The period between World
War I and World War II brought about major
political changes in Italy. Benito Mussolini
implemented policies that led to a wave
of censorship, nationalist propaganda,
and widespread militarism, making daily life in the fascist
state, a tenuous existence. So today we're
going to take a look at how horrible everyday
life was in fascist Italy. But before we get started,
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World War II-related topics you would like to hear about. OK, this video kills fascists. [MUSIC PLAYING] The Fascist Party
headquarters building was the Palazzo Braschi in Rome. And in 1934, it was
decorated in such a way, as to remind the Italian
people how they should vote, in case they forgot. And the messaging
was less than subtle. On the side of the
building, there was a giant image
of Mussolini's face which was surrounded by
posters exclaiming, "Si" or yes for those who quickly
couldn't translate that. And that Si was the only vote
acceptable with Mussolini's candidates for
upcoming elections. This wasn't the
first time Mussolini used large gestures to remind
voters to vote his way. He similarly decorated
the Palazzo Braschi with a picture of
himself in 1929, although it wasn't
as large or imposing. It's possible that the winning
of the previous election swelled his head a bit. Anyway, the decoration
of the Palazzo Braschi was part of
Mussolini's larger plan to adorn buildings all over
Rome with fascist propaganda, and to generally remake
the city as he wished. To boost his JuJu, Mussolini
had architects design and build sports complexes,
public markets, schools, and other buildings
as well as roads, all in the spirit of Roman emperors
and Roman Catholic Church leaders. [MUSIC PLAYING] Before Adolf Hitler's
first visit to Italy, there was widespread
concern about hiding anyone who could be perceived
as the opposition. It was probably a wise
move, since the Fuhrer was famously not big on
people who opposed him. One Jewish refugee from a
small village on Lake Como described his unusual
experience with this detention. According to him, the police
arrived at his door, and said, we're very sorry. We've come to arrest you and put
you in prison for a few days. The man very calmly told
them that he understood because, you know, Hitler. The police who
were looking to be as accommodating as
the situation allowed told the man that the beds
in the jail were very poor and offered to help him move
his own bed into the cell. And they also admitted that the
jail food wasn't terribly good and suggested he have someone
send him hot meals and wine for the duration of his stay. Per the police instructions,
the man moved his bed and arranged for meals and wine
to be sent to him at the jail. While he was
imprisoned, his jailers would come visit every
day, drink with him and play games like Trick
Track and various other things to pass the time. According to the man, they
had quite an amiable time. After Hitler went home,
those arrested were released. [MUSIC PLAYING] When Mussolini finally
marched on Rome in 1922, he did so with an army of
black shirts at his side. Black shirts were a
paramilitary force who, as their name
implies, wore black shirts. And that's pretty on the nose. Mussolini used this army to
evoke terror, both domestically and abroad. From the earliest days of
the Fascist Party in Italy, Mussolini's black shirts were
to get rid of any opposition. The Black shirts motto was "Me
Ne Frego," or "I don't care." And points for honesty, because
they really didn't care. They first targeted the
socialist party in Italy, and within two
months in 1921, had demolished multiple outposts for
labor leaders and socialists. Once the fascists went from
being an urban phenomenon to a wider Italian force, they
then went after peasant leaders in the countryside,
showing aggression towards any
potential challengers in villages, communities, and
towns throughout the peninsula. They would also
humiliate their enemies like communists,
socialists, or anarchists, by publicly forcing
them to drink castor oil and other things. After 1927, Mussolini also
used a secret police force known as the Organization
for Vigilance and Repression of
Anti-fascism, or OVRA, to root out subversives. Mussolini also reinstated
the death penalty in Italy and started rounding
up his enemies. Many anti-fascists
simply left the country, setting up shop in Paris
or other European cities to escape persecution. [MUSIC PLAYING] The famous justification
for Mussolini's government usually goes
something like this-- "Fascism in Italy
was repressive, but at least it made
the trains run on time." In other words, Mussolini
brought organization and discipline to Italy,
as demonstrated by getting the trains to run on time. The big question
is, did he really get the trains to run on time. Or was that just all hype? The answer is a
little from column A and a little from column B. In truth, the rail
system in Italy was vastly improved
under Mussolini. But it had been devastated
by World War I. Overall, the larger, more
commercial express trains on the Italian rail
system, did a better job of keeping to timetables during
Mussolini's decades of power. But local and daily trains
were plagued by delays. That said, even
tourists who rode the express trains complained. As the Belgian foreign
minister noted, "We were always kept waiting
for more than a quarter of an hour at the
level crossings, because the trains
were never there at the times they should
have been passing." Still though, no one
dared to report it when the trains were late. Because really, who's going
to complain to a fascist that they're doing a bad job? [MUSIC PLAYING] Telephones weren't widely
available in Italy. And the telephone system
itself, was fairly antiquated for the day. But this only made it easier
for the secret police, headed by Arturo Bocchini, to
tap what lines did exist. With mainly just the
elites using phones, the fascist state
could get information about their business
dealings, as well as any political conversations
they might be having. The secret police also
kept dossiers on people throughout Italy, acquiring
information anyway they could-- fun times, fun times. Much like Hitler and
his Hitler Youth, Mussolini knew children
were vital to the success of his regime. And he went to great
lengths to bring them into the ideological
bubble early on. Italian students,
particularly young boys, were taught in stages
about what it took to be a proper Italian citizen. From ages four to eight,
boys wore black shirts and were told to listen
to individuals in charge and to refer to
Mussolini as il duce. This was foundational
training for when they became members of
the Italian fascist youth organization, Balilla,
at eight years old, and were given play guns
and taught to march. When they turned 14, boys
became Avanguardista, decked out with black shirts, hats,
pants, and gray socks. These groups supplied discipline
and arguably brainwashing, for Italy's young men. [MUSIC PLAYING] Young girls and
women were praised for motherhood and
domesticity and were expected to be submissive to men. The family unit and the
continued importance of children factored
into how women were treated, especially
since Mussolini wanted to grow the Italian population. The larger the
family, the better it was for the fascist state. Families with more children
were given tax breaks, while single men
were taxed heavily. Women who bore a large
number of children were publicly rewarded. The emphasis on
motherhood and family left little room
for Italian women to deviate from that plan. Women who would not
conform were sent to asylums due to the mental
illness of not going along with the state. Between 1922 and
1943, women were admitted to asylums
in Italy for deviancy, which meant they were
insufficient mothers in the eyes of
the fascist state. Women who refused
to submit intimately were also deviants,
punished for not giving in to their partners. As a former
newspaperman, Mussolini understood the
power of the press, and were to suppress
it in some ways and use it to his
benefit in others. In 1929, the High Commission
for the Press was established. While it was supposed
to avoid interference with the free press,
it actively intervene when any activity contrary to
the national interest occurred. Mussolini steered the
press in the direction he wanted it to go, confiscating
and banning publications, as well as raiding bookstores. Unlike its German counterpart,
the Italian fascist state was more reactive
than proactive when it came to censorship,
as it tried to control the written word. In cinema, Mussolini
similarly used the medium as a propaganda
tool, while banning films that could
influence Italians with any anti-fascist ideas. Italy also controlled
what people heard about the conflict. One man recalled
hearing radio reports as a child that aimed
to inspire nationalism. There were several
news bulletins a day. And his school made
him listen to one at breakfast and one at lunch. The program would begin
with music at which point he would have to stand, and then
stay stand his feet in silence until the broadcast
was finished. At the end the teacher would
cry "A chi la Vittoria," which means "To whom victory," The class would respond
with the fascist salute, known as Il saluto romano, and
shout "A noi," meaning "To us." The news itself, was nothing
but reports of victories, unprecedented heroism,
acknowledged by the enemy, and victorious strategic
planned retreats in the desert to trap the enemy. [MUSIC PLAYING] In the fascist
state, homosexual men were classified as
degenerates and were often punished with imprisonment,
albeit outside of Italy. In 1938, a group
of 45 gay men were sent to San Domino in
the Tremiti Islands, for a five-year
internal exile sentence. They were kept on the
island under supervision, but weren't subjected to forced
labor or anything particularly harsh. Ultimately, they found a
place where they could be and were expected
to be openly gay. However, when World War
II broke out in 1939, the men were sent back to Italy
to be placed on house arrest. Mussolini was an
atheist, but he knew he needed the support
of the Catholic church if he was going
to be successful. So after years of decrying
the power of the church, he began to use Catholicism
to his advantage. He later made Catholicism the
official religion in Italy. There was no state-mandated
anti-Semitism in Italy until the late 1930s, when
Mussolini took citizenship away from Jewish people in Italy. In 1938, new legislation
prohibited Italian Jews from holding public
office, marrying Aryans, or owning substantial land,
among other restrictions. Foreign-born Jewish
people were deported. Like so many other elements of
life in the Italian Socialist Republic, these
policies were partially about fear and partially
about staying on good terms with Germany. Mussolini treated
his enemies harshly. And it was only with
his passing in 1945 that Italian fascism
truly came to an end. So what do you think? What lessons can be
learned from fascist Italy? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.