Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini was born on July 29th 1883 near Predappio, in north-east Italy. His father, Alessandro, was a blacksmith while his mother, Rosa, was a school teacher. Mussolini had a younger brother and younger sister. Despite having two incomes coming in to the house, the Mussolini’s were poor, as were many families in Italy at this time.
As soon as he was able to do so, Mussolini helped out his father in his forge. Working with his father gave the two time to talk. Alessandro was a socialist and a republican. He believed that there should be a fairer share of wealth in Italy and that the monarchy should be scrapped. Alessandro wanted the people to decide who should lead them. He did not accept a system whereby his son would automatically follow the king. Many Italians shared the views of Mussolini’s father and it would have been normal for the young Mussolini to take on board what his father said.
Alessandro was also a firm believer that all Italians should live under Italian rule. Some Italians lived under the rule of Austria in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and people like Alessandro could not accept this. In this sense, Alessandro was a nationalist.
The young Mussolini grew up in an environment where the talk would have been about socialism, republicanism and nationalism. He also grew up supporting the view of his father that the Roman Catholic Church was an enemy of Italy as it did not support the state itself.
Mussolini did not take to school. He found that he rebelled against most things. Catholic monks ran his first school. His mother had insisted on him attending such a school but his behaviour was so bad that he got expelled from it.
Mussolini did better at his next school and he went on to become a qualified teacher even if he was not interested in teaching. Mussolini had developed passions for politics.
In June 1902, Mussolini went to Switzerland. He took with him no obvious skills and he was forced to live rough. He got involved with some Italian socialists who worked in Switzerland, got employment as a bricklayer and joined a trade union. He got expelled from Switzerland in 1903 when he suggested a general strike – a very revolutionary idea then.
He went to France but returned to Italy to do his military service. After this he went to a region called Trentino. This area was in north Italy but the Austrians ruled it. The Austrian authorities soon marked him down as a troublemaker as he encouraged trade unions and attacked the Catholic Church. He was expelled from Trentino in 1909.
Mussolini went south to the Po Valley. Here he helped the farmers in their efforts to get a better wage. He became the secretary of the local socialist party in Forli and became the editor of the socialist newspaper "The Class Struggle" (La Lotta di Classe).
In 1911, the Italians attacked Libya in North Africa. Mussolini led demonstrations against this attack in Forli. He was arrested and sent to prison for five months. However, his action had got him noticed by socialist movements outside of Forli. He was rewarded with the job of editor of "Avanti" (Forward) the socialist newspaper – an appointment he got in April 1912. Most of the contents in the paper he did himself. The popularity of the paper increased and his views reached many people and thus expanded his influence.