DBAHC: Benito Mussolini the National Socialist?

Mussolini, as we know, was a leading figure in Italian socialism and first General Secretary of the Italian Communist Party. How would the "Trotsky of Italy" become a leader of a corporate state?

OOC note: Fascism, because it wasn't developed in Italy ITTL, is referred to as National Socialism.
 
Mussolini, as we know, was a leading figure in Italian socialism and first General Secretary of the Italian Communist Party. How would the "Trotsky of Italy" become a leader of a corporate state?

OOC note: Fascism, because it wasn't developed in Italy ITTL, is referred to as National Socialism.

He was always a fan of an of an elite led revolution, evidenced with his March on Rome and his support for training partisan cells in an attempt to enact a Mediterranean revolution (Evidenced by his successes in Spain and later on Yugoslavia). Maybe have him find Nietzsche's work instead of Blanqui and he might decide to become far more elitist than he ever did in real life. It also helped that he won in the Socialist power struggle when they split on intervention during the Great War. Those two elements might make him the founder of National Socialism instead of Strasser and his ilk.

In a lot of ways National Socialism is the result of Elitism mixing in Socialism elements and right wing Nationalism anyway; as evidenced by Strasser and Goebbel's many speeches and Roehm's reform of the Wehrmacht into a popular army. National Socialism really was one hell of a mongrel if you think about it, especially considering the influence that the Occult had in the movement.
 
Mussolini, as we know, was a leading figure in Italian socialism and first General Secretary of the Italian Communist Party. How would the "Trotsky of Italy" become a leader of a corporate state?

OOC note: Fascism, because it wasn't developed in Italy ITTL, is referred to as National Socialism.

OOC: Why would Fascism be called "National Socialism", unless the Nazis came to power?
 
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