NATIONAL FASCIST PARTY

(Redirected from Fascist Party)

The 'National Fascist Party' (''Partito Nazionale Fascista''; PNF) was an Italian party, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Fascism (previously represented by groups known as ''Fasci''; ''see also Italian fascism''). The party ruled Italy for twenty-one years from 1922 to 1943 under a totalitarian model of government.
It is currently the only party whose reformation is explicitly banned by the Constitution of Italy, "under any form" (twelfth temporary disposition). In practice, several small fascist parties exist in Italy, whose existence is not currently disputed.

Contents

History

Secretaries of the PNF

History

Founded in Rome on November 7 1921, it marked the transformation of the paramilitary ''Fasci Italiani di Combattimento'' into a more coherent political group (the ''Fasci di Combattimento'' had been founded by Mussolini in Milan's Piazza San Sepolcro, on March 23 1919).
The PNF was instrumental in directing and popularizing support for Mussolini's ideology. It was the main agent of the coup d'état attempted as the October 28 1922 March on Rome (although a parallel agreement between Mussolini and King Victor Emmanuel III was arguably more important).
After the drastic modifying of electoral legislation (the ''Acerbo Law''), the PNF clearly won the highly controversial elections of April 1924. Legislation passed in 1928 made it the only legal party of the country, a situation which lasted until 1943.
The party was dissolved upon the arrest of Mussolini after the coup inside the Grand Fascist Council, led by Dino Grandi on July 24 1943. It was officially banned by Pietro Badoglio's government on July 27.
After the Nazi-engineered Unternehmen Eiche liberated Mussolini in September, the PNF was revived as the 'Republican Fascist Party' (''Partito Fascista Repubblicano'' - PFR; September 13), as the single party of the Northern and Nazi-protected Italian Social Republic (the ''Salò Republic''). Its secretary was Alessandro Pavolini. The PFR did not outlast Mussolini's execution and the disappearance of the Salò state in April 1945.

Secretaries of the PNF

★ Michele Bianchi (November 1921 - January 1923)

★ ''multiple presidency'' (January 1923 - October 1923)
: ''Triumvirate'': Michele Bianchi, Nicola Sansanelli, Giuseppe Bastianini

★ Francesco Giunta (October 15 1923 - April 22 1924)

★ ''multiple presidency'' (April 23 1924 - February 15 1925)
: ''Quadrumvirate'': Roberto Forges Davanzati, Cesare Rossi, Giovanni Marinelli, Alessandro Melchiorri

★ Roberto Farinacci (February 15 1925 - March 30 1926)

★ Augusto Turati (March 30 1926 - October 7 1930)

★ Giovanni Giuriati (October 1930 - December 1931)

★ Achille Starace (December 1931 - October 31 1939)

★ Ettore Muti (October 31 1939 - October 30 1940)

★ Adelchi Serena (October 30 1940 - December 26 1941)

★ Aldo Vidussoni (December 26 1941 - April 19 1943)

★ Carlo Scorza (April 19 1943 - July 25 1943)