Abstract

In the aftermath of WWI the ruling liberal class faced the task of democratizing the Italian political system. Peasants and workers had, in different ways, taken part in the conflict, paying a very heavy price – and they now called for major political and social reforms. The response of the liberal political world – fractured as it was by group and personal enmities – proved weak and the policies adopted (from the introduction of a proportional electoral law to the timidly attempted industrial and agricultural reforms) did not bridge the gap with a popular reality radicalized by the revolutionary suggestions coming from Soviet Russia. In such a context, the ruling elites did not envisage a threat in the rise of Fascism, seen as an understandable – if at times excessive – reaction against those who “denigratedµ the war effort and advocated radical social transformations