National Fascist Party
The
National Fascist Party (
Partito Nazionale Fascista; PNF) was an
Italian party, created by
Benito Mussolini as the political expression of
Fascism (previously represented by groups known as
Fasci).
It is currently the only party whose reformation is explicitly banned by the
Constitution of Italy.
Founded in
Rome on
November 7 1921, it marked the transformation of the
paramilitary Fasci Italiani di Combattimento into a more coherent political group (the
Fasci di Combattimento had been founded by Mussolini in
Milan's Piazza San Sepolcro, on
March 23 1919).
The PNF was instrumental in directing and popularizing support for Mussolini's ideology. It was the main agent of the
coup d'état attempted as the
October 28 1922 March on Rome (although a parallel agreement between Mussolini and
King Victor Emmanuel III was arguably more important).
After the drastic modifying of electoral legislation (the
Acerbo Law), the PNF clearly won the highly controversial elections of April
1924. Law passed in
1928 made it the only legal party of the country, a situation which lasted until
1943.
The party was dissolved upon the arrest of Mussolini after the coup inside the
Grand Fascist Council, led by
Dino Grandi on
July 24 1943. It was officially banned by
Pietro Badoglio's government on
July 27.
After the
Nazi-engineered
Unternehmen Eiche liberated Mussolini in September, the Party was revived as the
Republican Fascist Party (
Partito Fascista Repubblicano - PFR;
September 13), as the single party of the Northern and Nazi-protected
Italian Social Republic (the
Salò Republic). Its secretary was
Alessandro Pavolini. The PFR did not outlast Mussolini's execution and the disappearance of the Salò state in April
1945.
*
Michele Bianchi (November 1921 - January 1923)
*
multiple presidency (January 1923 - October 1923):
Triumvirate: Michele Bianchi,
Nicola Sansanelli,
Giuseppe Bastianini*
Francesco Giunta (October 15 1923 - April 22 1924)
*
multiple presidency (April 23 1924 - February 15 1925):
Quattuorvirate:
Roberto Forges Davanzati,
Cesare Rossi,
Giovanni Marinelli,
Alessandro Melchiorri*
Roberto Farinacci (February 15 1925 - March 30 1926)
*
Augusto Turati (March 30 1926 - October 7 1930)
*
Giovanni Giuriati (October 1930 - December 1931)
*
Achille Starace (December 1931 - October 31 1939)
*
Ettore Muti (October 31 1939 - October 30 1940)
*
Adelchi Serena (October 30 1940 - December 26 1941)
*
Aldo Vidussoni (December 26 1941 - April 19 1943)
*
Carlo Scorza (April 19 1943 - July 25 1943)
