In the aftermath of WWI the ruling liberal class faced the task of democratizing the Italian political system. Peasants and workers had, in different ways, taken part in the conflict, paying a very heavy price – and they now called for major political and social reforms. The response of the liberal political world – fractured as it was by group and personal enmities – proved weak and the policies adopted (from the introduction of a proportional electoral law to the timidly attempted industrial and agricultural reforms) did not bridge the gap with a popular reality radicalized by the revolutionary suggestions coming from Soviet Russia. In such a context, the ruling elites did not envisage a threat in the rise of Fascism, seen as an understandable – if at times excessive – reaction against those who “denigratedµ the war effort and advocated radical social transformations