ABSTRACT
In the wake of the war Fascism was to come to power: Rocco, the nationalist, would be a minister, and Salvemini, the Socialist, would choose exile. Giuseppe Giolitti foresaw a long war; in addition, he said, "to go to war under the right auspices requires the enthusiastic endorsement of the great majority of the country." Italian nationalism had taken possession of the war and the victory, gagging the voice of the "soldier of the alliance," the old "risorgimentale" interventionist. The birth of the PPI made a radical change in Italian political life: Socialism had an opponent of stature; as for Benito Mussolini, the emergence of this new force made his position s seem only the more precarious. Mussolini was well aware that he had made no impression on the workers and peasants who adhered to the Socialist Party or the new Catholic Popular Party.
