Why did Mussolini failed to secure power before October 1922?

By 1921 the Fascist use of squadrismo had crushed socialist power in many areas of northern Italy, winning enormous support from the Italian public. Faced with an unknown and unstable political entity, Liberal politicians such as Giovanni Giolitti attempted to absorb the Fascist Party into the government coalition in accordance with transformismo politics. However, emboldened by the electoral success of May 1921, in which the Fascists won 35 seats, Mussolini refused to enter parliament unless he was appointed Prime Minister. Amid threats of Fascist violence and the possibility of civil war, King Victor Emmanuel II invited Mussolini to form a government on 29 October 1922. Yet the threat of Fascist violence, although perhaps genuine, was certainly not realistic. A Fascist Congress was held on 24 October in Naples where Mussolini and the four Quadrumvirs, Balbo, Emilio de Bono, Cesare de Vecchi and Michele Bianchi, met to discuss the grand gamble that would secure Fascist power. In stark contrast to the intended 'glorious March on Rome', a mere 10,000 of the proposed 50,000 Fascist Squadristi assembled at the designated locations. Faced with utter defeat, Mussolini had organised an escape route to Switzerland in the event of failure, a fact that demonstrates the level of Fascist confidence in the movement. Yet at two o'clock on the morning of 29 October 1922 Mussolini received a telegram from King Victor Emmanuel II requesting his presence. Only at this moment did Mussolini emerge from the comparative safety of the northern countryside.

On his arrival at the royal court he greeted the King explaining, 'I have come straight from the battle, which, fortunately, was won without bloodshed'. On 30 October 1922, 50,000 Blackshirts interspersed with regular army forces paraded in front of their leader and the King. The real 'March on Rome', which was to go down in Fascist history as the heroic revolution by which they had seized power, was only completed in the aftermath of Mussolini's appointment as Prime Minister.

On coming to power in 1922 Mussolini inherited an economically poor and divided Italy. Thereafter Mussolini sought to consolidate his own power and instigate an autarkical economic system that would provide a basis for future military expansion. To this end a series of economic strategies was adopted to increase the prosperity of the Italian nation, whilst winning support and respect from abroad.