Why were blue-collar workers underrepresented in the Italian Fascist Party?

Blue-collar workers were underrepresented in the Italian Fascist Party primarily because the movement’s core support base was rooted in social groups that felt threatened by the organized working class.1

Historically, fascism in Italy drew its primary backing from large and small landowners who felt beleaguered by landless farm workers, as well as from businessmen and white-collar workers who feared industrial labor movements. By 1927, only 15 percent of the party's membership came from the working class, while 75 percent was drawn from the middle and lower-middle classes.1

The movement actively positioned itself against the left, with Fascist squads systematically dismantling Socialist and Catholic labor unions, destroying union offices, and breaking up strikes. While the Fascists later established their own "syndicates" to control labor and replace socialist organizations, these unions failed to penetrate the organized working class, finding support instead among the lower middle class and small landowners. Consequently, the party remained an instrument that prioritized the interests of economic elites and middle-class sectors over those of the industrial proletariat.21