Surely Atlantic did something really risky back then (Italy in the 70s), when it was still possible to be killed if simply suspected to have some sympathy for fascism. Luckily we children ignored it, but we could have been assaulted in the streets only if we were going back home from the toy shop with a box of Atlantic Mussolini in our hand. However, I am sure they did not mean any political involvement in production of 1/72 figs: Lenin & Stalin and Mao counterweighted Hitler and Mussolini in their "Great Revolutions" serie.
Atlantic was always uncertain if producing toys or modelling pieces. From what I can remember, their idea was to induce children to study history by playing with toy soldiers, hence some creations with a strong historic value (old civilizations, great revolutions). However, since children wanted to play war with their soldiers, they wanted shooting figures, that is why the Mussolini and Hitler sets did not sell much: I can remember that, whenever I could find 100 lire and headed to the general store to buy an Atlantic box, I could always find loads of Hitler, Mussolini and Carabinieri band that nobody wanted. Hironically, the first two are now the rarest and most sought after sets