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The national elections of November 1919 were the most significant in Italy since the political and territorial reunification of 1870. These were the first elections to take place under mass political democracy. All men were given the vote and the electoral law of August 1919 meant that a system of proportional representation was in place. The idea of mass democracy was very different to what had been in place since unification in 1870 to 1912 when near universal male suffrage …

…had made and the government promised land. This led to major troubles in 1919. The Arditti were special assault troops who were special elite fighters which later formed a veterans association which was cultivated by Mussolini to form his squads. Mussolini himself had been expelled from socialism in 1914 for his support of the war. The political system had been failing long before the war but this opened up its faults which now lay exposed to exploitation.