The political landscape today is dominated by right-wing populists and demagogues. From Trump in the US to Farage in Britain, Le Pen in France, the AfD in Germany and the FPO in Austria, all of these ‘strongmen’ have terrified the liberal establishment, who are now once more raising the bogeyman of ‘fascism’ and the ‘threat to democracy’.
Therefore, the release of Sky Atlantic’s biographical drama Mussolini: Son Of The Century comes at a suitable time. By covering the life of Benito Mussolini – the world’s first fascist dictator – it provides a graphic insight into what fascism actually is, and not what the scaremongering liberals would have us believe.
The series holds a lot of artistic weight, with Luca Marinelli providing a screen-grabbing performance as the eccentric and vicious ‘Duce’.
Part of the series’ merit is the fact that it accurately portrays the storm and stress of Italian society after the First World War, and how the ruling class opted to hand power to the fascists in order to crush the revolutionary working class.
War and revolution
The world in the early 20th century was defined by rising militarism and imperialist conflict, culminating with the outbreak of the First World War. From the bloodshed and destruction, a mighty revolutionary movement swept the world – most notably in Russia and Germany.
In Italy, the Biennio Rosso or ‘Two Red Years’ broke out in 1919. The working class attempted to overthrow capitalism time and time again, following the example of their Russian brothers and sisters.
However, the leaders of the Socialist Party held reformist illusions about the capitalist system, and instead of breaking away from it, they compromised with the ruling class.
The title of the series – The Son Of The Century – is therefore quite fitting: Mussolini and his band of fascists were the product of these conditions of capitalist decay and reformist betrayal.
The failures of the socialists
The series is narrated by Mussolini himself, but (fortunately) it does not fall into the trap of portraying the rise of fascism as a product of a strong-willed individual and his brutal actions. Rather, it correctly places it in the process of revolution and counter-revolution in Italy at that time.
During the Biennio Rosso, the fascists were small and insignificant. They initially were based on demobilised war veterans, who were disillusioned by the end of the war which left them with nothing.
Mussolini’s tendency captured their anger with a ‘left’ demagogic economic programme – the eight-hour working day; the nationalisation of industry – mixed with reactionary patriotism and imperialism.
Throughout the first few episodes, Mussolini repeatedly mocks the socialist leaders for their weakness, vacillation, and prostration before the capitalist state.
In one scene, his mistress tells him that his programme is to the left of the socialists, and he says that’s because the socialist leaders would never dream of implementing it.
Such weakness invites aggression, and the first few episodes also poignantly and graphically show the vicious, terrorist attacks unleashed by the fascists on the socialists.
Shootings, mutilations, stabbings, rapes, tortures, the burning of buildings and printing presses: this was the fascists’ modus operandi, which many Italian workers resisted and fought valiantly.
The only way the socialist leaders responded to this was by making appeals to parliament to disband the fascists.
The workers, however, carried on the struggle – not only against the fascists but also against the capitalist state, by escalating the strike movement into an occupation of the factories.
But this movement was betrayed by the socialist leaders, who ended the occupations in favour of minor concessions and false promises from the government.
Meanwhile, sections of the bourgeoisie were preparing a major offensive against the Italian workers.
The fascists and the establishment
At the peak of the revolution, the fascists were left isolated and with little resources. In the second episode, Mussolini and his fascists are portrayed in a desperate position, being swept into irrelevance as the workers’ movement was striding forward.
However, as the revolutionary movement reached an ebb, sections of the large capitalists and landowners started to send large sums of money to Mussolini’s group, helping him to build up his apparatus and influence.
This way, the fascists were able to rally around them the mass of desperate and frantic middle classes in Italy, who were increasingly exasperated by the capitalist crisis and the revolutionary tumult it created.
Being shown no way out by the socialist leaders, the petty bourgeois – followed by criminal elements – turned to the fascists, who converted their fear and exasperation into a neurotic reaction against the working class.
A speech given by Mussolini in the early episodes encapsulates this very well:
“Against the red beast, let us make a ram of all our lives. We defend our securities, we mutate fear in hatred.”
But for the fascists to get close to power, it was not enough for them to act as terroristic appendages of the ruling class against the workers. Mussolini understood that the fascists had to present themselves as ‘responsible’ allies of the ruling class, that could be entrusted with state power.
The series depicts Mussolini repeatedly manoeuvring between his rabid fascist base and the bourgeois establishment, to ‘institutionalise’ the fascists into the state.
This process culminated with the so-called ‘March on Rome’ in October 1922. Unlike many bourgeois historians, who try to present it as a masterfully planned fascist coup, the series presents it for what it truly was: a handover of power by the ruling class and the King to Mussolini.
Going through a series of government crises that were unable to squash the workers’ movement, the ruling class finally turned to the ‘responsible’ Mussolini to finish the job.
Mussolini’s rise to power and his regime was welcomed by many ‘democratic’ leaders in the western world, including the so-called ‘anti-fascist war hero’ Winston Churchill, who only had the highest regard for this fascist leader.
Mussolini’s regime served to defend the privileges of the big capitalists and landowners by dismantling and terrorising the Italian workers and their organisations, which required them to remove any pretences of ‘democracy’ and politically expropriate the ruling class.
The fight against fascism
The series depicts the events surrounding Mussolini’s rise in a disturbing and surreal manner – achieving a fine balance between drama, levity, and serious commitment to the subject matter.
And because it remains mostly true to the historical material, it accurately reflects the class forces behind the rise of fascism.
Therefore the series is well worth watching, even if liberal papers misinterpret it as a ‘warning’ for the future of democracy, and the threat presented by ‘strong’ leaders.
What this show actually exposes is the frailty of bourgeois democracy, and how willingly the ruling class would choose to crush the workers’ movement to protect their property and privileges.
Today, the social base of fascism has been significantly eroded into small gangs of thugs. These layers can present a threat to the working class and ethnic minorities, but they can be easily swept away by the mass movement of workers and youth.
The rise of right-wing demagogues and populists has radicalised a significant layer of society – especially the youth – who are beginning to draw revolutionary conclusions.
The Revolutionary Communists are setting out to organise these young people in the fight to overthrow capitalism – so that fascism, demagogy, and reaction can be swept into the dustbin of history, where they belong.
