the question of constitutionalism, and inside the party also a division grew up between the Diehards who Stood by violent methods, and the "evolutionists" who wanted to compromise with parliamentary and constitutional forms. Mussolini himself saw the undoubted advantages of settled and constitutional government, provided that its machinery was guaranteed to work in his favour and in that of the interests which he represented. The first requisites were a compact parliamentary majority for the Fascists and a weak and disunited opposition. To secure these ends a scheme of parliamentary reform was worked out.
The electoral law of July, 1923, is remarkable even among the electoral devices designed to secure bourgeois supremacy. The main features of the law are as follows: the whole of Italy is treated as one electoral area, and each constituent votes, not for an individual, but for a Party. He may, if he so desire, also indicate his preference for an individual candidate in the party list which he selects. The votes cast for each Party are then counted by the authorities and on these totals an amazing scheme is based. The party which heads the poll receives, not a representation proportionate to the number of votes cast, but two thirds of the number of seats. The winning party will quite probably receive only a minority of the votes, but it nevertheless enjoys complete and unchallengeable supremacy in Parliament.
As regards the remaining one-third of the seats, these are divided among the unsuccessful parties in proportion to their votes. The opposition parties are thus split into the maximum number of fractions, while the party in power is united. The scheme is a clear expression of the Fascist dictatorship in the realm of Parliamentary government. It is not remarkable that the Bill met with much opposition, and that Mussolini thought it well to arrange for the Fascist Militia to meet in Rome when the project was before Parliament—a plain hint that the familiar Fascist methods would, if necessary, be employed to secure the passage of the measure. The hint was turned into a threat in the final debate, when Mussolini offered either collaboration or a fight to a finish on Fascist lines. The deputies chose collaboration and voted the bill by 225 to 123.
Such was the Fascist achievement in regard to electoral machinery. Their record in other fields shows equally their subservience to the interests of Big Business.
The eight-hour day which had been promised was guaranteed in words. It was, however, made subject to so many exceptions both as regards special trades and particular circumstances, that its value to the workers was negligible. As an example we may take the case of railway workers, where a system of "spread-over" makes their effective hours of duty often twelve or more a day. No minimum
