1925 BENITO MUSSOLINI IS THE FIRST FASCIST DICTATOR
How Mussolini went from Italy’s Prime Minister to the totalitarian ‘Il Duce’
Although he had been effectively ruling Italy as dictator for two years, the charismatic and callous leader of the Fascist Party, Benito Mussolini, was still (technically) operating within a democracy as 1924 ended. But that illusion was finally and swiftly dispensed with when he addressed the Parliament on 3 January 1925. “I declare… that I alone assume the political, moral and historic responsibility for everything that has happened. Italy wants peace and quiet, work and calm. I will give these things with love if possible, and with force if necessary,” he declared. The message was clear: fascism in the 20th century had its first dictator.