Giacomo Matteotti

Giacomo Matteotti , 1885-1924, Italian Socialist leader; the outstanding opponent of the Fascist regime during its early days. He was a member of parliament, and his murder by Fascist hirelings precipitated a parliamentary crisis that Mussolini overcame by disavowing the murder and by tightening police control. With the crushing of the opposition aroused by Matteotti's assassination, Mussolini's dictatorship may be said to have begun. The murderers and their accomplices received only nominal sentences.

Matteotti, Giacomo (1885–1924) Italian socialist leader. A member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, he began in 1921 to organize the United Socialist Party. He openly accused MUSSOLINI and his BLACKSHIRTS of winning the 1924 parliamentary election by force, giving examples of attacks on individuals and the smashing of the printing presses belonging to opposition newspapers. Within a week he was found murdered. How far Mussolini was personally responsible is uncertain, but in January 1925 he took full responsibility for the crime, and proceeded to tighten up the fascist regime.