i was reading the wikipedia article on fascism a while back, and came across this
Mussolini's transformation away from Marxism into what eventually became fascism began prior to World War I, as Mussolini had grown increasingly pessimistic about Marxism and egalitarianism while becoming increasingly supportive of figures who opposed egalitarianism, such as Friedrich Nietzsche.
[...] Mussolini's writings over time indicated that he had abandoned the Marxism and egalitarianism that he had previously supported [...]
as well as, during a history lesson several days ago, the history textbook mentioned he ran (or helped run) a socialist newspaper in Italy.
wiki link, along with the part where it states that Mussolini originally was a Marxist.
Mussolini was the voice of socialism in Italy at one point.
To give an idea of the length to which Mussolini was a Marxist/socialist, before his ascent as the leader of the Partito Nazionale Fascista he had gained himself the nickname of il Mangiapreti - Priest Eater. In fact, it was Mussolini's past as an ardent socialist (who in the Italian vein tended to be heavily anti-clerical) that would eventually cause frictions during his attempt to normalize Italian relations with the Vatican. One of the major complaints of the Church would be the Fascists carrying over much of their violence upon the Church from the Marxists.
Mussolini did not just happen upon Marxism, it was something he was born into. He was the son of an ardent nationalist and socialist, Alessandro, which influenced many of his views throughout childhood and well into his adulthood. The area of Italy that Mussolini was born into - Romagna - was one of the key epicenters of Italy's anarchist and socialist movement. Even though his mother was a Catholic his experiences at Catholic school, and his father's fierce anti-clergy rhetoric would shape the majority of his childhood. These views were further engrained when Mussolini fled in 1902 to Switzerland in order to escape military conscription in which he fell in with other Italian socialist expats. His revolutionary fervor would be stoked, leading to multiple arrests and expulsions before he eventually returned to Italy to begrudgingly accomplish his two year conscription if only to legitimize himself within Italy.
By 1910 he would be party secretary of the Forlì Socialist party, and editor of a weekly socialist newsletter. His reputation as a fierce political leader, thinker, and editor would get him advanced in 1912 to being the editor of Avanti!, the national party's newsletter and one of the most influential roles in the party. Here he would have access to setting the national tone of the party itself. Mussolini was immensely successful as editor, with circulation increasing five times during his charge as editor.
One of the other things that Mussolini was, however, was strongly nationalistic with the confrontational personality to back it up. Mussolini was a believer in violent confrontation - this being one of the ideals of Marxism that violent revolution was the eventual end goal - but he was also a firm believer in Italian superiority. His views at the outbreak of World War I are both complex, contradictory, and ultimately prophetic. Though at one point Mussolini would exclaim that the Italian tricolour was "a rag to be planted on a dunghill" he would soon find himself drawn to a more nationalistic belief.
First there was his Marxist belief that the class struggle must come from revolution. To this end Mussolini's initial writing as the war was breaking out in 1914 showed a distaste for the conflict as yet another in a long line of conflicts pitting the proletariat against each other for capitalistic gain. Second, however, was his nascent nationalism that was also stoking one of his other base beliefs: that of power. The school of Marxism that Mussolini came from was of the more authoritarian variety, and Mussolini had been attempting to position himself so as to be one of the rulers of the post-revolutionary world. To Mussolini, the war quickly went from Imperialistic aggression to an opportunity to ignite the Marxist revolution. His new views would seen his expulsion from the socialists - and most importantly as the editor of Avanti!
This break would be heavily important, as it freed himself from the lip service he had been portraying to the Italian Marxist - whom he had increasingly began to view as naive. Mussolini had begun to adopt the thought that a step beyond Socialism was needed. In his evolving view, egalitarianism was not the next step as some men would always be better than others. He would rejoin the Army in 1915 before being invalided out in 1917 (at the rank of Corporal) whereupon he would find financial banking to start his own newspaper - Il Popolo d'Italia. Servicing as Mussolini's mouthpiece of anti-socialism he found funding from not just Italian armament factories, but from as wide ranging sources as the British Security Service and even the French government. To them it did not matter what Mussolini was writing, just that he kept the marxists at bay. The fact that he was now calling for violent repression of socialism also did much to endear him to his new benefactors.
Italy's percieved embarrassment at the Versailles Peace Conferences, due in some part to what Mussolini viewed as the Marxists breeding a 'culture of defeat within the military' would be one of the final straws in Mussolini's conversation from Marxism. To the newly heavily nationalistic Mussolini, the Marxists had been the reason Italy had not gotten her fair due in the 'spoils' of the war. They would need to be rooted out of Italy.
Sources, recommended reading: