Mussolini policies

• Two perspectives on Mussolini's maintenance of power:

  • Martin Blinkorn believed that his movement and regime were growing too comfortable
  • Macgregor Knox stated that internal consolidation was a prerequisite of foreign conquest, which was the decisive one for a revolution at home
• Main events of Mussolini’s Foreign Policy:

  • 1923: Corfu Affair
  • 1925: Locarno
  • 1928: Kellogg-Briand Pact
  • 1934: Dollfuss Affair
  • 1935: Stresa Front, Abyssinia
  • 1936: Spanish Civil War, Rome-Berlin Axis
  • 1937: Anti Comintern Pact
  • 1938: Munich Conference, Anschluss
  • 1939: Italian invasion of Albania, Pact of Steel, Non-Belligerence
  • 1940: Declaration of War
• • Battle for births caused a decrease in birth rates
  • Battle for marches reached only 1/20 of the goal
  • Corporate system didn't work in practice
  • Self-sufficiency failed
  • Italy remained weak industrially
• Aims and impact of domestic political policies:

  • Aims:
  • Establish political control
  • Crush the left
  • Make Italy "great again"
  • Successes:
  • Created a Fascist single-party state
  • Crushed the left as a political force
  • Impressive public work programs e.g building motorways
  • Battle for Grain doubled production in 1922-39
  • Pig iron + steel doubled in 1930-40
  • IRI controlled a significant portion of industries
  • Lateran Treaty led to a rift between state and church
  • Failures:
  • Economic growth was low from 1935-40
  • Real wages fell
• The Corporate State:

  • Distinguished Mussolini from the rest of the world with Corporatism
  • Established agreements and laws to regulate labor negotiations and industrial disputes
  • Set up special tribunals for arbitration
  • Banned strikes and employer lockouts
  • Established representatives of workers and employers to regulate the economy
  • Big business interests made major decisions
  • The corporate state lacked real power and was more of a propaganda exercise
• The Church:

  • Mussolini initially against the Italian state vs Vatican conflict
  • Series of agreements with the Pope in 1929
  • Lateran Treaty recognized Catholicism as the only religion
  • The Vatican received compensation
  • Despite agreements, there was heavy friction between the Church and Fascists in the 1930s
• Women:

  • Traditional view encouraged women to rear large families and look after the home
  • Fascist policies reinforced traditional roles for women
  • Laws reinforced the power of husbands over wives
  • Fascist organizations aimed to disseminate traditional attitudes towards women
  • Fascist policies on women were contradictory and ultimately unsuccessful
• Youth:

  • Aimed to control all children and indoctrinate them with Fascist values
  • Established youth organizations and activities to promote Fascist ideals
  • Success of youth organizations in indoctrinating youth with Fascist values
  • Historians' perspectives on the success or failure of youth organizations in promoting Fascist values
• Education:

  • Giovanni Gentile appointed as the first minister of education
  • Education system aimed to indoctrinate children with Fascist ideals
  • Different historians' perspectives on the success or failure of the education system in promoting Fascism
• Education under Fascism:

  • Giovanni Gentile, a philosopher, was appointed the first minister of education
  • Drafted the 1923 Education Act, which promoted a humanism system
  • Increased the elitist nature of the school system
  • Promoted grammar, encouraged philosophy, and classical studies
  • Standardized school systems
  • Largely ignored the 30% illiteracy rate in 1921
  • Harsh discrimination against women
  • Illiteracy rate decreased from 27% in 1921 to 17% in 1936
  • Attendance at school dropped by 100K in the first 4 years of Fascist rule
• • Anti-Fascist teachers were removed in the 1920s, and all teachers had to take a loyalty oath to Mussolini
  • Ministry of public instruction was renamed to the ministry of National Education in 1929
  • Schools were obliged to use Fascist textbooks
  • A single history book became compulsory, promoting a particular version of Italian history supporting the Duce and PNF
  • Physical education was given more priority to prepare children for war and motherhood
  • Education Minister Giuseppe Bottai launched a Schools Charter in 1939, emphasizing science and technology, and introducing manual work
• • Fascist indoctrination was more successful in primary schools than in secondary schools
  • Control over teachers increased over the years, with racial laws in 1938 leading to the dismissal of Jewish teachers and students
• Sport and Leisure under Fascism:

  • Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (OND) was set up in 1925 to provide recreational opportunities
  • OND had a membership of 4 million in the 1930s
  • Used sport as a way to keep the population happy and for propaganda purposes
  • Italy won the football World Cup in 1934 and 1938
• Race under Fascism:

  • Anti-semitic laws were introduced in November 1938
  • Restrictions included banning marriage between Jews and non-Jews, barring Jews from certain jobs and PNF membership, and excluding Jewish children from state schools
  • Around 10K non-Italian Jews were deported
  • The anti-semitic laws were seen as a disastrous mistake and deeply unpopular
  • Criticized by the Roman Catholic Church
  • Many Italian Jews left Italy by 1941
• Domestic economic policies under Fascism:

  • Pursued Corporatism as a third way between capitalism and socialism
  • Inconsistent and erratic economic policies
  • Pursued autarky in the mid to late 1930s
  • Economic battles like the Battle of Grain and Battle of Lira were launched
  • The Battle of Grain aimed for self-sufficiency in wheat production but damaged Italian agriculture
  • The Battle of Lira aimed to stabilize the currency but led to serious deflation and economic issues
  • Land reclamation efforts were limited in success
• • The Fascist regime managed the Great Depression better than other Western European countries
  • Response to the Depression included financial help to banks and industries, leading to the government controlling a significant portion of Italy's industrial firms
• Significant infrastructure investment in Italy included the construction of a motorway network, but minor roads were neglected
• IRI (Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale) helped mitigate the effects of the Depression
• By 1937, hydro-electric power in Italy successfully developed, producing 14.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity
• 5,000 kilometers of railways were electrified in Italy
• Italy's GDP grew by an average of 1.2% per year between 1922-1940
• Particular growth in the chemical, electrical, and machine sectors in Italy
• Italy became the largest exporter of rayon
• Industry overtook agriculture in Italy in the 1930s, becoming the largest share of the Gross National Product (GNP)
• Mussolini recognized the need to devalue the lira in 1936
• Italy faced huge budget deficits, reaching 12.750 million lire in 1938-39 due to conflicts in Abyssinia and the Spanish Civil War
• Abyssinia led to damaging League of Nations sanctions, causing severe raw material shortages in Italy
• Italy's imports in 1936-38 were only one-third of those in 1913
• Italy reoriented its trade relations in 1936, with 25% of exports going to Africa and another 25% to Germany
• Italy failed to achieve autarky, but had some success in oil and aluminum production
• In 1939, Italy produced 2.4 million tons, while Germany produced 22.5 million tons and Britain produced 13.4 million tons
• Increased state interference and growing Fascist bureaucracy in Italy were costly and hampered many businesses
• Living standards for ordinary people in Italy fell during the 1930s
• Agricultural wages in Italy dropped between 20-40% during the 1930s
• Industrial workers in Italy faced wage cuts in 1927, 1930, and 1934
• By 1939, industry accounted for 34% of Italy's Gross National Product (GNP), overtaking agriculture at 29%
• Main imports and exports in Italy in 1933 included raw cotton, coal, fruit, vegetables, and silk
• The percentage of railways electrified in Italy increased from 14% in 1927 to 31% in 1939
• Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister in 1922 after a series of events including the Treaty of Saint-Germain, the rise of the Fascist movement, and political instability in Italy
• Mussolini took steps towards establishing a single-party state in Italy by banning opposition parties, increasing censorship, and centralizing power within the Fascist Party