In a sense, as historian Stanley G. Payne explained, the “new mass Fascism” of the agrarian squadrists “had not been created by Mussolini,” but had instead “sprung up around him.”Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, p. 98 As Mussolini proceeded to ensnare the mostly self-organizing militias under his fascist banner, his movement began to experience a fast-expanding “influx of middle-class people” who were relatively conservative.Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, p. 99 Generally, the ras leaders supported nationalism, not socialism, and were upset over the socialists and communist involvement in political violence against landowners and the middle class.
