The Pact of Pacification or Pacification Pact was a peace agreement officially signed by Benito Mussolini, who would later become dictator of Italy, and other leaders of the Fasci with the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and the General Confederation of Labor (CGL) in Rome on August 2 or 3, 1921.Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, p. 100. Historians cannot agree on the exact signing date of the Pact The Pact called for “immediate action to put an end to the threats, assaults, reprisals, acts of vengeance, and personal violence of any description,” by either side for the “mutual respect” of “all economic organizations.” Dahlia S. Elazar, The Making of Fascism: Class, State, and Counter-Revolution, Italy 1919-1922, Westport, CT, Praeger, 2001, p. 141 The Italian Futurists, Syndicalists and others favored Mussolini’s peace pact as an attempt at “reconciliation with the Socialists.” Dahlia S. Elazar, The Making of Fascism: Class, State, and Counter-Revolution, Italy 1919-1922, Westport, CT, Praeger, 2001, p. 141 Others saw it as a means to form a "grand coalition of new mass parties" to "overthrow the liberal systems" via Parliament or civil society.R.J.B. Bosworth, Mussolini’s Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship 1915-1945, New York, NY, Penguin Press, 2006, p.172

In the accord, Mussolini clearly voiced his opposition and contempt for the provincial paramilitary squads and their landowning allies, declaring that they were "the dullest, deafest, most miserable cast that exists in Italy".Dahlia S. Elazar, The Making of Fascism: Class, State, and Counter-Revolution, Italy 1919-1922, Westport, CT, Praeger, 2001, p. 141 The agreement was short-lived since many of the action squads leaders denounced the pacification pact with the socialists, along with Mussolini’s leadership, arguing that the Duce "had not created the movement" and that they could "get along without him".Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, p. 100

History The violence between the action squads (squadristi) and socialists and communist activists continued to escalate from 1919 to 1921. Revolutionary socialists were engaged in political assassinations, strikes, physical possession of factories, seizures of private land, and riots who often “coerced smallholders”(farmer owners) “as well as laborers into Socialist unions,” causing rural landowners to launch retaliatory assaults against socialist targets.Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, p. 95 Across the Italian landscape “trains and barracks, banks and public buildings were attacked by mobs,” while many areas were draped in red banners and were declared to have “passed wholly into the hands of the Communists.”Christopher Hibbert, Mussolini: The Rise and Fall of Il Duce, New York: NY, St. Martin’s Press, 2008, p. 28. First published in 1962 as Il Duce: The Life of Benito Mussolini The rural paramilitary leaders took the position that “violence could only be met by greater violence” in a situation that was almost comparable to a civil war.Christopher Hibbert, Mussolini: The Rise and Fall of Il Duce, New York: NY, St. Martin’s Press, 2008, pp. 28-29 Mussolini found himself under increasing pressure to reduce the anti-socialist violence, finding it difficult to be put in a position to take a “categorically antileftist position,” since he had raised the possibility of forming a sort of “nationalist-leftist coalition government.” Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, p. 100 By 1921, the fasci movement had expanded to the point where almost every political position in Italy was represented, which was encouraged by Mussolini’s denials that he had “any programme” whatsoever, pointing out that fascism would “appeal simultaneously to ‘aristocrats and democrats, revolutionaries and reactionaries, proletarians and anti-proletarians, pacifists and anti-pacifists.Denis Mack Smith, Mussolini, New York, NY, Vintage Books, 1983, p. 45

Willing to court almost any populist movement, Mussolini found it politically advantageous at first to identify with the nationalistic movement of independent and loosely organized anti-socialist militias, although at the time he “did not want to lose his position on the left,” since he was considering the possibility of a “Fascist Labor Party” or “National Labor Party.”Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, p. 99 Mussolini envisioned a “coalition of labor syndicalists,” but the increasing violence between socialist and anti-socialist squads was harming his chances to amass a wider political constituency.

Caught in the middle During the 1919 elections, the Fascists had attempted to court the socialist-left while publicly dubbing himself the “Lenin of Italy”,Denis Mack Smith, Modern Italy: A Political History, University of Michigan Press, 1997, p. 284, first published in 1959 attempting to “out-socialist the socialists”,Denis Mack Smith, Modern Italy: A Political History, University of Michigan Press, 1997, p. 297 which resulted in an election where the socialists garnished “forty times as many votes.”Denis Mack Smith, Mussolini, New York, NY, Vintage Books, 1983, p. 38 This devastating and humiliating election defeat pushed Mussolini towards finding other populist movements that could catapult him into a powerful seat of authority, even though he “briefly reconsidered emigrating” in the belief that his movement was finished.Denis Mack Smith, Mussolini, New York, NY, Vintage Books, 1983, p. 39 The poor state of affairs of the fasci movement was reported by Fascists themselves at their Third Fascist Congress, who calculated that they had “only 100 fasci and 30,000 supporters” in 1920, as compared to “2,200 fasci and 320,000 members by late 1921. Charles F. Delzell, edit., Mediterranean Fascism 1919-1945, New York, NY, Walker and Company, 1971, p. 26 In an attempt to expand his minuscule party, Mussolini seemed to have employed the political strategy of entryism in which a smaller political movement aspires to capture a larger one under a degree of subterfuge and subversion.

In a sense, as historian Stanley G. Payne explained, the “new mass Fascism” of the agrarian squadrists “had not been created by Mussolini,” but had instead “sprung up around him.”Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, p. 98 As Mussolini proceeded to ensnare the mostly self-organizing militias under his fascist banner, his movement began to experience a fast-expanding “influx of middle-class people” who were relatively conservative.Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, p. 99 Generally, the ras leaders supported nationalism, not socialism, and were upset over the socialists and communist involvement in political violence against landowners and the middle class.

Reaction to the peace pact

After the peace pact was announced, many of the leading ras opposed it, including Dino Grandi, Italo Balbo, Roberto Farinacci, and Pietro Marsich, who refused to recognize the pact, creating a serious split.Charles F. Delzell, edit., Mediterranean Fascism 1919-1945, New York, NY, Walker and Company, 1971, p. 26 In the city of Bologna, posters appeared that accused “Mussolini as a traitor to Fascism.”Dahlia S. Elazar, The Making of Fascism: Class, State, and Counter-Revolution, Italy 1919-1922, Westport, CT, Praeger, 2001, p. 142 In many Italian cities, including Florence, the local fasci decided to dissolve their local chapter to “protest against the Pact and Mussolini’s leadership.” There were at least two secret anti-Mussolini meetings where a cloud of resentment focused on “Mussolini’s lingering leftist loyalties.”Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, pp. 100-101 Many leading ras agitated for a leadership change, suggesting that someone else such as Gabriele D’Annunzio should “replace Mussolini.”Edward Townley, Mussolini and Italy, series editor, Martin Collier, Oxford: UK, Heinemann Educational Publishers, 2002, p. 31 Grandi and Balbo sought out D’Annunzio in August 1921, and encouraged him to lead the movement in an “insurrectionary march on Rome.”David D. Roberts, The Syndicalist Tradition and Italian Fascism, University of North Carolina Press, 1979, p. 215 This proposed leadership change appealed to younger fascists who supported “neosyndicalist principles” found in syndicalist Alceste De Ambris’s Carta del Carnaro (Charter of Carnaro), a constitution written for the seized city of Fiume that combined “modern syndicalism” with a “society of producers.”David D. Roberts, The Syndicalist Tradition and Italian Fascism, University of North Carolina Press, 1979, p. 215Emilio Gentile, The Origins of Fascist Ideology 1918-1925, New York, NY, Enigma Books, 2005, p. 150 However, D’Annunzio evaded Grandi’s and Balbo’s advances by arguing that he had first to consult the stars of a night sky that was noted as overcast.R.J.B. Bosworth, Mussolini’s Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship 1915-1945, New York, NY, Penguin Press, 2006, p.174

Agrarian Fascism As the representative of “urban fascism”, Mussolini feared the rise of “agrarian fascism” that had originated from the rural squadristi, regarding them as “rival contenders for the leadership of his movement,” whose violence might precipitate a general defeat by policing and military agencies.Denis Mack Smith, Mussolini, New York, NY, Vintage Books, 1983, p. 45 To remedy the situation, Mussolini challenged the squadristi head-on by signing the peace accord with the socialists in order to put an end to punitive raids and constrain the seemingly uncontrollable squadristi.Denis Mack Smith, Mussolini, New York, NY, Vintage Books, 1983, p. 45 Considering fascism to be his child, Mussolini wrote that agrarian fascism represented “the private interests of the most sinister and contemptible classes in Italy.” Dahlia S. Elazar, The Making of Fascism: Class, State, and Counter-Revolution, Italy 1919-1922, Westport, CT, Praeger, 2001, p. 93 He soon came to the realization that he had overplayed his hand in his attacks against the agrarian fascists, and finding himself in the minority, he resigned his position as the leader of fascism. If fascism was going to represent nothing but reactionary opposition, Mussolini “claimed to be prepared to wash his hands of it.”David D. Roberts, The Syndicalist Tradition and Italian Fascism, University of North Carolina Press, 1979, p. 216

Mussolini’s resignation