Mussolini, the fascist dictator who was in power from 1922 until his death in 1943, strove to create a totalitarian state of Italy. A totalitarian state is a state "of a dictatorial one-party government in which no rival parties or loyalties are permitted". In addition, a totalitarian state is one in which all aspects of society are controlled by the government. This includes the economy, culture, religion, education, and even people's thoughts. They try to control people's thought by brainwashing them with propaganda and imposing manifestos on them. Conclusions will be drawn to what extent Italy can be described as a totalitarian state between 1922 and 1939.
             The most important aspects of society are perhaps the human freedoms. These include the freedom of speech, choice of political party, movement, worship, and the freedom to strike. The freedom which Mussolini's regime had most effect on was the freedom of speech. Mussolini, being a former newspaper editor himself, realised the power the press had, and along with that, realised the power he would have if he controlled it. In 1925 state control became apparent with the introduction of the Press Law. This law stated that all journalists had to be registered with the Fascist Journalist Association. This meant that only registered journalists could write for the press, and the register was controlled by the fascists. Mussolini had effectively solved the problem of controlling of what was being written and printed. The Exceptional Decrees of 1926 and 1928 surpressed many newspapers that Mussolini did not approve of. There were some party papers still able to print namely the Communist L'Unita and the Socialist Avanti! However, these papers had almost no influence, as the censorship that had been imposed on them, i.e. the registration, restricted them from writing anything radical. The freedom of the press had effectively been wiped out by the Press Law o...