ABSTRACT
In February 1902, Mussolini got a job as a teacher in a school at Pieve Saliceto in the commune of Gualtieri. It is certainly true that on 18 October 1914 Mussolini came out in favour of Italian entry into the war against Austria-Hungary and Germany, arguing that Italy could not remain on the sidelines when such crucial events were taking place. Mussolini was both surprised and embittered by the refusal of his socialist colleagues to support his stand on intervention in 1914. Mussolini expected the struggle to be short, so he remained at his editorial desk, only joining the army when the process of conscription forced him. Mussolini's position had become more authoritarian as the war entered its decisive phase in 1918. He was convinced by now that parliamentary government must be swept away and replaced by some form of dictatorship. There is an important sense in which Mussolini's own Fascism was derivative.
