Mussolini's power and open dissent in Fascist Italy

Mussolini is presented as exercising less personal control than the image of an all-powerful dictator suggests. His first removal from office is described as the equivalent of a civilian order instead of a military coup, while critics in the Italian Senate and Parliament could still denounce him openly. That degree of public dissent qualified how much authority he actually exercised, even though he presented himself as stronger. The point appears in the argument against the Italian frogman theory for Novorossiysk, where ties with Russia and a strong Italian communist movement made an attack that risked war harder to justify.