Grand Council of Fascism

The Grand Council of Fascism (Italian: Gran Consiglio del Fascismo, also translated "Fascist Grand Council") was the main body of Mussolini's Fascist government in Italy. A body which held and applied great power to control the institutions of government, it was created as a body of the National Fascist Party in 1923 and became a state body on 9 December 1928. The council usually met at the Palazzo Venezia, Rome, which was also the seat of head of the Italian government.[1] The Council became extinct following a series of events in 1943, in which Benito Mussolini was voted out of the Prime Ministry of Italy.

Grand Council of Fascism

Gran Consiglio del Fascismo
Coat of Arms
Abbreviation	Grand Council
Formation	9 December 1928
Dissolved	25 July 1943
Legal status	Constitutional body
Headquarters	Palazzo Venezia, Rome
King of Italy	King Victor Emmanuel III
President	Benito Mussolini

Members of the Council

Its members, selected among the party's gerarchi, are below. Their vote on the 25 July 1943 motion to depose Mussolini is also given next to their name (Sì for aye, No for nay), if they voted.

The Head of Government and Duce of Fascism

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Benito Mussolini (1883–1945)	9 December 1928	25 July 1943	Deposed

The Quadrumvirs

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Italo Balbo (1896–1940)	9 December 1928	28 June 1940	Died in Office
	Michele Bianchi (1883–1930)	9 December 1928	3 February 1930	Died in Office
	Emilio De Bono (1866–1944)	9 December 1928	25 July 1943	Sì
	Cesare Maria De Vecchi (1884–1959)	9 December 1928	25 July 1943	Sì

President of the Senate

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Tommaso Tittoni (1855–1931)	9 December 1928	29 January 1929
	Luigi Federzoni (1878–1967)	29 April 1929	2 March 1939
	Giacomo Suardo (1883–1947)	15 March 1939	25 July 1943	Abstention

President of the Chamber of Deputies

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Antonio Casertano (1863–1938)	9 December 1928	29 January 1929	Died in Office
	Giovanni Giuriati (1876–1970)	20 April 1929	19 January 1934
	Costanzo Ciano (1876–1939)	28 April 1934	2 March 1939	Died in Office
President of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations
	Costanzo Ciano (1876–1939)	23 March 1939	26 June 1939	Died in Office
	Dino Grandi (1895–1988)	30 November 1939	25 July 1943	Sì

Agriculture and Forestry

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Giacomo Acerbo (1888–1969)	9 December 1928	24 January 1935
	Edmondo Rossoni (1884–1965)	24 January 1935	31 October 1939
	Giuseppe Tassinari (1891–1944)	31 October 1939	26 December 1941
	Carlo Pareschi (1898–1944)	26 December 1941	25 July 1943	Sì

Corporations

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Benito Mussolini (1883–1945)	9 December 1928	12 September 1929	Prime Minister and Duce
	Giuseppe Bottai (1895–1959)	12 September 1929	20 July 1932
	Benito Mussolini (1883–1945)	20 July 1932	11 June 1936	Prime Minister and Duce
	Ferruccio Lantini (1886–1959)	11 June 1936	31 October 1939
	Renato Ricci (1896–1956)	31 October 1939	6 February 1943
	Carlo Tiengo (1882–1945)	6 February 1943	19 April 1943
	Tullio Cianetti (1899–1976)	19 April 1943	25 July 1943	Sì

Finance

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Antonio Mosconi (1866–1955)	9 December 1928	20 July 1932
	Guido Jung (1876–1949)	20 July 1932	17 January 1935
	Paolo Thaon di Revel (1888–1973)	17 January 1935	6 February 1943
	Giacomo Acerbo (1888–1969)	6 February 1943	25 July 1943	Sì

Foreign Affairs

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Benito Mussolini (1883–1945)	9 December 1928	12 September 1929	Prime Minister and Duce
	Dino Grandi (1895–1988)	12 September 1929	20 July 1932
	Benito Mussolini (1883–1945)	20 July 1932	9 June 1936	Prime Minister and Duce
	Galeazzo Ciano (1903–1944)	9 June 1936	6 February 1943
	Benito Mussolini (1883–1945)	6 February 1943	25 July 1943	Prime Minister and Duce Deposed

Interior

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Benito Mussolini (1883–1945)	9 December 1928	25 July 1943	Prime Minister and Duce Deposed

Justice and Religious Affairs

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Alfredo Rocco (1875–1935)	9 December 1928	20 July 1932
Grace and Justice
	Pietro De Francisci (1883–1971)	20 July 1932	24 January 1935
	Arrigo Solmi (1873–1944)	24 January 1935	12 July 1939
	Dino Grandi (1895–1988)	12 July 1939	5 February 1943
	Alfredo De Marsico (1888–1985)	5 February 1943	25 July 1943	Sì

Press and Propaganda

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Galeazzo Ciano (1903–1944)	23 June 1935	11 June 1936
	Dino Alfieri (1886–1966)	11 June 1936	27 May 1937
Minister of Popular Culture
	Dino Alfieri (1886–1966)	27 May 1937	31 October 1939
	Alessandro Pavolini (1903–1945)	31 October 1939	6 February 1943
	Gaetano Polverelli (1903–1945)	6 February 1943	25 July 1943	No

Public Education

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Giuseppe Belluzzo (1876–1952)	9 December 1928	12 September 1929
National Education
	Balbino Giuliano (1879–1958)	12 September 1929	20 July 1932
	Francesco Ercole (1884–1945)	20 July 1932	24 January 1935
	Cesare Maria De Vecchi (1884–1959)	24 January 1935	15 November 1936
	Giuseppe Bottai (1895–1959)	15 November 1936	5 February 1943
	Giacomo Acerbo (1888–1969)	5 February 1943	25 July 1943	Sì

President of the Royal Academy

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Tommaso Tittoni (1855–1931)	28 October 1929	16 September 1930
	Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937)	19 September 1930	20 July 1937	Died in Office
	Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863–1938)	12 November 1937	1 March 1938	Died in Office
	Luigi Federzoni (1878–1967)	21 April 1938	25 July 1943	Sì

President of the Special Court for the Defence of the State

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		25 July 1943 Motion
	Guido Cristini (1895–1979)	9 December 1928	28 November 1932
	Antonino Tringali-Casanova (1888–1943)	28 November 1932	25 July 1943	No

Other Posts

• The Presidents of the Corporations; Industrialists, Agriculture Workers, Industrial Workers, and Farmers. The Nobel Physics laureate inventor-technologist Guglielmo Marconi was the President of the Academy of Italy, making him a council member.
• The Secretary of the National Fascist Party, who was also the secretary of the Council.
• Various people chosen by Mussolini himself, who each held appointments of three-year durations.

Powers of the Council

The session of the Grand Council of 9 May 1936, where the Empire was proclaimed.

Essentially, the council held these powers:

• The power to elect the Fascist Party deputies, the nomination for the Party Secretary and other party leaders, the approval of the party statutes and the power regarding the party's policy.
• The power to elect the Crown's line of succession including the choice of the heir to the throne, the right of the crown, the power to choose possible successors to the Prime Minister, the power to choose the function and membership of the Grand Council, the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies (later the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations), the power to decide the rights and powers of the Prime Minister, international Treaties, and foreign affairs.

The Grand Council meetings were convened by the Prime Minister himself, and all decrees and laws could only be legalized after receiving his approval. In contrast to the Führerprinzip government model in Nazi Germany, the Grand Council retained the power to recommend that the King of Italy remove the Prime Minister from office. As all the former governing institutions had been subordinated to the Fascist party, the Council was the only check on Mussolini's power.

Overthrow of Mussolini

The Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943. Grand Council member Dino Grandi proposed a vote of no confidence in Mussolini as leader of the Council and the party. A vote was held on the night of 24–25 July 1943 and passed with 19 votes for, 8 against and one abstention. Among the 19 votes of no confidence were those of Mussolini's son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano, who had been former minister of foreign affairs, and the influential marshal Emilio De Bono.

The following day King Victor Emmanuel met Mussolini and informed him that General Pietro Badoglio would lead Italy, as Prime Minister. Mussolini was arrested immediately after the meeting.[2]

In September 1943 Mussolini was freed from imprisonment by German commandos and helped to regain power in northern Italy. He had Ciano, De Bono and three others arrested and tried for treason on 8 January 1944 in Verona. They were executed by firing squad three days later.[3][4]

References

1. "Gran consiglio del fascismo". Enciclopedia on line (in Italian). Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani S.p.A. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
2. Shirer, William L. (1959). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (2011 ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 997. ISBN 9781451642599. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
3. Bosworth, Richard J. B. (2010). Mussolini (New ed.). London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 9780340981733. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
4. De Grand, Alexander J. (2000). Italian Fascism: Its Origins & Development (Third ed.). Lincoln, NV: University of Nebraska Press. p. 136. ISBN 0803266227. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

Further reading

• 2194 Days of War, Cesare Salmaggi & Alfredo Pallavisini (editors), Gallery Press, New York — ISBN 0831788852 (1977)

See also

• Italian Fascism
• Italian Parliament (1928–1939)