Summary of Ruth Ben-Ghiat's Strongmen

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#1 The first man to transform a democracy into a dictatorship was Mussolini, who created fascism. He understood that the world would never be the same after the war, and old parties and the old men who ruled them would be swept aside.

#2 Fascist regimes disrupted the existing field of politics, putting two things together that were supposed to be opposites: nationalism and Socialism. Yet Mussolini, a former Socialist, knew the power of insurrectionary language to mobilize people.

#3 Fascist combat leagues were founded in 1919, and by 1921, 2 million industrial workers and peasants had taken part in strikes and farm and factory occupations. Fascist squads started as private militias funded by industrial and agrarian bosses to end the labor unrest.

#4 After the violence, Mussolini did not have to stage a coup to take power. He turned Parliament into a bully pulpit and denounced negative coverage of him and Fascism as criminal. He created the Fascist Grand Council and the Voluntary Militia for National Security as parallel governance and defense structures.

© 2022 Distill Books (Audiobook): 9781669396079

Release date

Audiobook: October 17, 2022