millions of dollars. At present, Wal-mart is the biggest corporation surpassing its competitors (Jim Hightower) It has over more than a hundred retail stores all over the world making the Waltons some of the richest people in the world. S. Robson Walton is ranked by London’s â€Å"Rich List 2001† as the wealthiest human on the planet having more than $65 billion surpassing Bill Gates. (Jim Hightower) Its present status was however not attained overnight. There were several strategies adopted by Wal-Mart which made it the world’s largest retailer. The first is the use of technology. Wal-Mart was the first to use the Universal Bar Code system. As the largest retailer, Wal-Mart was able to force manufacturers of products to adopt a common labeling called the bar code. The bar code contains details about the product which tells the retailers information such as how many of the said products have been sold and how many are still remaining. This system helped improve the way inventories are done in stores. With the bar code system, retail store owners no loner need to hire employees to conduct the inventory and the inventory system is now more accurate. Another business strategy adopted by Wal-Mart to keep prices low is its adoption of the corporate culture of frugality. The Waltons were very careful about spending their money and they lived a very simple lifestyle. They also demanded frugality from their employees. Frugality is so imbedded in its culture that even the company’s headquarters is located in Arkansas which is very old and looks dull. The executives of the company do not ride in fancy limousines and nor do they reside in expensive hotels. Instead, the executives shared budget-hotel rooms with their colleagues. (Caroline Wilbert) The corporate culture of frugality was manifested in the way the wages of their employees are being paid. It is said that the company pays an average wage of $9. 68 an hour which is definitely not enough for the employees to maintain a decent standard of living. (Gregory Heires) There have been complaints that the said company even compels its employees and managers to work overtime without paying them additional compensation for overtime work. The employees do not have adequate health care insurance and other benefits. Health care insurances are essential especially for employees who are earning barely enough for their daily living. Even if these employees get sick they will get some help from health care providers for their medicine and hospitalization expenses. Research, however, shows that â€Å"Wal-Mart's health insurance covers 44% or approximately 572,000 of its 1. 3 million U. S. workers. [In comparison, Wal-Mart rival Brown & Cole Stores insures approximately 96% of its 2,000 eligible workers. Further, Wal-Mart spends an average of $3,500 per employee for health care, 27% less than the retail-industry average of $4,800. †(â€Å"Wal-Mart†) Wal-Mart adopted an aggressive policy against labor unions. The role of unions in workplaces is very important. They ensure that the employees are given the wages and benefits which the law gives them. It is said that in North America, Wal-Mart has thwarted efforts to create union through aggressive anti-union tactics such as managerial surveillance and pre-emptive closures of stores or departments who choose to unionize. (â€Å"Wal-Mart†) Initially, Wal-Mart advertised the â€Å"Buy American† campaign. However, in order to maintain its low prices, Wal-Mart had to look for other suppliers which offered products for a lesser price than the suppliers in the United States. Eventually Wal-Mart began looking at other countries for the cheapest source of production. In 1995, Wal-Mart said that 6 percent of its total merchandise was imported. A decade later, experts estimated that Wal-Mart imported about 60 percent of its merchandise. (Caroline Wilbert) Today, Wal-Mart is considered the largest importer of Chinese-made products in the world, buying $10 billion worth of merchandise from several thousand Chinese factories. (Jim Hightower) There is, however, a price for the success of this management policy of Wal-Mart. For the company to maintain low prices for its buyers and customers, it has to reduce its expenses in the barest minimum – including wages, benefits, working conditions, supplies and products. As a result, Wal-Mart has been criticized worldwide for its business policies by other business organization, religious organization. Among the issues raised against it are: a) low wages it pays to its employees, cases of union busting, lack of health care and employee benefits, use of foreign labor, discrimination against women, It bears stressing that the current management policy of Wal-Mart is devastating for the millions of its employees worldwide. Though it may have generated employment, it has also created unemployment insofar as the employees of their competitors are concerned. For its existing employees, their working condition is far from being ideal. The purpose of this research project is to prove that it is possible for Wal-Mart to improve the wages and benefits it gives to its employees and at the same time maintain the prices of their products low. The philosophy is clear and definite – Wal-Mart can maintain the low prices of its products without hurting its employees. The persons who will be interested in this research project are not only the employees who will be benefited by the increase in their wages and benefits but also the consumers who desire to ensure that the prices of products in Wal-Mart remain the same. II. I believe that it is possible for Wal-Mart to improve the wages and benefits it gives to its thousands of employees and at the same time maintain the prices of their products low. As proof, I aim to use studies made by economists and researchers. One potential secondary source that will prove the said point is the studies conducted by the Economic Policy Institute which is cited in the article of Emily Kaiser entitled â€Å"US: Wal-Mart Could Hike Pay and Keep Prices Low: Study. † Researchers have also concluded that if only Wal-Mart would reduce its profit margin to about 2. 9%, where it stood in 1997, from the 3. 6% margin it recorded last year that would free up about $2. 3 billion to pay workers without raising prices. † (Emily Kaiser) The primary research tool that could be used for this research is the examination into the Income Statement of the Wal-Mart Inc. These are public documents which could be looked into by any citizen. By examining the company’s Income Statement, we will be able to find out just how much money the company is earning in a year. If a small portion of these earnings will only be equitably distributed, then the employees will experience an improvement in their living condition. Another primary research tool are Internet sources which shows the extent of the complaints, criticisms and suits against Wal-Mart. By looking into the information from these sources, one can conclude that the wealth and success of Wal-Mart was made at the expense of its employees.

The Powers And Limitations Of Power For The Three Branches...

Articles 1, 2, and 3 in the constitution discuss the powers and limitations of power for the three branches of government. There are checks and balances to keep one branch dominating the government. These factors work hand in hand to create our government. Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress its many, but limited, powers enabling it to serve its purpose. Congress’s main powers are: to collect, levy, and raise taxes, to make laws regarding bankruptcy, naturalization of its citizens, and otherwise regulate commerce, to coin money and regulate its value, to create post offices and roads, to protect a person s intellectual property, and to declare war, this includes raising land and naval forces. Other powers that Congress has is to borrow money on credit of the United States, to regulate commerce with other nations, between states and with Indian tribes. Article I Section 9 of the Constitution states the limitations of Congress. One of the limitations is ruling a case where ex post facto is happening. This means that they are not allowed to charge a person with crimes that were not specified when the crime was committed. This was the argument of Peugh in the Peugh vs. United States case. A second limitatio n is to prevent Congress from passing bills of attainder, this goes along with the 6th amendment of the Constitution. The last of the main limitations is so that they are not allowed to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. This protects the peopleShow MoreRelatedGovernment: Constitutional Powers and Limits1210 Words   |  5 Pages(US Const. Preamble). They intended to establish a central government without granting it too much power. To ensure that, the framers both, limited and empowered the government in certain ar- eas. 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