Grand Council of Fascism
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The Grand Council of Fascism (Italian: Gran Consiglio del Fascismo) was the main body of Mussolini's Fascist government in Italy. A body which held and applied great power to control the institutions of government, it was created as a party body in 1923 and became a state body on 9 December 1928.
Its members were as follows:
- The Prime Minister:
- The Quadrumvirs, the people who lead the March on Rome – Michele Bianchi, Emilio De Bono, Cesare Maria de Vecchi and Italo Balbo.
- The President of the Senate and the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, from 1939 the Chamber of Fasci and Corporations
- The Ministers of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Forestry, Education, Corporations, and the Minister of Popular Culture
- The Presidents of the Royal Academy of Italy, of the special court of state emergency and defence, of the Corporation of Industrialists, of the Agriculture worker, Industrial worker and of Farmers. Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the radio was also the President of the Academy of Italy, making him a council member.
- The Chief of Staff i.e. commander of the MVSN
- The Secretary of the National Fascist Party (who is also the secretary of the Council)
- Various people chosen by Mussolini himself, who held a 3-years position
Essentially, the council held these powers:
- The power to elect the Fascist Party deputies, the nomination for the Party Secretary and other party leaders, the approval of the party statutes and the power regarding the party's policy.
- The power to elect the Crown's line of succession including the choice of the heir to the throne, the right of the crown, the power to choose possible successors to the Prime Minister, the power to choose the function and membership of the Grand Council, the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, the power to decide the rights and powers of the Prime Minister, international Treaties, and foreign affairs.
The Grand Council meetings were convened by the Prime Minister himself and all decree and laws could only be legalized by the approval of the Prime Minister himself. In contrast to the Führerprinzip government model in Nazi Germany, the Grand Council at least theoretically had the power to recommend that the King of Italy remove the Prime Minister from office. Therefore, it was nominally the only check on Mussolini's power.
The majority of the Grand Council ultimately voted on July 25th, 1943, Dino Grandi's Order of the Day that, enforcing its formal powers, deposed Mussolini, bloodlessly, following the Allied invasion of Sicily.
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