why was mussolini's tactic of portraying fascism as protection against communism successful in italy?

Mussolini's long road to his rise of Power began in the years of the First World War with the involvement of Italy on behalf of its Allies. A couple of years later, the year of 1919 saw Mussolini suffer a humiliating defeat in the November elections of 1919. His entrance into parliament however then came in the later elections of 1921 after the formation of the Blackshirts - also known as, the Squadristi, who were used to break up strikes and riots caused amongst the people of Italy due to Italy's poor economic and political instability, in which Italy suffered a rise of 500% inflation and high rates of unemployment. It was later established at the end of Mussolini's rise to power, compared to Germany's Hitler, Mussolini's road to Dictatorship took longer than of Hitler's.